SSH keys for your virtual machines

Keep your public SSH keys in your Doprax account and choose one when you create a VM. The VM then accepts your key and has no root password.

If you have no key yet, or want to know why a key is safer than a password, read SSH keys explained first.

Add a key

1. On your own computer, print your public key. For a key made with ssh-keygen -t ed25519 in the default place:

   cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

   It is one line that starts with the key type, for example ssh-ed25519 AAAA....

2. In the dashboard, open Virtual Machines, then SSH Keys.

3. Select Add SSH key.

4. Type a Title that tells you which computer the key belongs to, and paste the line into Public key.

5. Select Add SSH key.

What is accepted:

• One line only. A private key is refused: never paste one anywhere.
• These key types: ssh-ed25519, ssh-rsa, ecdsa-sha2-nistp256, ecdsa-sha2-nistp384, ecdsa-sha2-nistp521.
• Each key once. A key that is already registered cannot be added a second time.

Each key is shown with its title, type and fingerprint. Last used is the last time a VM was created with the key, not the last time someone logged in with it.

Create a VM with a key

1. Open Virtual Machines, then Create Virtual Machine, and choose provider, location, size and image as usual. See Create your first virtual machine.

2. Under Choose an access method, select SSH Key (recommended).

3. Under Your keys, select the key. If the list is empty, Add key opens the same dialog as on the SSH Keys page.

4. Create the VM.

You select one key per VM. The new VM has no root password: its Access tab says so and names the key under SSH key in use. Log in with:

ssh root@YOUR_VM_IP

More in Connect to a VM.

Keys and VMs that already exist

A key is put on a VM only when the VM is created.

• Adding a key to your account does not add it to your existing VMs. To let another key log in to a VM that is already running, add its public line to the file /root/.ssh/authorized_keys on that VM.
• A VM created with a password stays a password VM in the dashboard. You can still add a key to it yourself in the same file.

Delete a key

1. Open Virtual Machines, then SSH Keys.

2. Select Delete on the key, and Delete again in the dialog.

The key is removed from your account and can no longer be chosen for a new VM. The Access tab of VMs that were created with it no longer names it.

Deleting a key here does not lock it out of your VMs

Nothing is changed on the VMs themselves. A VM that was created with the key still has it and still accepts it. To take a key’s access away, log in to each VM and remove the key’s line from /root/.ssh/authorized_keys.