How to Use SSH to Connect to a Remote Server (Step-by-Step Guide)

The ssh-copy-id was not working on my Mac, so I’d like to share how I got it working.

1. Install ssh-copy-id sudo curl https://raw.github.com/beautifulcode/ssh-copy-id-for-OSX/master/ssh-copy-id.sh -o /usr/local/bin/ssh-copy-id sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ssh-copy-id

2. Copy the public key: ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub ‘-p <port number> <username>@<ip address’

2. Copy the public key: ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub ‘-p portnumber username@ipaddress’ , where portnumber username and ipaddress needs to be filled in

Thank you very much, Mr. Justin. I can install whmsonic from ubuntu from your article.

I did exactly as instructed and it all seemed to work but it changed nothing in regards to having to type in a password. I still have to type one in. Did you miss stating the obvious, like that we still have to make config changes on the server or something?

@forgotmyorange: If you connect with <code>ssh -vv root@your.ip.address</code> it will add debugging output so that you can see what is happening behind the scenes. If it is actually connecting with the key, you should see something like:

<pre> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password debug1: Next authentication method: publickey debug1: Offering RSA public key: /home/asb/.ssh/id_rsa debug2: we sent a publickey packet, wait for reply debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg ssh-rsa blen 279 </pre>

my login isn’t working for the console… any tips?

Hey thanks. It’s the clearest tutorial I found! and your blog looks nice.

I guess you forgot to mention you can disable password authentication after setting up SSH keys, as not to be exposed to brute force attacks.

1. Is SSH server included in every Ubuntu desktop machine? how should we enable it? Maybe you’ve written an article before, I’ll search for it.
2. Does Ubuntu desktop provides a GUI interface in order to use -X option?

Hey thanks. It’s very helpful tutorial.

I have query regarding to see the server console for the running processes. So, can you please suggest me the command to see the running server console, so that i will be able to see the errors if occurs?

Hi, Thanks, extremely clear guidance. The local system is Cygwin on a WIndows 7 PC, The remote system is Ubuntu.

I still have a problem :

"we sent a publickey packet" - but there is no reply :

debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent
debug2: service_accept: ssh-userauth
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug2: key: /home/jbww/.ssh/id_rsa (0x80061bd0),
debug2: key: /home/jbww/.ssh/id_dsa (0x0),
debug2: key: /home/jbww/.ssh/id_ecdsa (0x0),
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Offering RSA public key: /home/jbww/.ssh/id_rsa
debug2: we sent a publickey packet, wait for reply
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password
debug1: Trying private key: /home/jbww/.ssh/id_dsa
debug1: Trying private key: /home/jbww/.ssh/id_ecdsa
debug2: we did not send a packet, disable method
debug1: Next authentication method: password

Does anyone have an idea as to what I can try ?

On cPanel based server you can connect it easily.

Follow this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yx1gZKgb5Y