SSH -- Configure key-based authentication

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One of my favorite things to do when managing Linux systems is to configure key-based authentication. This allows me to connect to multiple systems via scripts without have to re-authenticate every time. A decent walkthrough is available at http://linuxproblem.org/art_9.html
Scenario: You are user A on host A, and you want to log onto host B as user B

  1. As user A on host A, execute
    1. ssh-keygen -t rsa
  2. Echo out the contents of ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub (save to clipboard or copy via ssh to host B)
  3. As user B on host b, make the .ssh directory if it doesnt already exist
    1. mkdir ~/.ssh
  4. Edit the file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys and enter the contents from id_rsa.pub

Your now done. Assuming all went well, user A on host A should be able to run ssh b@b and be automatically logged in

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