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=== SSH Keys ===
[[Image:ssh_connection_explained.png|thumb|right|500px600px|A diagram explaining how public / Private keys work. Another term to represent this process is called '''PKI''' (Public/Private Key Infrastructure) ]]Using the magic of public key cryptography , you can SSH to a linux machine without using a password. This topic !Learning to perform this trick is crucial - not only for essential in this course but and in the industry, in general. SSH keys are used everywhere that linux servers are used.
This needs to be generated on and used on your '''client''' (the user/machine you're connecting '''from'''). The private key is the equivalent of a password, that's why it's private. And a private key is used by one user, that's why it's stored in a user's ~/.ssh/ directory.
You'll end up with ~/.ssh/id_rsa and ~/.ss/id_rsa.pub - now you have a key pair you can use for authentication.
==== Public key on the server ====
If you have the private key - you can prove to someone who has your public key that you're really the owner of that public key. That's how ssh key authentication works, so the server needs to have you user's public key. You can copy it over manually and append the contents of your ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub from the client to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server, or you can issue this command on the client to do all that for you:
