ssh and pem file

xeon123 · 02-13-2013, 05:53 AM

I've 2 nodes, and I can only contact them with ssh using a pem file.

(It doesn't work)
ssh user@host

(It works)
ssh -i ~/key.pem user@host

1 - If the pem file contains a private key, why it's important to access a remote host with ssh?

2 - Is it possible to replace the pem key file to a way that I can access the remote host without referring the pem file?

acid_kewpie · 02-13-2013, 06:31 AM

the file is a preshared key. In general, you should probably just read up about what a preshared key is for. Basically it's an alternative authentication mechanism to using a password.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-shared_key

sundialsvcs · 02-14-2013, 07:15 PM

Yeah... and, I gotta say, you really wanna be using cryptographic certificates, instead! ... and disabling all other "lesser" forms of authentication.