Help with basic SSH concepts.
 

Hi. I've been reading up on SSH a little lately and recently got a laptop so i can start playing with it. I know you have to generate keys using ssh-keygen. I assume i do that on my desktop that i want to ssh in. Do i have to generate keys on the laptop as well? Am i mainly going to be configuring the desktop to allow me to ssh into or does both boxes require a fair amount of configuration? Would i be able to ssh into the laptop if need be by just configuring the desktop or would i need to do the same configuration i did to the desktop to allow the laptop in to the laptop to allow the desktop in? (sorry i know that sounds confusing) Thanks for any help in advance.

The most convenient may be to generate keys on both the desktop and laptop. Then you can include the laptop's public key in the desktop's $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys file. This will allow you to log in to the desktop from the laptop. If you press enter when asked for the passphrase, during the key generation phase, you won't need to supply a passphrase.