In this article you will learn how to list, add and remove SSH keys from your Sail CLI production server.
Using passwords to login to SSH is insecure and not recommended, especially as the root user. SSH keys are a much better option.
When provisioning a server with sail, a new SSH key is generated
automatically, and placed in the .sail directory along with its public key.
This key is used automatically for any interactions done through the Sail CLI.
However, you may sometimes need to work with your server outside of the Sail CLI context, and while you can still use that generated key, it is often convenient to use your own SSH keys.
To add a new SSH key, run:
sail ssh key add path/to/key.pub
This will add the specified SSH public key to the .ssh/authorized_keys file
for the root user on the production server. You can also add SSH keys from a
GitHub URL:
sail ssh key add https://github.com/username.keys
This will read all the public keys from username's GitHub profile and add them to the Sail server's authorized_keys file.
To get a list of existing authorized keys, run:
sail ssh key list
This will display a list of MD5 fingerprints of all public keys authorized to login as the root user on the server. You may use the fingerprints to compare keys to one another, or perhaps remove one.
To delete an SSH key from the authorized_keys file, run:
sail ssh key delete HASH
Where HASH is the MD5 fingerprint of a key you wish to delete.
If you're having trouble with SSH key management in Sail, please refer to our getting help section.