How to copy SSH public key to remote server

You have to add your SSH public key to the remote SSH server's authorized_keys file for you to be able to log in to the remote SSH server using the public key authentication method.

The file is normally located in the server's ~/.ssh/ directory and there are various ways that you can copy your public SSH key to the to the server. The easiest one is by using the ssh-copy-id command.

You can copy your SSH public key to the remote SSH server using ssh-copy-id command at the terminal.

Copy SSH public key to server using ssh-copy-id:

1. Locate your public SSH key.

    $ ls ~/.ssh/id*
   /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa           /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

   The public key is normally the one with the .pub extension.

2. Copy your SSH public key using ssh-copy-id command.

   $ ssh-copy-id user@remote-host
   The authenticity of host 'remote-host (192.168.111.135)' can't be established.
   ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:hXGpY0ALjXvDUDF1cDs2N8WRO9SuJZ/lfq+9q99BPV0.
   Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
   /usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: INFO: attempting to log in with the new key(s), to filter out any that are already installed
   /usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: INFO: 2 key(s) remain to be installed -- if you are prompted now it is to install the new keys
   user@remote-host's password:
   
   Number of key(s) added: 2
   
   Now try logging into the machine, with:   "ssh 'user@remote-host'"
   and check to make sure that only the key(s) you wanted were added.

   If you want to use other public key rather that then one in the default location, use the -i option as the following

   $ ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/other_key.pub user@remote-host

3. Try to log in using key to test.

   $ ssh -i .ssh/id_rsa user@remote-host
   Welcome to Ubuntu 19.04 (GNU/Linux 5.0.0-20-generic x86_64)
   
    * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
    * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
    * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/advantage
   
     System information as of Sat Jun 29 11:31:23 UTC 2019
   
     System load:  0.16               Processes:            211
     Usage of /:   25.8% of 19.56GB   Users logged in:      1
     Memory usage: 13%                IP address for ens33: 192.168.111.135
     Swap usage:   0%
   
    * MicroK8s 1.15 is out! It has already been installed on more
      than 14 different distros. Guess which ones?
   
        https://snapcraft.io/microk8s
   
   0 updates can be installed immediately.
   0 of these updates are security updates.
   
   
   Last login: Sat Jun 29 11:08:20 2019 from 192.168.111.1