Public/Private Authentication Key Management

When configuring SSH connections, there are two general scenarios.

The first involves generating a public/private key pair, adding the public key to the authorized key file of the target SSH system, then adding the private key value as the target system's administrator password.

This generates the private key unencrypted and using it as the administrator password. This method is preferred since the administrative password field is encrypted and this process does not require the added complexity of storing private keys on the filesystem.

The second scenario entails using a pre-existing public/private key pair, typically in PEM/PPK format, such as when authenticating to an AWS UNIX instance. The authentication key file is used and the passphrase is specified for the administrator password.