Manage user account keys/ SSH keys

SSH (Secure Shell) is a critical tool that allows you, as a STACKIT user, to securely connect to and manage your virtual machine instances. It’s a standard method for exchanging files and administrative information over the internet. SSH uses the open-source software OpenSSH for its implementation.

To use SSH, you need a pair of cryptographic keys: a public key and a private key. The process is asynchronous, meaning you can share your public key with STACKIT to encrypt data connections. This ensures that only you, with the corresponding private key, can decrypt and access your instances.

List SSH keys

Go to User settings by selecting the avatar icon located in the header.
Select Password & Security.

The section “SSH keys” provides you a list with all ssh key pairs of your user. The list is indepdent form the customer account and is based on your currently logged in user.

Each stored SSH key has a name. In order to further distinguish between the SSH keys, the footprint of the stored key is displayed as well as the creation date.

Upload a SSH key

Prerequisites

You’ve created an SSH key pair on your machine.

Procedure

Go to User settings by selecting the avatar icon located in the header.
Select Password & Security.
Select + Create SSH key.
Enter a name for the key within the field Key name.
Enter the public key within the field Please enter a key. If you are using Linux you can use the command cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | pbcopy to copy your public SSH key to your clipboard.
Select Create.

Once you’ve uploaded the key, you’ll see it in your list. The system will automatically create the key’s footprint based on the public key you entered.

Manage ssh keys

Go to User settings by selecting the avatar icon located in the header.
Select Password & Security.
Select the context menu of the SSH key you want to change by clicking on the three dots at the end of the row.
Select the action you want to perform. You can perform the actions Delete, Rename and Set as Default.

Set as default

This action sets your selected SSH key pair as the default key. When you create a new virtual machine (VM), this key will be pre-selected as the initial credential. You can still choose a different SSH key during the VM creation process.

Rename

You can rename an SSH key pair. This action doesn’t change the public or private key associated with it. Each key must have a unique name.

Delete

This action deletes an SSH key from your account. After deletion, you won’t be able to use this key for new virtual machines (VMs). This action doesn’t affect any existing VMs where the key was already added as an initial credential.