Generating and Exchanging SSH Keys Between Servers

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Generating and Exchanging SSH Keys Between Servers

You have been tasked with finding a way to make some scripts work between servers, without having to store passwords in the script files. You have discovered that one way to do this is by creating a trust relationship between servers by sharing SSH keys between the servers. In this hands-on lab, we will generate SSH keys for two servers and exchange the keys in order to establish a trust relationship between them.

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Lab Info

Level

Beginner

Last updated

Sep 19, 2025

Duration

1h 0m

Challenge

Generate a Key Pair on Client1
1. Generate a key pair (id_rsa.pub and id_rsa) on Client1 (10.0.1.11):
```
ssh-keygen -t rsa
```
Challenge

Authorize Client1 to Trust Itself
1. Run the following command on Client1:
```
cat /home/cloud_user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> /home/cloud_user/.ssh/authorized_keys
```
1. Verify that the authorization was successful.
```
ssh [email protected]
```

Challenge

Copy the SSH Key to Server1

From Client1, retrieve the hostname of Server1.

ssh 10.0.1.10 hostname

You should be prompted for the cloud_user password.
Copy the SSH keys to Server1 to establish trust between the two devices.

scp -r /home/cloud_user/.ssh* 10.0.1.10:/home/cloud_user/

**Note:** In a real environment, using secure copy (`scp`) is not best practice, as the private key should not be shared with multiple servers. In your own environment, I recommend using the `ssh-copy-id` command to only copy the public key, as that's all that's needed. But for the purposes of this lab, we'll use the above command.

Verify that the trust relationship has been established.

ssh 10.0.1.10 hostname

Run the following two commands on Server1 to verify that the trust relationship has been established:

ssh 10.0.1.11 hostname
hostname && ssh 10.0.1.11 hostname

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