Managing SSH Keys: A Guide for OS X

SSHKeychain provides a great UI for managing your SSH Keys and integrates fully with Mac OS X keychain. This guide will explain how to setup SSHKeychain to manage your keys for connecting to a Joyent Accelerator.

• Download the latest SSHKeychain from here: http://www.sshkeychain.org/download.php
• Install SSHKeychain in your /Applications folder: drag-and-drop the SSHKeychain icon from the mounted DMG volume to your Applications folder.
• Open SSHKeychain:

• If you're on Leopard you'll be presented with the usual warning about opening an application downloaded from the Internet.

1. Click the SSHKeychain Application menu, Preferences… to open the preference panes.
2. Optional: Under the General pane, check Check for updates on startup checkbox.
3. Optional: If you want to use a version of SSH different from that which came with OS X, such as the openssh package that is provided with MacPorts, then change the SSH tools path (in the case of MacPorts, /opt/local/bin/). Most users won't need to change this.
4. Under the Display pane, select how you want SSHKeychain to be displayed next time you open the Application. The OS X status bar will most likely be preferable for most users:

1. Click the Environment pane, and check Manage (and modify) global environment variables:

1. Click the SSH Keys pane. By default you may see your id_dsa key. However, you may have created a separate key for use with Joyent hosting. In this example, we have created a 'JoyentAccelerator' key for use with all of our Joyent Accelerator accounts.
   1. To use a key created from the command-line earlier: click the plus sign, navigate to the /User/YOURUSERNAME/.ssh directory and select the key file.
   2. To create a new key now:
      1. click the New… button.
      2. for Path, click Select…, navigate to your to the /User/YOURUSERNAME/.ssh directory, then type the filename you would like to save your key as, such as JoyentAccelerator.
      3. leave Type as dsa and Nr. of bits as 1024, unless you are an advanced user and know the difference between the two encryption algorithms.
      4. in the Passphrase field, enter a suitable passphrase for the key. Ensure that this is a strong password, and not easy to guess. You can leave the passphrase blank, but this negates the need for SSHKeychain to manage keys.
      5. click OK to save your new key.
2. That's it. But its recommended to logout and log back on again.

Go to System Preferences → Accounts. Under “Login Items” you can add SSHKeychain