Key Pairs

Key pairs refer to security credentials used for ensuring the identity of a user connecting to a VM instance.

Create New Key Pair

1. Navigate to the Main menu > Compute > Key Pairs view.

2. Click Create in the top toolbar.

3. In the Generate Key Pair > Details tab, select Generate a key pair and download the private key.

   

4. Enter a unique name consisting of letters, numbers, spaces, underscores, periods and dashes. It must begin and end with a letter, number or an underscore.

5. Click Next.

6. In the Generate Key Pair > Result tab, the following is displayed:

   • Name of key pair.

   • Fingerprint of public key.

   

7. Click Save to download the private key to your browser’s default download location. The private key file is named: <name>.pem where <name> is that specified for the key pair in the Details tab.

8. Click Finish.

Upload Externally Generated Key Pair

1. Use a tool of your choice to generate a key pair (public and private key). Example: $ ssh-keygen. Change the file permissions on the private key to 400 or 600 to secure the key. Example: $ chmod 400 id_rsa

2. Navigate to the Main menu > Compute > Key Pairs view.

3. Click Create in the top toolbar.

4. In the Generate Key Pair > Details tab, select Upload a public key for a key pair you have generated using another tool.

   

5. Drag and drop the public key file into the window, or click Browse and navigate to it.

6. Click Next. The system displays the Result tab.

7. Click Finish.