SSH Keys Usage and Keystores in Spring Boot

Introduction

In the world of secure communication and authentication, SSH keys and keystores play a pivotal role. They provide the foundation for encryption, secure file transfers, and authentication between systems. This blog will cover how to use SSH keys and keystores effectively in Spring Boot, with practical code examples and best practices.

What Are SSH Keys?

SSH (Secure Shell) keys are cryptographic keys used for secure access to remote systems. They are a pair of keys:

1. Private Key: Stays on the client machine and must be kept secure.
2. Public Key: Shared with the server to enable secure communication.

Setting Up SSH Keys

Generate SSH Keys: Use ssh-keygen to generate an SSH key pair.

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

• This generates:
• id_rsa (private key)
• id_rsa.pub (public key)

Add the Public Key to the Server: Append the content of id_rsa.pub to the server's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.

Secure the Private Key: Ensure the private key has appropriate permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa