Secure Password-less Access
Private / Public Key Management
Step 1
Use Puttygen to generate a public / private key pair. Start Puttygen and select the SSH2 RSA option.
Click "Generate." Randomly move the mouse over the blank section of keygen.
Enter your name in the Key comment field. We recommend using your ICSID username (username@hostname).
Save both PUBLIC and PRIVATE keys. The Public Key is in the top window. Copy and paste it into a text file by selecting all text inside the window, press Ctrl+Insert. Open a text file and press Shift+Insert. Make sure the key is saved as a single line of text.
The Public Key is safe to distribute to others. Before saving the Private Key, decide if you want a passphrase. Without a passphrase, anyone who has your private key can use your accounts. You will be asked for the passphrase when connecting using the private key. To use a passphrase, enter it in the "Key passphrase" and Confirm passphrase fields. Click "Save private key" and save this file. The private key file should never be disclosed to anyone.
If your computer is shared by other users, it's important to have a passphrase on the private key.
Step 2
Adding private keys using Pageant
Step 3
Adding the public key to s1234567/.ssh/authorized_keys. Make sure the key consist of a single line with no carriage returns!
See here for a tutorial on key management.