Lab 001: Create SSH Key Pair for Azure Virtual Machine

• Requirements
• Prerequisites
• Steps
• Verification
• Resources

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Requirements

Create Azure ssh key pair

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Note

The solution can be implemented using both the Azure Cloud Console and the Azure CLI. This document outlines the CLI-based approach to accomplish these tasks. It is recommended to first explore the Azure Cloud Console for hands-on experience and a practical understanding of the process before utilizing the CLI approach, unless specifically instructed otherwise.

Prerequisites

• Azure CLI is installed and authenticated on the working host.
• The ~/.ssh directory is writable for key generation.

Steps

SSH_PRIVATE_KEY="$HOME/.ssh/id_rsa"
SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="$HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub"

# Create RSA SSH key pair if missing
if [ ! -f "$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY" ]; then
  ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048 -f "$SSH_PRIVATE_KEY" -q -N ""
fi

# Display public key for Azure VM usage
cat "$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY"

Verification

• Confirm the public key file exists at ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
• Confirm the private key file exists at ~/.ssh/id_rsa.
• Confirm the public key content starts with ssh-rsa.

Resources

Azure CLI Docs

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