Ubuntu – How To set up SCP from localhost to remote Ubuntu server

scpsshUbuntu

I am trying to configure an ubuntu vps. I have set up ssh secure login using rsa public and private keys from a local machine.

As well as disabling root login I have also set up iptables and configured to allow ports 80 and 22 (port 22 only from my ip address) for the ssh tunnel.

I can connect fine using ssh but when I try using scp from my local machine

sudo scp /var/www/filetocopy user@remoteaddress:/var/www/filetocopy

I get this error

Permission denied (publickey).

Does this mean that I have to generate another public key/private key pair or is there a way of using the key that the ssh uses?

many thanks in advance

Best Answer

SCP works over SSH so there shouldn't be any additional setup or configuration. Throw a -v in there after scp and let's get some more information.

That said, it looks like the SCP command isn't passing the key you generated. Try specifying the key file with the -i option. If it is in a non-standard location or non-standard name you'll need to let it know what to use rather than the default ~/.ssh/id_rsa.

Related Solutions

SSH – How to Change Private Key Passphrase

To change the passphrase on your default key:

$ ssh-keygen -p

If you need to specify a key, pass the -f option:

$ ssh-keygen -p -f ~/.ssh/id_dsa

then provide your old and new passphrase (twice) at the prompts. (Use ~/.ssh/id_rsa if you have an RSA key.)

More details from man ssh-keygen:

[...]
SYNOPSIS
    ssh-keygen [-q] [-b bits] -t type [-N new_passphrase] [-C comment]
               [-f output_keyfile]
    ssh-keygen -p [-P old_passphrase] [-N new_passphrase] [-f keyfile]
[...]
     -f filename
             Specifies the filename of the key file.
[...]
     -N new_passphrase
             Provides the new passphrase.

     -P passphrase
             Provides the (old) passphrase.

     -p      Requests changing the passphrase of a private key file instead of
             creating a new private key.  The program will prompt for the file
             containing the private key, for the old passphrase, and twice for
             the new passphrase.
[...]

Ssh – How to manage ssh keys to add a second user

You need to login using the putty on the windows machine and exit the .ssh/authorized_keys file and add the key that you generated on the mac to the file.

Do not run the command

scp -2 -P 50022 -v ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub newuser@111.222.333.444:

That will over write the existing key on the server, and it will not work either as the server only accepts key logins.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

SSH – How to Change Private Key Passphrase

Ssh – How to manage ssh keys to add a second user

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