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Generate a Secure Shell (SSH) key pair for your AskYourTeam SFTP dropbox

AskYourTeam Help CentreTechnical set-up & securityHR system integration

Generate a Secure Shell (SSH) key pair for your AskYourTeam SFTP dropbox

AskYourTeam requires you connect to your AskYourTeam SFTP participant file dropbox using a Secure Shell (SSH) connection. SSH is a network protocol that ensures secure data transfer.

SSH authenticates you using public-key cryptography.

You create a pair of keys: a private key that resides on your client computer and a public key that our SFTP server uses.

Both keys must be in place for your computer to connect to the AskYourTeam SFTP participant file dropbox.

You need to provide your AskYourTeam representative with your public SSH key before they can create your SFTP participant file dropbox.

The public key is a string that:

  • starts with ssh-rsa

  • ends with your email address, and

  • has a long generated string in the middle.

It should not contain line breaks.

For example:

ssh-rsa
AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCXsM9ycbHV6E6t2L+B4p/uYHn9Q0jmu5gUXMYnFnnf4l39xrznfDo8KCASzRrqUkRnuzrno059CvZVzcljkbwWLzKKoE1EwbzHL3nYahMB4MdYNWhBbHbB+ybq6RNO7hkoKDBIQCfqQDY0FEB6sV3d3F1WYl0bAMjp15yyZJzMKa/rRnZKWetHlcL1X+gFWmW2hQ93foPD463gb58/25GujjsS/tzjngw7UJMVkm08U1QEY3z3DE/R++7ovJozTCzH0CTNDN0AH3/oSC3dmG+yDh3ZXFATjWjyPXJSOziNrp9TXgJhlqSmoHcPvpotMVjx21kIZ+T+SusQmnG+hK+Luser@yourdomain.com

Get instructions for generating an SSH key pair

Select your operating system for step-by-step instructions on how to generate an SSH key pair:

Windows: Generate an SSH key pair

To generate an SSH key pair with a Windows operating system:

  1. Download PuTTYgen.exe and run it.

  2. Select the RSA radio button in the Parameters section near the bottom of the page.

  3. Select the Generate button.

  4. Move the mouse around in the blank area as instructed until PuTTYgen generates the key pair. When PuTTYgen has generated the key, it replaces the blank area with a series of text boxes. This includes a text box that shows the public key.

  5. Add the email address to the end of any text in the Key comment text box. This should be the email address to which you want notifications sent to. Leave the other text boxes unchanged.

  6. Select the Save public key button and save it with the name id-rsa in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\username\.ssh (username will be your Windows user name).

  7. Select the Save private key button and save the private key with the name id-rsa.ppk in the same folder.

  8. Copy to the clipboard the contents of the text box Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file. Make sure to copy the entire content, starting with ssh-rsa and ending with the email address you entered at step 5.

  9. Close PuTTYgen.

  10. Paste the public key into a text editor and remove the line breaks. Recopy the full text to the clipboard.

  11. Paste the public key into an email and send it to your partner representative.

Macintosh or Linux: Generate an SSH key pair

To generate an SSH key pair with a Macintosh or Linux operation system:

  1. Open a terminal window.

  2. Enter this command line:

    ssh-keygen -t rsa

  3. Select the default values for all options. This command generates two SSH key files: id_rsa and id_rsa.pub in the directory home/username/.ssh (username will be your system user name).

  4. Send the public key file id_rsa.pub to your partner representative.