300 bytes (2400 bits!) is incredibly overkill in all situations, no matter how big the private key is. All you would ever need is 256 bits, and even that is more than enough for the average private key (which is about as secure as a 112 bit symmetric key, at least for RSA 2048). May 19, 2009 This command generates a 2048 bit RSA private key and stores it in the file www.mydomain.com.key. When prompted for a pass phrase: enter a secure password and remember it, as this pass phrase is what protects the private key. This page will explain how we can create an ssh key that we can set in eclipse to be use when pulling files from Git repositories.Note that this tutorial was tested on windows 7. 1.) Open command prompt. 2.) Execute: ssh-keygen -t rsa -C 'yourEmail'. Will generate 2 files: idrsa (private key) and idrsa.pub (public key. If you want to use custom keys you can generate an RSA key pair with OpenSSL, and from that generate both the private and the public key. In order to create those files you can use the following commands: openssl genrsa -out rsa-2048bit-key-pair.pem 2048 openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform pem -in rsa-2048bit-key-pair.pem -outform pem -nocrypt -out.
While Encrypting a File with a Password from the Command Line using OpenSSLis very useful in its own right, the real power of the OpenSSL library is itsability to support the use of public key cryptograph for encrypting orvalidating data in an unattended manner (where the password is not required toencrypt) is done with public keys.
The Commands to Run
Generate a 2048 bit RSA Key
You can generate a public and private RSA key pair like this:
openssl genrsa -des3 -out private.pem 2048
That generates a 2048-bit RSA key pair, encrypts them with a password you provideand writes them to a file. You need to next extract the public key file. You willuse this, for instance, on your web server to encrypt content so that it canonly be read with the private key.
Export the RSA Public Key to a File
This is a command that is
openssl rsa -in private.pem -outform PEM -pubout -out public.pem
The
-pubout
flag is really important. Be sure to include it.Next open the
public.pem
and ensure that it starts with-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
. This is how you know that this file is thepublic key of the pair and not a private key.To check the file from the command line you can use the
less
command, like this:less public.pem
Do Not Run This, it Exports the Private Key
A previous version of the post gave this example in error.
openssl rsa -in private.pem -out private_unencrypted.pem -outform PEM
The error is that the
-pubout
was dropped from the end of the command.That changes the meaning of the command from that of exporting the public keyto exporting the private key outside of its encrypted wrapper. Inspecting theoutput file, in this case private_unencrypted.pem
clearly shows that the keyis a RSA private key as it starts with -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
.Visually Inspect Your Key Files
It is important to visually inspect you private and public key files to makesure that they are what you expect. OpenSSL will clearly explain the nature ofthe key block with a
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
or -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
.You can use less to inspect each of your two files in turn:
Eclipse Generate Rsa Key 2048 Download
less private.pem
to verify that it starts with a-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
less public.pem
to verify that it starts with a-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
The next section shows a full example of what each key file should look like.
The Generated Key Files
The generated files are base64-encoded encryption keys in plain text format.If you select a password for your private key, its file will be encrypted withyour password. Be sure to remember this password or the key pair becomes useless.
The private.pem file looks something like this:
The public key, public.pem, file looks like:
Protecting Your Keys
Depending on the nature of the information you will protect, it’s important tokeep the private key backed up and secret. The public key can be distributedanywhere or embedded in your web application scripts, such as in your PHP,Ruby, or other scripts. Again, backup your keys!
Remember, if the key goes away the data encrypted to it is gone. Keeping aprinted copy of the key material in a sealed envelope in a bank safety depositbox is a good way to protect important keys against loss due to fire or harddrive failure.
Oh, and one last thing.
If you, dear reader, were planning any funny business with the private key that I have just published here. Know that they were made especially for this series of blog posts. I do not use them for anything else.
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Generate Rsa Key Pair
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