Key pairs in xneelo Cloud

A key pair or Secure Shell (SSH) key pair is a combination of two cryptographic keys that each contain a string of data. They are used in asymmetric encryption to provide a ‘lock’ and ‘unlock’ function. 

Key pairs include a combination of a: 

• Public Key: This key encrypts data. This can be shared with anyone.
• Private Key: This key decrypts data. This should be kept secret and not shared.

Key pairs are used to provide security in remote connections or communications. They provide users with a cryptographic method to prove their identity. 

The security of key pairs relies on the difficulty of deriving the private key from the public key.

In xneelo Cloud you can use the features available to create new key pairs. 

You can also use your own methods to generate key pairs, using the terminal on your workstation or other tools.

Key pairs are created per user within an account, so other account members will not be able to use the key pairs you create. 

Key pairs can be generated as a specific type, in a specific format. See more in the sections below.

SSH keys are grouped into cryptographic key types according to the functions they perform. 

More secure keys generally have a higher number of bits and in turn a longer string of data. There are different mathematical algorithms and tools available for generating the different key types.

In xneelo Cloud, the standard supported key type is the RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) type. If you create a key pair in your cloud project it will be generated as this type. 

You can generate key pairs of another type (such as ECDSA or Ed25519) and import these into your cloud project, to be assigned to an instance.

When generating an SSH key pair, you’ll choose the type and size based on your security and compatibility requirements.

When a new key pair is created there will be 2 files that are generated: one for the public key, and one for the private key.

There are several formats that may be used for key pair files.

In xneelo Cloud the standard format is .pem for both public and private keys, and is the default format for OpenSSL. If you create a key pair in your cloud project it will be generated as this file type.

In xneelo Cloud you can store public keys within your cloud project that you can assign to your instances. 

You can import public keys you have generated and can also create new key pairs (both public and private key).

Each public key has a fingerprint which serves as the unique identifier for the key. This is a short sequence of bytes used to identify a longer public key. The fingerprint assists in authentication by allowing client applications to verify the identity of the server to which they are connecting.

Private keys are used to connect to your instance via SSH. If you lose access to your private key you will not be able to connect to your instance.

Learn more about how to manage private SSH keys.

When you create an instance you will need to select a key pair to assign to the instance. Once the instance is created, this is stored on the instance as an authorised key.

When you connect to the instance via SSH you will need to provide the private key in order to connect.

Learn more on connecting to instances and how to troubleshoot cloud instance connection.