If an SSH key pair with the same name exists in the given location, those files are overwritten.
You can specify a different location, and an optional password ( passphrase) to access the private key file. By default, these files are created in the ~/.ssh directory. Use the ssh-keygen command to generate SSH public and private key files. Other key formats such as ED25519 and ECDSA are not supported. Supported SSH key formatsĪzure currently supports SSH protocol 2 (SSH-2) RSA public-private key pairs with a minimum length of 2048 bits. VMs created using SSH keys are by default configured with passwords disabled, which greatly increases the difficulty of brute-force guessing attacks.įor more background and examples, see Detailed steps to create SSH key pairs.įor additional ways to generate and use SSH keys on a Windows computer, see How to use SSH keys with Windows on Azure.