Manage SSH Access on Pair Accounts

Use SSH to connect to your web hosting account files via the command line. To give you additional control over your web hosting account, Pair Networks give you power to manage this type of account access. You can add SSH keys for additional security, restrict access,  disable access all together. 

You can manage SSH access on any Pair account that allows SSH. If your account does not have access to SSH, it will not have a Manage SSH Access page. 

Manage SSH Access

To begin, you need to navigate to the Manage SSH Access page in your Account Control Center. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your account at my.pair.com
2. In the left sidebar, click Security
3. In the drop-down, click Manage SSH Access

On this page, there are three access options you can select: 

Option	Description
Disable SSH access to your account	Removes all SSH access from your account.  This option is recommended if you do not use SSH to access your account.
Only allow SSH Public Key access, disabling password access	Only those with the private portion of your SSH key pair can SSH into your account. Your account credentials will no longer grant you access via SSH.  In order for this option to work, you must first add an SSH public key to your account. Note: Logging in through my.pair.com will not be affected.  For more information about SSH Keys, see this article: How to use ssh-keygen to generate a new SSH key
Allow either Password and Public Key access to your account	You may SSH into your account using either your account credentials or SSH Keys.

Using an SSH Key Pair

Before you can SSH into your account with an SSH Key, you must first:

• Create the SSH Key
• Add the SSH Public Key to Your Account

Once you have completed the above steps, you can use the SSH key to connect to your account. 

Create an SSH Key Pair

You must first create an SSH key pair before you can use it to connect.

You can use the ssh-keygen command in your chosen SSH program to create an SSH key pair. You can also use a third party program to generate an SSH key pair, like PuttyGen.

If you opt to use the ssh-keygen command, it might look something like this:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

After you have entered the command, you will be prompted for the following information: 

• Filename: Name the file that will hold the SSH private key
• Password: Protect your private key with a password. This ensures that even if someone has access to your private key, they can't use it unless they also possess the password. You will need to enter this password when connecting to your hosting account via SSH key. If you do not enter a password during creation, then the SSH private key will not be password protected. 

Once created, you must save the key to your device. Note that the device you save the key on should be the one you will use to connect to your account. If you created the SSH key using a terminal program, you may be prompted to save the key during the creation process. 

Add the SSH Public Key to Your Account

Once you have the SSH key pair, you need to add the public key to your hosting account. To do so, follow these steps: 

1. Return to the Manage SSH Access page
2. Under the Manage Public SSH Keys, enter a title for your public key. This title will help you differentiate the public key from others added to your account. 
3. In the SSH Key text box, paste your public SSH key
4. Click the Add New Public Key button

Once added, your new public key will be displayed underneath the textbox. You may add more public keys by repeating this process. 

Now that the SSH public key has been added, you can use the SSH key to connect to your account from any device that holds the private key.

For instructions to connect via SSH key, see our guide: Connect to Account via SSH Key.