Add ssh user to a Linux (ubuntu/Debian) server, that only has ssh key access

• Procedure adapted from https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/210228/add-a-user-wthout-password-but-with-ssh-and-public-key

  1. create a variable with username

     export username='tom'

  2. create the user and add public key to authorized_keys file

     sudo useradd -m -d /home/$username -s /bin/bash $username
     sudo mkdir /home/$username/.ssh
     sudo vim /home/$username/.ssh/authorized_keys

  3. fix permisions for file and directory

     sudo chown -R $username:$username /home/$username/.ssh
     sudo chmod 700 /home/$username/.ssh
     sudo chmod 600 /home/$username/.ssh/authorized_keys

  4. if sudo required add user to the group

     sudo usermod -aG sudo $username

...

CategoryLinux