Creating SSH Keys (Terminal)

Create a key pair for your computer.

To log in to other Aspera servers with public key authentication, you can also create key pairs from the command line. Follow the instructions below.

Create an .ssh folder in the home directory
Create a .ssh folder in your user account's home directory if it doesn't already exist:
```
> md <path-to-user-home-dir>.ssh
```
Navigate into the .ssh folder and continue:
```
> cd <path-to-user-home-dir>.ssh
```
Use ssh-keygen to generate SSH key
Execute the following command in the .ssh folder. The program will prompt you the key pair's file name; press ENTER to use the default name id_rsa. For a passphrase, you can either enter a password, or press RETURN twice to leave it blank:
```
> ssh-keygen -t rsa
```
Retrieve the public key file
When created, the key pair is placed in your home directory's .ssh folder (assuming you generated the key with the default name id_rsa):
```
(user's home directory)\id_rsa.pub
```
Provide the public key file (e.g. id_rsa.pub) to your server administrator, so that it can be set up for your server connection.
Use the key in an async session.
Usage within an async session (option -i keyfile, instead of -w password) is as follows:
```
>async -N TestBackup -d c:/tmp/dir -r user@server:d:/tmp/dir -i PATH_TO_THE_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE
```
Note: Your private key and public key must be located in the same directory.