PCCL SSH Setup Tutorial for GitHub access on Sivri

A tutorial for new lab members on how to set up SSH access to github on sivri without messing up any other lab members SSH connections.

Step 1: Create a new SSH key

1. Open a terminal and SSH into sivri ssh remote@sivri
2. Type cd ~/.ssh to navigate to the SSH directory
3. Generate an SSH key (use your email): ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "<[email protected]>"
4. The key generator will ask you for a filename.
   • Make your filename id_rsa_<github_username> (e.g. id_rsa_johnsmith)
5. Enter a passphrase (you will need to enter this passphrase every time you use the key). You can leave it blank if you want, but then anyone on sivri has access to your GitHub account.

Step 2: Add your SSH key to your GitHub account

1. In your terminal, type cat id_rsa_<github_username>.pub to print the public key to the terminal.
2. Copy the public key to your clipboard (highlight the text and press ctrl + c)
3. Go to your GitHub account settings
   • Click on the SSH and GPG keys tab
   • Click on New SSH key
   • Give your key a title (e.g. PCCL Sivri)
   • Paste your public key into the Key box
   • Click Add SSH key

Step 3: Add your SSH key to your sivri config file

1. Go back to your terminal and type nano config to open the config file in an editor
2. Append the following lines to the bottom of the config file:

   # <Your Name>'s github ssh key
   Host github.com-<github_username>
       HostName github.com
       User git
       IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_<github_username>
   

3. Save the file and exit the editor
4. Test your connection by typing ssh -T github.com-<github_username>. You should see a message like Hi <github_username>! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.

Step 4: Update your remote URLs

1. Now, for every repository you own, you should update the remote url:
   • git remote set-url origin [email protected]<github_username>:<path_to_your_repo>.git
   • For example, if I wanted to update the remote url for the set-up-ssh-tutorial repository, I would type:
     • git remote set-url origin [email protected]:BYU-PCCL/set-up-ssh-tutorial.git