HOW TO Generate an SSH key for your Raspberry Pi Nextcloud Ubuntu Appliance
01 Create an Ubuntu One account
The Raspberry Pi Nextcloud Ubuntu Appliance requires an Ubuntu One account to operate. This ensures a secure, encrypted connection to verify your Ubuntu One login to the appliance. To start, open your Ubuntu One account or create one if you don’t already have one (see https://login.ubuntu.com/). Once verified with a valid email address, log in to the account and click the SSH Keys link in the menu.
02 Generate the RSA-SSH key
An SSH key must be created. On your Linux computer, open a terminal and enter: ssh-keygen -t rsa This will create a new SSH-RSA key that you can save to your computer. Press Enter to select the default location. You’ll need to supply the file path to the desired location if this is different to the default option.
01 Create an RSA-SSH key in Windows
If you’re using Windows, key creation requires extra software. Download and install WinSCP (https://winscp.net/eng/index.php) and in the Login screen click Tools ≥ Run PuTTYgen. Here, ensure RSA is selected at the bottom, then hit Generate. Move the mouse when prompted, then input and confirm a passphrase. Use either of the save options to store the key in a dedicated file on your
02 Paste the RSA-SSH key into Ubuntu One
Copy the generated SSH key from your terminal or text file. On your Linux setup you can retrieve this with the following command: cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub On your Windows machine, simply open the text file and copy the key string. Then, on the Ubuntu One website, paste the key into the field labelled Public SSH Key and click Import SSH Key.
03 Access your Ubuntu One account in Nextcloud
To conclude secure single sign-on (SSO) authentication of your Raspberry Pi Nextcloud Ubuntu Appliance on first boot, tap Enter when prompted and then log in with your Ubuntu One account credentials. A few moments later, authentication should be complete. If not, tap enter to try again. If the network connection is reliable, it should go through.
04 Connect to the Nextcloud Ubuntu Appliance
With the account authenticated for SSO, you can use the same credentials to access the Nextcloud configuration options over SSH. This affords several options including managing external USB drives. You can use the passphrase you created with the SSH-RSA key to authenticate the SSH connection. Connect using ssh username@≤IP_ADDRESS≥ then enter the passphrase.