I suppose that my main Linux user account password serves as my SSH password as well. Is there a way I can modify this? As it turns out, I'd like to have a REALLY secure SSH password for obvious reasons, but a less secure local password, as it makes typing in passwords a heck of a lot easier on a machine. Is there a way I can change my account password in SSH without changing my Linux user password?
2 Answers
No. But if you use a SSH key and require login using a key then you can set the key passphrase to anything you like.
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Fyi, the linked page mostly describes generation of SSH1-RSA keys. Be careful with the instructions. Feb 15, 2011 at 14:08
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Thanks, I'll look into it. That's always more secure than using passwords anyway, right? Do you know of a tutorial on how to get key-only authentication set up on servers and clients? Feb 15, 2011 at 15:52
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Normally this is controlled by the
PasswordAuthentication
option insshd_config
; you can useMatch
to restrict it to specific users. Feb 15, 2011 at 17:13
It is possible with some PAM configuration magic. With SSH, however, key-based authentication as suggested by Ignacio is a better solution.