Log in as the future user of the keys on the system where the private key will be kept private.
When running the following command, press Enter to accept the default answer to all the questions.
ssh-keygen -t rsa
Two files should have been created, for example:
c@CW8:~$ ls -l .ssh/id_rsa*
-rw------- 1 c users 1679 Jan 4 2011 .ssh/id_rsa
-rw-r--r-- 1 c users 387 Jan 4 2011 .ssh/id_rsa.pub
The names and permissions of the keys reflect their purpose. id_rsa.pub is the public key and can be readable by anyone. id_rsa must be kept private.
The public key is annotated with the user name and short hostname of the system it was created on:
c@CW8:~$ tail -1 .ssh/id_rsa.pub ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCpFeU5a3XE0y5UJWUey+LeImYraVdKvb5Fp5bQYdU0cblFGgsuU6OOZMH2yvmi4lXkCbuwpVqXMXxmu8eA70qmwRc2ouWzucAzebNVl0UKN74WgQ4lY2A7pFhv+4UapBWi39GCfQx3sofIBWwF8ccEVGzDhWJeZT+VRj6Ih9YEr2F/zYH0lYiBxL4Ly8XRLV5ixkJh7vcNXLa5KsBtGu/97oxBQJYUDbf3FpiljRcGcHz/Kgtq7J6lBvHkjzaVUeuCF99kMp36lTsX0MJgAvJMv+Edq/I7Gihlf9Vm2po4sqBH8xKEjEeiWjjBKchp0LxDs+sYL4slEexYxuODnzbT c@CW8