SSH Keys, instead of a password prompt

SSH keys allow  authentication between two hosts without the need of a password.  SSH  key authentication uses two keys a private key  and a public key.  To generate the keys, from a terminal prompt enter:                       

ssh-keygen -t dsa                        

This will generate the keys using a DSA  authentication identity of the user.  During the process you will be prompted for a password.  Simply hit Enter  when prompted to create the key.  By default the public key is  saved in the file ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub,  while ~/.ssh/id_dsa is the private key.  Now copy the id_dsa.pub file to the remote host and append it to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys  by entering:                       

ssh-copy-id username@remotehost 

Finally, double check the permissions on the authorized_keys  file, only the authenticated user should have read and write  permissions.    If the permissions are not correct change them by: 

chmod 600 .ssh/authorized_keys

You should now be able to SSH to the host without being prompted  for a password.      

Link information under...  https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/C/openssh-server.html

The SSH Keys section