System Reinstall, Recover SSH keys

Question

System Reinstall, Recover SSH keys

I would like to reinstall my 10.5 system today. One thing that i need to make sure I properly recover, are the systems existing SSH keys. I have many systems that I admin, and some of them only allow login with an ssh key (no passwords allowed).

Can someone give me some tips on getting my old keys back (assuming i will have made the proper system backup before i begin my reload).

Also, this will be the first reload ive done since Ive had a dedicated time machine drive. any tips on recovering entire directories (such as my home and documents, etc), or as it pertains to getting my original SSH keys back, would be appreicated.

Cheers,

Power Mac G5 Quad, Mac OS X (10.5.3), All manner of Unix (except oddly... Linux)

Posted on Sep 6, 2008 8:30 AM

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Answer 1

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Sep 6, 2008 8:45 AM in response to Jonathan_Horne

your ssh keys are usually kept in ~/.ssh directory. (\~ means your home directory). If you copy that directory to the corresponding location on the new install that's probably all you need to do.

as for your other questions please explain more. why are you doing a reinstall? do you have problems with your system? the easiest way to transfer everything would be to do a full system restore from TM. however that would transfer any system problems you may have had.

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Answer 2

Sep 6, 2008 8:53 AM in response to Jonathan_Horne

well the keys in my home/.ssh arent really the problem, the last time i reinstalled a mac, i tried to recover the system's ssh keys (ie, the ones that live in /etc/ssh/ on every other unix box). they appear to live right in /etc on OSX, but when i tried to copy my old ones over the news ones on my last install, something wasnt right and my remote systems still didnt recognize me. was just checking to see if i was doing it right, or maybe there was some other ssh key repository elsewhere that i didnt know about.

the system has had some bad behavior lately (revving of the jet engines after a crash), and has had some abnormally long shutdowns, and doesnt like to put itself to sleep much of the time.

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Answer 3

Sep 6, 2008 8:55 AM in response to Jonathan_Horne

also, ive used time machine to actually recover a file only a couple of times. it didnt seem apparent on how to restore entire dircetories, etc. is it possible to recover entire applications as well? is it intelligent enough that if i were to click on an application, that it would grab anythign and everything associated with it, no matter its location?

Message was edited by: Jonathan_Horne

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Answer 4

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Sep 6, 2008 9:16 AM in response to Jonathan_Horne

Jonathan_Horne wrote:
also, ive used time machine to actually recover a file only a couple of times. it didnt seem apparent on how to restore entire dircetories, etc.

you do it in the same way as with single file. You select a directory and hit "restore".

is it possible to recover entire applications as well?

Most OS X apps are self contained packages and you can easily recover those.

is it intelligent enough that if i were to click on an application, that it would grab anythign and everything associated with it, no matter its location?

no, of course not. the only way to do that is to restore the entire system which TM can do but is probably the wrong thing to do in your situation. you can also use migration assistant to import data and applications from the TM backup after a reinstall but that again can create problems if you had issues with your system prior to reinstall.
sorry can't say anything more about ssh keys. I'm only familiar with user ssh keys. I imagine system ones would be in /etc somewhere as you suspect.

Message was edited by: Jonathan_Horne

Message was edited by: V.K.

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