# Stash Latest : Setting up SSH on Linux and Mac

This page last changed on Jun 14, 2012 by pwatson.

You can use SSH keys to establish a secure connection between your computer and Stash for when you are performing Git operations. There are a few steps to set up SSH keys for Stash, but it's quite straightforward, so follow along. If you already have a key you want to use, go to step 4.
- | Your Stash administrator must have already enabled SSH access to Git repositories. Supported key types are DSA and RSA2. RSA1 is not supported. At the time of writing, on Mac OS X, the Git tar archive can fail on special characters when using SSH to secure connections between your computer and Stash. (The Git `archive` command allows you to download as a single file the files in a checkout of the Git repository.) We recommend that you use the zip format; you can set that using the following command:
      git archive --format zip
| On this page: 1. Check for existing SSH keys 2. Back up old SSH keys 3. Generate a new key 4. Add a key to Stash Related pages: Setting up SSH on Windows Setting up SSH port forwarding Permanently authenticating with Git repositories

### 1. Check for existing SSH keys

You should check for existing SSH keys on your local computer. If you already have a key pair that you want to use, you can go to step 4.

Open a terminal and run the following:

    cd ~/.ssh

- If you see "No such file or directory, then there aren't any existing keys: go to step 3.

- Check to see if you have a key already:

      ls id_*

- If there are existing keys, you may want to use them: go to step 4.

### 2. Back up old SSH keys

If you have existing SSH keys, but you don't want to use them when connecting to Stash, you should back those up.

Do this in a terminal on your local computer, by running:

    mkdir key_backup
    cp id_rsa* key_backup

Now generate a new SSH key.

### 3. Generate a new key

If you don't have an existing SSH key to use, you need to generate one.

1. Open a terminal on your local computer and enter the following:

       ssh-keygen

   You'll see a response similar to this:

2. Just press <Enter> to accept the default location and file name. If the `.ssh` directory doesn't exist, the system creates one for you.

3. Enter, and re-enter, a passphrase when prompted.
   The whole interaction will look similar to this:

4. You're done! Now add the new key to Stash.

### 4. Add a key to Stash

1. In your terminal, copy the public key file to your clipboard by entering:

   Mac OS X

       pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

   Linux

       sudo apt-get install xclip
       xclip -sel clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

   Note that on Linux, you may need to download and install xclip, as shown in the code snippet above.

2. In Stash, go to your profile:

3. Click on SSH Keys and then Add Key:
4. Paste the key into the text box:
5. Click Add Key. You're done!

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