LFCS Question #80: Real Exam Question with Answer & Explanation

Question

Which of the following commands preloads and manages keys that are used for automatic authentication while logging in to other machines using SSH?

Options

• Asshd
• Bssh-agent
• Cssh-keygen
• Dssh-add

Explanation

The ssh-agent command runs a background program that holds private keys used for public key authentication, allowing users to authenticate without re-entering passphrases.

Common mistakes.

• A. sshd is the OpenSSH server daemon that listens for incoming SSH connections, not a client-side tool for managing authentication keys.
• C. ssh-keygen is used to generate, manage, and convert authentication keys for SSH, but it does not preload or manage them for a running session.
• D. ssh-add is used to add private key identities to the authentication agent (ssh-agent), but the ssh-agent itself is the program that manages and preloads these keys.

Concept tested. SSH key management (agent)

Reference. https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/ssh-agent.1.html

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