FTP over SSH with key pair FileZilla Setup

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This is a guide to show how to setup a key pair in cPanel to use with your FTP client so you can use a secure connection in your FTP client. In this guide we are showing how to setup the key in FileZilla which is a popular FTP program. Other programs are similar in setup when adding in a key.

 

1. Login to your cPanel and click on SSH shell access.

 

2. Click on Manage SSH keys button and click on Generate a new key icon.

 

 

 

3. On this page, you can specify a name for the key, a password to secure the key along with the type and size (leave the type and size default), such as; 

Key Name : mysitename

password : Any strong password

Key type : RSA

Key size : 2048

 

4. Once all these details are entered, click on 'Generate key'. This will generate a public and private key pair.

5. click on 'Manage authorization' for the public key which is showing in the image below and authorize it further to connect to the account.

 

 

6. Once this is done, click on 'view or download' in the private key section, to convert and download the private key.

 

7. Now, we need to convert the privatekey to ppk format. To use this option, enter your passphrase (used in step 3 when generating the key) in the space provided and click on 'Convert' button to convert the private-key to ppk format.



8. You can then download the converted key to your computer and save it in an accessible location.

 

9. Now open Filezila, click on edit >> Settings >> Conections >> SFTP >> click on add key file and import it from the appropriate location.

 

10. Now go to File >> Site manager >> click new site and type a name for the site. Then in host textbox type your domain name or hostname (if using domain name then please use your cpanel subdomain to direct you to the correct server eg. cpanel.assetict.com). In port, enter server port number (65000), choose protocol as 'SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol', select logon type as 'Normal' .

 

In the User textbox, enter your cPanel username and leave the password textbox as blank and then click on the 'connect' button. within few seconds, FileZilla establishes a connection to the server. 

 

If you manage multiple accounts then you can download the public key displayed with the private key in step 5 and then add it to the other accounts you manage. You can then use the same private key to access all the accounts you add the public key to.

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