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GitHub AE
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Checking for existing SSH keys

Before you generate an SSH key, you can check to see if you have any existing SSH keys.

Note: GitHub improved security by dropping older, insecure key types on March 15, 2022.

As of that date, DSA keys (ssh-dss) are no longer supported. You cannot add new DSA keys to your personal account on your enterprise.

RSA keys (ssh-rsa) with a valid_after before November 2, 2021 may continue to use any signature algorithm. RSA keys generated after that date must use a SHA-2 signature algorithm. Some older clients may need to be upgraded in order to use SHA-2 signatures.

  1. Open TerminalTerminalGit Bash.

  2. Enter ls -al ~/.ssh to see if existing SSH keys are present.

    $ ls -al ~/.ssh
# Lists the files in your .ssh directory, if they exist

  3. Check the directory listing to see if you already have a public SSH key. By default, the filename of a supported public key for GitHub AE is id_rsa.pub.

    Tip: If you receive an error that ~/.ssh doesn't exist, you do not have an existing SSH key pair in the default location. You can create a new SSH key pair in the next step.

  4. Either generate a new SSH key or upload an existing key.

    • If you don't have a supported public and private key pair, or don't wish to use any that are available, generate a new SSH key.

    • If you see an existing public and private key pair listed (for example, id_rsa.pub and id_rsa) that you would like to use to connect to GitHub AE, you can add the key to the ssh-agent.

      For more information about generation of a new SSH key or addition of an existing key to the ssh-agent, see "Generating a new SSH key and adding it to the ssh-agent."