Creating an SSH Key on macOS

macOS includes the OpenSSH ssh-keygen command. Use it to generate an RSA key pair.

In a terminal window, run the command:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[e-mail]"

Replace [e-mail] with an email address or another comment that identifies the key.

You'll see a prompt like:

Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/yourname/.ssh/id_rsa):

Press Enter to accept the default, or enter a custom path. Keep the path in a restricted directory that others do not have permission to access.

When prompted, either supply a passphrase or press Enter to create the key without one. The passphrase is separate from the ExaVault account password.

The process generates two files: a private key with no extension, and a public key with the extension .pub.

Upload the public key to ExaVault and configure the SFTP client with the private key. Never give the private key to anyone.