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Configure SSH Without Using a Password or Passphrase Between Primary and Standby Servers for Linux or Unix.

Important:

Ensure the home directories (cd $HOME) of the accounts on the primary and standby servers have the following permissions:

[oracle@avisit01]$ ls -al .
drwxr-xr-x 40 oracle dba 4096 Sep 17 02:46 .

If the permissions are 775 or 777 then SSH may keep asking for a password. Change permission with: chmod 755 .

1. On the primary server as Dbvisit Standby software owner (do not enter passphrase!):

[oracle@avisit01]$ ssh-keygen
Generating public/private dsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/oracle/orabase/.ssh/id_dsa): Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /oracle/orabase/.ssh/id_dsa. Your public key has been saved in /oracle/orabase/.ssh/id_dsa.pub. The key fingerprint is:
73:c7:f5:7c:ee:bd:62:7f:0d:51:ed:8a:c7:45:f7:d9 oracle@avisit01

In this example avisit01 is the primary server and avisit03 is the standby server. The public/private key pair may either be dsa or rsa. On some implementations of ssh, you have to specify: ssh-keygen -t dsa.

On Linux the output may be different:

[oracle@avisit01]$ ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/oracle/orabase/.ssh/identity): Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /oracle/orabase/.ssh/identity. Your public key has been saved in /oracle/orabase/.ssh/identity.pub. The key fingerprint is:
a2:88:ad:53:e8:5b:37:a1:82:6d:03:ec:96:c4:6b:df oracle@avisit01

In this example avisit01 is the primary server and avisit03 is the standby server. This will generate 2 files under your home directory:

.ssh/id_dsa 
.ssh/id_dsa.pub

Or generate the following files under your home directory:

.ssh/id_rsa 
.ssh/id_rsa.pub

On Linux the files may be named differently.

.ssh/identity 
.ssh/identity.pub

2. On the standby server as Dbvisit Standby software owner (do not enter passphrase!):

[oracle@avisit03]$ ssh-keygen
Generating public/private dsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/oracle/orabase/.ssh/id_dsa): Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /oracle/orabase/.ssh/id_dsa. Your public key has been saved in /oracle/orabase/.ssh/id_dsa.pub. The key fingerprint is:
73:c7:f5:7c:ee:bd:62:7f:0d:51:ed:8a:c7:45:f7:d9 oracle@avisit03

In this example avisit01 is the primary server and avisit03 is the standby server. The public/private key pair may either be dsa or rsa. On Linux the output may be different:

[oracle@avisit03]$ ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/oracle/orabase/.ssh/identity): Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /oracle/orabase/.ssh/identity. Your public key has been saved in /oracle/orabase/.ssh/identity.pub. The key fingerprint is:
a2:88:ad:53:e8:5b:37:a1:82:6d:03:ec:96:c4:6b:df oracle@avisit03

3. On the standby server create a new empty file called .ssh/authorized_keys:

[oracle@avisit03]$ cd .ssh 
[oracle@avisit03]$ vi authorized_keys

In this example avisit01 is the primary server and avisit03 is the standby server.

4. Copy the contents of file .ssh/id_dsa.pub from the primary server to the new file .ssh/authorized_keys on the standby server. The file may be called identity.pub or id_rsa.pub instead of id_dsa.pub.

[oracle@avisit01]$ cat id_dsa.pub
ssh-dss AAAAB3NzaC1kc3MAAACBALj5RhJzSDOvRnTID/P2kblmE9qM2zCrzUa0gDL/fbngdcB8EELeJJi LuhR9uM/XyQr+UySGVeMS1jM0uBfQcs/7p3WAEkxncXzGduxlsyO8iyYfr8Kf7ufGPdJq7n15v0hjUMWSa w6YcA== oracle@avisit01

5. Ensure the new file .ssh/authorized_keys has the correct permission:

[oracle@avisit01]$ chmod 600 authorized_keys

6. On the primary server create a new empty file called .ssh/authorized_keys:

[oracle@avisit01]$ cd .ssh 
[oracle@avisit01]$ vi authorized_keys

In this example avisit01 is the primary server and avisit03 is the standby server.

7. Copy the contents of file .ssh/id_dsa.pub from the standby server to the new file .ssh/authorized_keys on the primary server. The file may be called identity.pub or id_rsa.pub instead of id_dsa.pub.

[oracle@avisit03]$ cat id_dsa.pub
ssh-dss AAAAB3NzaC1kc3MAAACBALj5RhJzSDOvRnTID/P2kblmE9qM2zCrzUa0gDL/fbngdcB8EELeJJi LuhR9uM/XyQr+UySGVeMS1jM0uBfQcs/7p3WAEkxncXzGduxlsyO8iyYfr8Kf7ufGPdJq7n15v0hjUMWSa w6YcA== oracle@avisit03

8. Ensure the new file .ssh/authorized_keys has the correct permission:

[oracle@avisit01]$ chmod 600 authorized_keys

SSH is now setup and configured. To test: On the primary server:

[oracle@avisit01]$ ssh avisit03 ls -al
The authenticity of host 'avisit03 (10.1.1.82)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 40:bb:ea:96:48:7d:22:fa:36:a6:8e:e7:37:7c:f4:d3.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'avisit03,10.1.1.82' (RSA) to the list of known hosts. total 896
...
...

In this example avisit01 is the primary server and avisit03 is the standby server. On the standby server:

[oracle@avisit03]$ ssh avisit01 ls -al
The authenticity of host 'avisit01 (10.1.1.81)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 40:bb:ea:96:48:7d:22:fa:36:a6:8e:e7:37:7c:f4:d3.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'avisit01,10.1.1.81' (RSA) to the list of known hosts. total 896
...
...

In this example avisit01 is the primary server and avisit03 is the standby server. Secure shell configuration is now competed. For more information on SSH, please consult the man pages in Unix or Linux.