[[Home | » Project Kenai Documentation and Training]]     [[Howdoi | » How Do I ...]] =Generating an SSH Key= You'll need to generate a Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) key if you use the Git source code management system. Mercurial repositories are also available though SSH as a more secure and reliable alternative to the HTTPS access mechanism. SSH provides higher performance and authentication via public key cryptography rather than with a password. To access your repositories via SSH, first ensure that you have an SSH client available on your local system, as described below. You use that client to generate a pair of cryptographic keys, which you use in place of a password when you authenticate to our servers. The type of key to generate is an SSH2 key. You can generate either an RSA or a DSA key. Both will work on Kenai.com. After you use your SSH client on your system to generate an SSH key pair, you copy the public key to the [[ProfileSettings#SSH_Keys|SSH Keys tab]] in your personal profile. Subsequently, you need to use the SSH client to access the repository. Most UNIX, Linux, and Mac systems come with a built-in SSH client, OpenSSH. * For GitHub instructions on how to generate a key on Mac OSX systems, see [http://help.github.com/mac-key-setup/]. * For GitHub instructions on how to generate a key on Linux systems, see [http://help.github.com/linux-key-setup/]. If you have a Microsoft Windows system, there are a number of SSH clients you can run. * If you plan to work with GIT, see the instructions for using Git Bash at [http://help.github.com/msysgit-key-setup/]. * For instructions on using PuTTY on Microsoft Windows, see [[Winsshwithputty|Generating and Using an SSH Key on a Microsoft Windows Machine]]. The help files for PuTTY are well written and are a very useful resource for understanding SSH. * To set up Mercurial to use PuTTY with SSH, see [[Usinghg-winsshsetup|Setting Up Mercurial to Use SSH on a Microsoft Windows Machine]]. * If you plan use SSH with a Subversion repository, see [[Usingsvn-winsshsetup|Setting Up Cygwin to Use SSH on a Microsoft Windows Machine]] * For a list of other Windows clients, see [http://www.openssh.com/windows.html]. If you're new to the whole SSH thing, this blog might help you: [http://jimmyg.org/blog/2008/beginners-guide-to-ssh-keys-with-ssh2.html].