Hi,
Yes, that's right. The
authorized_keys file resides at the server-side - that is, on the computer you want to SSH into. The
id_rsa private key and associated
id_rsa.pub public key reside on the client side - that is, the machine you're going to be SSH'ing from.
So, breaking it down step-by-step, the idea is:
- Create your new SSH keys on the client
- Copy the contents of the id_rsa.pub file on the client machine into the file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server side
- Connect via SSH from the client to the server
So long as the permissions on all files are right, as has previously been discussed, then everything should work. SSH'ing with the key will of course only work for the one specific account that you've added the key to on the server, and not for any others. And likewise, it will only work from the account on the client to which the key belongs, and not any others.