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Start ssh-agent and load a key for a limited time

harmlessSSHalle
Adjust the values, the command updates live
user@server
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)" && ssh-add -t 4h ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_server

Starts an SSH agent for the current shell and loads the key after you enter the passphrase once. With -t the key is removed automatically after the given time. ssh-add -l shows the loaded keys, ssh-add -D removes all of them.

Note: On desktops an agent is usually already running, in which case the ssh-add part is enough.

Also searched as

  • how to add ssh key to ssh-agent
  • ssh-add key with timeout
  • enter ssh passphrase only once

Related one-liners

All in SSH

Change or set the passphrase of an SSH key

$ssh-keygen -p -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_server
cautionSSH

Copy your public SSH key to a server

$ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_server.pub -p 22 webuser@server.example.com
cautionSSH

Derive the public key from a private SSH key

$ssh-keygen -y -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_server
harmlessSSH

Generate an Ed25519 SSH key pair

$ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -a 100 -C "admin@example.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_server
harmlessSSH

Connect to an internal server through a jump host

$ssh -J admin@bastion.example.com webuser@10.0.0.12
harmlessSSH

Copy a directory to another server with tar over SSH

$tar czf - -C /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs . | ssh webuser@neuserver.example.com "tar xzf - -C /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs"
cautionSSH

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