ssh keys strangeness

[alfalfa]

Ok, so I've followed the steps here:

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/l-keyc.html?dwzone=opensource

for setting up ssh and generating keys. So now, when I ssh into my machine, I'm asked for the passphrase instead of the password, which provides me with more security. Cool. Except, I noticed that if I incorrectly enter the passphrase 3 times, it doesn't tell me to get lost, it then asks me for my password! What's the point of generating keys if it will settle for a password (instead of passphrase)? Anyone know what's going on? Thanks


Groan. I just tried to ssh into my machine from a different one than I had been using before, and now I'm not even prompted for a passphrase at all. What am I missing here?

[rac]

It tries PubkeyAuthentication first (with the keys you made), so the passphrase question is coming from the client machine. The second machine probably has an empty passphrase on the key, which is why you don't get asked. Then, it is falling back to PasswordAuthentication, which is why you are getting asked for a password - from the server this time.

To stop that, set PasswordAuthentication to no in the server's /etc/ssh/sshd_config.
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[alfalfa]

That did it! Thanks! So much to learn...