Better SSH Key management comes to Cloud Containers
If you manage SSH access to Cloud Containers, you might have discovered a few things that haven’t worked as smoothly as they should. That’s why a recent update has made some improvements to the way SSH keys work on the Cloud Container platform.
Every SSH key is now unique - no duplicates
Until now, it’s been possible to store multiple copies of the same key. This could lead to confusion, for example when someone thought they had completely deleted a key but had actually only removed one of two copies.
You are no longer able to save a duplicate of an SSH key that already exists, or update a key to match one that’s already on your account. If your account contained any duplicate SSH keys, we have merged them. (This can make it look like a key has disappeared, but don’t be alarmed.) These merges won’t make any changes to your SSH access.
Updates are now pushed to users
Now when you update an SSH key, you will no longer need to update your SSH users. All SSH key updates are automatically pushed to their associated SSH users. This only applies to Cloud Containers, and not other servers like VDS or Virtual Servers, which retain the manual process.
Better syncing between servers, Containers, and the Control Panel
Before we rolled out these updates, any SSH keys that were created directly on the server, rather than through the Control Panel, were never visible in the Control Panel. This is the method sometimes used by our Support Team, so keys that we created for you were not shown in your Control Panel.
The latest changes mean that keys created on the server will be visible in the Control Panel, although they might not appear immediately. As a result, you might now see keys that weren’t visible before. Their names will be prefixed with cc-import-.
Now servers will remain the “source of truth” for all SSH keys, no matter where or when they were created/updated.
We have published a new Knowledge Base article about imported keys.
Review your SSH keys today
If it’s been a while since you reviewed your SSH keys, now is a good time to check whether any of them need updating or removing.
Log into your SiteHost Control Panel.
From the left-hand menu, select SSH Keys.
Check the list for anything out of date. Remember that duplicates have been merged, and that keys with `cc-import-’ have been imported from your server.
As always, if you have any questions, we’re here to help. Simply open the Support Centre from the left-hand menu.