> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.platform9.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.platform9.com/managed-openstack/5.8/authentication-and-authorization/authentication-ssh-keys.md).

# SSH Keys

SSH is a secure protocol that is used to connect to remote Linux servers.

SSH server must have the SSH daemon running on it and the client machine must have SSH client installed on it to connect to a remote Linux server.

SSH keys provide a more secure way to authenticate into a Linux-based server as compared to a regular username-password combination. SSH keys are of three types- RSA, DSA and ECDSA.

OpenStack supports RSA keys as RSA is more universal than DSA and ECDSA.

{% hint style="success" %}
**Tip**

**Tip:** Platform9 supports all RSA key lengths, that is, 1024, 2048, and 4096. The recommended RSA key length is 2048.
{% endhint %}


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