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I have connected many times to github and know about generating ssh keys and putting the id_rsa.pub into github settings. But for some reason with this install I can not get it to connect. I am just trying to clone a private repo to a new server but when I the clone I get :


If I run :

ssh -T git@github.com

It tells me I have successfully authenticated.

What else can I try? I am running this on a bitnami stack so maybe that is causing issues? This is probably the problem, I just am not sure what to do about it. There are already a set of keys in the .ssh/authorized_keys dir. I left those alone as this is how I am connecting with putty/pagent. I put the new keys in /.ssh and left the authorized_keys alone. What would be the correct way to set this up? Should I just delete both pairs and start over? Use the same keys for putty and github? Why do I still authenticate if there is a problem?

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are you trying to connect from Windows or Linux? I'm confused by your below comment & your mention of putty here –  Sathya Jan 20 '12 at 3:15
Hi sorry it is confusing. I am connecting from Windows to the bitnami server with Putty. The bitnami server itself is running Linux. I am trying to connect to github from the Linux server. –  zac Jan 20 '12 at 3:29
I've updated my answer. –  Sathya Jan 20 '12 at 4:46
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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Have you tried creating a new SSH certificate, i.e. key pair?

1 Generate default key pair:

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "defaultuser@gmail.com"

Don't use this if you already have an SSH certificate.

2 Generate additional key pairs:

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "seconduser@gmail.com"

3 Add non-default keys

$ ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_seconduser
Enter passphrase for /Users/defaultuser/.ssh/id_rsa_seconduser: 
Identity added: /Users/defaultuser/.ssh/id_rsa_defaultuser  (/Users/defaultuser/.ssh/id_rsa_defaultuser)

4 Set SSH configuration file (~/.ssh/config) so SSH knows which key to be used for which server:

Host github.com
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile /Users/XXXUser/.ssh/id_rsa

Host github-client
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile /Users/XXXUser/.ssh/id_rsa_XXXSECONDUSER

5 Make sure in the .git/config file for the Git project associated with the second user account at Github that you are using correct host name github-client but not github.com:

[remote "origin"]
    url = git@github-client:foobarsomeuser/foobar.git
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Thanks! That helped me figure out what to do. The problem was that I was trying to use the default bitnami user. I generated the keys as a new user and now it works! –  zac Jan 21 '12 at 21:23
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Seems like your public key is either missing or you've placed an incorrect public key in your keyring. Check if the keyring exists in ~/.ssh. Hard to say without mentioning your OS


I believe these are the keys required to ssh into the Linux server.

Best way would be to regenerate a new set of private/public keys for github, add the PK to your Linux server keyring and paste the public key over at Github accounts.

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I updated my question to try and explain better. Yes the keys are in ~/.ssh (and another set in authorized_keys). This stack is Linux 64bit I believe. –  zac Jan 20 '12 at 2:55
Thanks, I dont understand though. I keep the keys that are there to ssh into the server and create a new set for github? What does it mean to add to the keyring? Do I put it in the .pem I downloaded when setting up the AMI? Please a bit more details. –  zac Jan 20 '12 at 20:44
@zac Computist has explained what I meant –  Sathya Jan 21 '12 at 14:24
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