Limits

  • The SSH key pair, known as as key pair, applies to Linux instances only.
  • Currently, only 2048-bit RSA key pairs are supported.
    • Of the key pair components, Alibaba Cloud holds the public key.
    • After creating the key pair, you must download and securely store the private key of the key pair for future use.
    • The private key is in the unencrypted PEM-encoded PKCS#8 format.
  • An Alibaba Cloud account can have a maximum of 500 key pairs per region.

Create an SSH key pair

  1. Log on to the ECS console.
  2. In the left-side navigation pane, select Networks and Security > SSH Key Pair.
  3. Select the target region.
  4. On the SSH Key Pairs page, select the target region and click Create SSH Key Pair.
  5. On the Create SSH Key Pair page, enter a name for the key pair, and select Auto-Create SSH Key Pair.
    Note The specified key pair name must be unique under the Alibaba Cloud account. That is, the name cannot be the same as that of an existing key pair or of a key pair that has been attached to an instance but has since been deleted. Otherwise, the error message "The key pair already exists" appears.


  6. Click OK.
    Note After a key pair is created, you must download and securely store the private key for future use.  If you do not have the private key, you cannot log on to the ECS instance.

After creating the key pair, you can view the information, including key pair Name and Fingerprint in the key pair list.

What to do next

After creating an SSH key pair, you can attach or remove it to or from an ECS instance.