Change ssh key-pair of Running EC2 Instance

19 / Aug / 2014 by Vikash Jha 6 comments

Sometimes we get the requirement to change the key-pair for some security reasons. In this article, we will be changing the key pair of running EC2 instances.

Steps:

1. Create a new key pair from AWS Console.
2. Generate Public key from newly created key pair ( Private Key ).
3. Paste the generated public key ( from Step 2 ) in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys of Server.
4. Delete the existing key from ~/.ssh/authorized_keys of Server
5. Perform ssh using new key.

I have a running EC2 Instance ( Ubuntu 14.04 ) having key-pair “testing-key”.

Screenshot from 2014-08-19 13:16:14

Let’s change the key

1. Create a new key pair from AWS Console

Screenshot from 2014-08-19 14:08:14

This is a private key that you have to download on your local machine.

2. Generate Public Key from Private Key (testing-ssh-key)

Execute

[js]"$ ssh-keygen -y"[/js]

and provide the path for private key.
Here “testing-ssh-key.pem” is the new private key

Screenshot from 2014-08-19 14:59:48

3. Append the above generated public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

4. Remove the old key from ~/.ssh/authorized_keys ( “testing-key.pem” )

5. Perform ssh using new key

[js]
$ ssh -i testing-ssh-key.pem ubuntu@X.X.X.X
[/js]

You can now log in using new key.

Screenshot from 2014-08-19 14:29:03

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Note: This article is not for changing key-pair if it is lost or deleted. Before performing below actions, it is advisable to take the backup of existing EC2 Instance.

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comments (6)

  1. Akhil T

    Thanks. This worked perfectly. Only issue is the EC2 instance is still showing the old key name in dashboard. Any suggestions to change it to new name?

    Reply
    1. Sameer

      Yes i too tried this, but it doesn’t updates the key name in the dashboard, which might create a problem for a new person, if he doesn’t knows about the change of the perm file.

      Reply
  2. sandeep

    i followed the above steps for changing the key pair and i changed the authorized keys after that i am not able to login into my ec2 instance . please help me .thanks

    Reply

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