# Capistrano question

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/capistrano-question/152196>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [October 31, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/capistrano-question/152196 "2008-10-31T03:38:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![joe-black](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@joe-black](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joe-black)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/capistrano-question/152196/1 "2008-10-31T03:38:19Z")

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When configuring the ssh\_options[:keys] options. It says it should have  
a value of path/to/ssh/id\_rsa. Is that on my local machine or on the  
host machine?

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**Author:** ![joe-black](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@joe-black](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joe-black)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/capistrano-question/152196/2 "2008-10-31T04:47:52Z")

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On Oct 31, 1:38 pm, Joe B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> When configuring the ssh\_options[:keys] options. It says it should have  
> a value of path/to/ssh/id\_rsa. Is that on my local machine or on the  
> host machine?

id\_rsa is your private key and should stay on your local machine; keep  
it secret; it will take the place of your password when logging in to  
the server. If you’re worried it may be accessed by other people then  
encrypt it with a passphrase.  
id\_rsa.pub is the public key and you can push that up to your server  
and (usually) stick it in ~/.ssh/authorized\_keys. (see ssh-copy-id)  
ssh\_options needs to know the private key so that it can authenticate  
you with your server (once you’ve pushed up your public key).

–  
Daniel B.