How do I connect to SFTP with provided SSH Key?

I was redirected to this StackExchange, it is my first time here. The extent of experience I have with SSH keys begins and ends with the one time I setup the ability to push code to GitHub.

I need to access a FTP server via Cyberduck. I am in SFTP and need to "Choose..." a SSH Private Key. I have the TEXT for the private key that was messaged to me. So I can copy and paste it into a file? I'm not sure how to proceed and every resource I find is to generate a key rather than save a file to upload.

Guidance and resources are appreciated.

2 Answers

You can save the text that was sent to you as a file and use the built in "Choose..." feature on Cyberduck. I am on a Windows machine so I used the Notepad app. I assume TextEdit on a Mac would have similar results. Here are the steps:

1. Open Notepad
2. Paste the text that was provided for your SSH key
3. Save the file (I named mine key.txt)
4. Open Cyberduck
5. Select Open Connection
6. Select SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) for the connection type
7. Enter server, port (22), username
8. You can skip password - it will use the SSH key
9. For SSH Private Key, select Choose... and find the save location of your file
10. Click Connect
11. The Unknown Fingerprint prompt will appear, click Allow (and you can select Always if this is a connection you trust and will often use)
12. You should see your files and/or your assigned folder location!

if you use an sftp to connect to an sftp server, you should generate an ssh keypair (ie on unix: ssh-keygen) and provide your the public key (ie .ssh/id_rsa.pub or .ssh/id_ed25519.pub) to the sftp-server-admin.

if your ssh private key is in the default directory, the software may find it automatically.

if you use openssh (sftp is a part of it), you can use

sftp -i <privateKey> 

to connect to the sftp server, once the sftp-server-admin has put your ssh public key to the right location (depends on the setup and the ssh server used).