# Configuring public key authentication
<a name="public-key-auth"></a>

 To enable SSH public key authentication, you must first generate an SSH key and associate it with an administrator account by using the `security login publickey create` command. This allows the account to access the SVM. The `security login publickey create` command accepts the following parameters. 


| Parameter | Description | 
| --- | --- | 
|  `-vserver` (Optional)  |  The name of the SVM that the account accesses. If you are configuring SSH public key authentication for file system users, don't include `-versver`.  | 
|  `-username`  |  The username of the account. The default value, `admin`, is the default name of the cluster administrator.  | 
|  `-index`  |  The index number of the public key. The default value is 0 if the key is the first key that's created for the account. Otherwise, the default value is one more than the highest existing index number for the account.  | 
|  `-publickey`  |  The OpenSSH public key. Enclose the key in double quotation marks.  | 
|  `-role`  |  The access control role that's assigned to the account.  | 
|  `-comment` (Optional)  |  Descriptive text for the public key. Enclose the text in double quotation marks.  | 

 The following example associates a public key with the SVM administrator account `svmadmin` for the SVM `svm01`. The public key is assigned index number `5`. 

```
Fsx0123456::> security login publickey create -vserver svm01 -username svmadmin -index 5 -publickey "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABIwAAAIEAspH64CYbUsDQCdW22JnK6J/vU9upnKzd2zAk9C1f7YaWRUAFNs2Qe5lUmQ3ldi8AD0Vfbr5T6HZPCixNAIzaFciDy7hgnmdj9eNGedGr/JNrftQbLD1hZybX+72DpQB0tYWBhe6eDJ1oPLobZBGfMlPXh8VjeU44i7W4+s0hG0E=tsmith@publickey.example.com"
```

**Important**  
 You must be an SVM or file system administrator to perform this task.