Public key authentication - SSH asks for passphrase after rebooting local machine?

Question

I created a public/private key pair on a local machine using ssh-keygen. I entered a passphrase. I then used ssh-id-copy to put the public key on the remote machine.

When I ssh into the remote machine I'm asked for my passphrase after each each reboot on the local machine. Is this expected behavior? The local machine is using gentoo and the remote machine is using ubuntu.

Reference material I used: https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/C/openssh-server.html

Answer 1

This is expected behaviour. If you provide a pass phrase when generating a key pair then the pass phrase is use to encrypt the private key. You are being asked to provide the pass phrase so that the private key can be unlocked (decrypted) before it can be used to authenticate you to the remote host.

Answer 2

Check /var/log/secure of the server where you are trying to ssh for possible errors. Also make sure that permission of /home/<username>/.ssh is 700