openshift-docs/modules/virt-adding-public-key-vm-cli.adoc

// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// * virt/virtual_machines/virt-accessing-vm-ssh.adoc

:_mod-docs-content-type: PROCEDURE
[id="virt-adding-public-key-vm-cli_{context}"]
= Adding a key when creating a VM by using the CLI

[role="_abstract"]
You can add a statically managed public SSH key when you create a virtual machine (VM) by using the command line. The key is added to the VM at first boot.

The key is added to the VM as a cloud-init data source. This method separates the access credentials from the application data in the cloud-init user data. This method does not affect cloud-init user data.

.Prerequisites

* You generated an SSH key pair by running the `ssh-keygen` command.
* You have installed the {oc-first}.

.Procedure

. Create a manifest file for a `VirtualMachine` object and a `Secret` object.
+
Example manifest:
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[source,yaml]
----
include::snippets/virt-static-key.yaml[]
----
<1> Specify the `cloudInitNoCloud` data source.
<2> Specify the `Secret` object name.
<3> Paste the public SSH key.

. Create the `VirtualMachine` and `Secret` objects by running the following command:
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[source,terminal]
----
$ oc create -f <manifest_file>.yaml
----

. Start the VM by running the following command:
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[source,terminal]
----
$ virtctl start vm example-vm -n example-namespace
---- 

.Verification
* Get the VM configuration:
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[source,terminal]
----
$ oc describe vm example-vm -n example-namespace
----
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Example output:
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[source,yaml]
----
apiVersion: kubevirt.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
  name: example-vm
  namespace: example-namespace
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      accessCredentials:
        - sshPublicKey:
            propagationMethod:
              noCloud: {}
            source:
              secret:
                secretName: authorized-keys
# ...
----