SFTP in .NET (using only public certificate)

Question

Is there any way that we can login to SFTP server without using password, but only by using the public certificate provided? I know that the client can connect if it has a private key file and the public certificate resides at the server.

Here, the situation is that the SFTP server has provided the client with the username and a Public certificate (.cer or .pub) file. It it possible to login the SFTP server only with this info?

Answer 1

No. The public key you got is likely the public key of the server. With SSH, both the client and the server have their own private-public key pairs. You probably have the server's public key only. Now you need to generate your private-public key pair and register the public key on the server.

For more details:

• read about public key authentication;
• understand what the server's public key is good for;
• understand SSH key pairs.