Tips: 1.) server configuration 1.1.) .../sshd_config CACertificateFile /etc/ssh/ca/ca-bundle.crt CACertificateFile is plain text with CA certificates. You can get a copy from openssl, apache, KDE, mutt, etc. packages. Original file is exported from Netscape certificate db and one download URL is http://www.modssl.org/contrib/ca-bundle.crt.tar.gz 1.2.) append in $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys a record with following format: where: KEY_TYPE:=x509v3-sign-rsa|x509v3-sign-dss (case sensitive !) WORDDN:=Distinguished Name|Distinguished_Name|DN|Subject (case insensitive !) WORDDNSUFF:='='|':'|'' is equal to output from command "openssl x509 -noout -subject -in MY_CERTIFICATE_FILE". Shell sample: echo -n "x509v3-sign-rsa "; openssl x509 -noout -subject -in MY_CERTIFICATE_FILE >> PATH_TO_USER_HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys 2.) client config: Depends from client. "OpenSSH id-file" must contain both sections - private key and certificate: -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- ..... -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY----- -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- ..... -----END CERTIFICATE----- P.S.: When we use own CA we must import CA certificate[s] to "CACertificateFile". More info on http://satva.skalasoft.com/~rumen/domino_CA/#dca2kde