Edit:
After writing this, DSA got deprecated then later removed. See [WayBack] Secure Secure Shell.
When working with SSH private/public keys (often because of ssh-keygen), and using DSA for auhtentication, these are the relevant files:
- $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa:
(on the local system)
The $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa file contains the protocol version 2 DSA authentication identity of the user. - $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa.pub:
(on the local system)
The $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa.pub file contains the DSA public key for authentication when you are using the SSH protocol version 2. A user should copy its contents in the $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys file of the remote system where a user wants to log in using DSA authentication. - $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys:
(on the remote system)
The $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys file contains authorized DSA public keys (each line is the contents of a $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa.pub file) of users on systems that are auhorized to login on the remote system.
Important:
Be sure to transfer the contents of the local $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa.pub file to the remote system in a secure way.
–jeroen