SSH Public Key auth on HPE/Aruba switches [x-post from r/ArubaNetworks]

So I'm working on securing some scripts and have run across issues finding this documentation so I figured now that I found it, I'd share it.

To enable public key authentication on HPE/Aruba switches, enter config mode in the CLI and enter the following (note this is confirmed working on firmware version 16.01.0004 and newer, does not work on 15.16.0006 and maybe other older versions):

ip ssh public-key manager 'ASCII PUB KEY TEXT' username manager 

Note that the ASCII text needs to be in single quotes. This can include the whole line from your id_rsa.pub file 'ssh-rsa <key text> user@domain.com' The single quotes are required, which was missing from some notes I found online.

aaa authentication ssh enable public-key 

Make sure to save the config to memory before logging out. Hope this helps save someone the time it took me to find this and figure it out.