Some VPS providers have a method for replacing keys on server instances. If you don't have backups yes you'll be locked out, at least temporarily until you can restore your access. What happens if I loose my public key on the laptop. Any good articles on securing servers which are cloud based and serve public applications would be highly appreciated. If there is something else I should have done to secure this server which delivers a web application please let me know what I've missed.

The firewall being used is ufw and is configured like so : # configure ufw sudo ufw logging on sudo ufw allow ssh sudo ufw allow www What happens if my public key changes? Also can I 'backup' my public key incase this happens? I assume no because its a key pair specific to the machine but worthwhile checking. Am I locked out the server? What is best practice here - and how can I mitigate the risk of loosing my public key? My concern is, what happens if I loose my public key on the laptop. I authenticate with the remote server by adding my private key on my laptop to the authorised keys on the host.

The configuration of SSH is as follows: # Edit or add the following configuration to sshd_config PermitRootLogin no PasswordAuthentication no X11Forwarding no AllowUsers andy deploy I followed this guide to configure its security :

Original ufw flag