Configuring GitLab CI/CD for AWS Deployment Using SSH Keys

Setting Up Secure SSH Connections Between GitLab and AWS

Here’s a step-by-step guide to configure GitLab CI/CD pipelines for deploying to AWS EC2 instances using SSH key authentication:

1. Key Preparation

1. Convert PPK to PEM (using PuttyGen):
   • Open your existing PPK private key in PuttyGen
   • Navigate to Conversions → Export OpenSSH key
   • Save as a PEM file (e.g., my-key.pem)
2. Add the PEM file content to GitLab:
   • Go to your project → Settings → CI/CD → Variables
   • Add a new variable:
     • Key: SSH_PRIVATE_KEY
     • Value: Content of your PEM file
     • Check “Mask variable” and “Protect variable” options
3. Generate public key from pem file and append that to AWS user .ssh/authorized_keys
   • Run the following command in your terminal (Linux/macOS/WSL)

ssh-keygen -y -f /path/to/your-key.pem > /path/to/your-key.pub