Thanks to everyone for the input so far.... So, this is what I did to try to set this up: On Node 1 (called rac1): $ ssh-keygen -t rsa $ ssh-keygen -t dsa $ cat *.pub > authorized_keys.rac1 scp authorized_keys.rac1 root@rac2:~/.ssh/authorized_keys.rac1 On Node 2 (called rac2): $ ssh-keygen -t rsa $ ssh-keygen -t dsa $ cat *.pub > authorized_keys.rac2 scp authorized_keys.rac2 root@rac1:~/.ssh/authorized_keys.rac2 $ cat *.node* > authorized_keys $ chmod 600 authorized_keys On Node 1 (called rac1): $ cat *.node* > authorized_keys $ chmod 600 authorized_keys Testing, from node 1 $ ssh rac2 date Expected results Testing, from node 2 $ ssh rac1 date Requests password I'll be sending the output from the verbose in a separate email. I ran it, but right off hand looking at the output, I don't see the problem. Robert G. Freeman Oracle Consultant/DBA/Author Principle Engineer/Team Manager The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Father of Five, Husband of One, Author of various geeky computer titles from Osborne/McGraw Hill (Oracle Press)