I ran gpg --gen-key on my server, and it has amounted to nothing after more than an hour.

Is there not enough entropy on a Linode 768 to generate a GPG key?

Can't seem to make this work.

I just gave it a whirl and it sat there saying not enough random bytes available (this is a near idle linode 512), I dumped a 800mb MySQL database and after around 200mb it finished creating the key.

So in answer to your question, no there probably isn't enough entropy on a server (mainly due to the lack of a keyboard and mouse), do some sort of heavy disk usage action while generating the key and it should generate.

_________________
Paid support
How to ask for help
1. Give details of your problem
2. Post any errors
3. Post relevant logs.
4. Don't hide details i.e. your domain, it just makes things harder
5. Be polite or you'll be eaten by a grue

I don't think that method is going to work with a remote server. Open up another window and try something like

du /

Thanks for the advice. This is on a new server, so I have no DB to mess with. I have 5 screen sessions open, 4 of which are running top, rotating in cat /dev/urandom sometimes. I was running du / but that didn't seem to be taxing enough. Are there any other commands that are particularly good in this case?

edit: now have 25 screen sessions open, some running top, others running "du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du / && du /". Anyone have recommendations?

running cat on /dev/urandom will use up entropy, try running something like tar -cf /root/tmp.tar /usr that will tar your entire /usr directory into /root/tmp.tar which you can delete afterwards, that should be big enough to create enough entropy

_________________
Paid support
How to ask for help
1. Give details of your problem
2. Post any errors
3. Post relevant logs.
4. Don't hide details i.e. your domain, it just makes things harder
5. Be polite or you'll be eaten by a grue

Thanks obs. Looks like the tar command did it.

There is a Debian package to get enough entropy.
http://www.howtoforge.com/helping-the-random-number-generator-to-gain-enough-entropy-with-rng-tools-debian-lenny
It's a daemon, so I will uninstall it after generating GPG Keys.

Of course, source code is available: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gkernel/

Ivy Bridge has a DRNG that can pull in 2-3 Gbps of high quality entropy, I think we'll see this problem (limited entropy in cloud hosting environments) go away once cloud hosts have moved to Xeons based on Ivy Bridge or newer.

Recycling /dev/urandom might be good enough for running self-signed SSL certs on hobby sites, but it's nowhere near secure enough for generating GPG keys.

Also, rng knows when you're trying to feed it with low-quality pseudorandom bits. It will usually refuse to use such sources until enough entropy is collected by some other means.