The OpenSSH Client Config File: Simplify your SSH Connections

The OpenSSH client config file is a very powerful feature, that too many people ignore. You can use the client config file to simplify your SSH connections, by including preset options per host. In this video, I'll go over the basics of this config file.
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Time codes:
00:00 - Intro
02:14 - Scenario overview
07:18 - Building the OpenSSH client config file
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#SSH #OpenSSH #Linux

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Jay, I truly appreciate these little tidbits of advice. They're great for new and novice Linux users. I've found that as I've gotten more comfortable with the command line, I notice that I've also formed some poor habits. These sorts of tips are a good reminder that almost everything has a better way to do it.

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You're great man..I'm glad you chose to do this full time.

[@kirkhammett2107]

this geezer is awesome, thank you! your content recently has been invaluable!

[@michalroesler]

I'm watching this for the second time. And now I understand what this config file is used for. Thank you Jay. And this Ubuntu book of yours is so very, very good.

[@RoborobsComputers]

Great information Jay. Thank you for all you do.

[@jonnypeace2810]

7 years a linux user and i never knew about this - i wrote ssh scripts to simply, don't judge lol. Tested with scp and ssh-copy-id. perfect! Look forward to reading your book that i got for my birthday :)

[@whylde7834]

Thanks for the video. Look forward to the next steps!

[@SwiatLinuksa]

Very usefull tip! Thank you very much! Add to this ssh keys on server and here we go ;))

[@KiranDevraaj]

Helpful video sir, this will definitely help in improve my productivity as a network quality engineer 👨‍💻

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Like always this is the best channel when learned new things about Linux!. Ps. How is Mycroft doing controlling the world? 😉

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Dude you are not only THE BEST linux learning source I have found, but you are a huge RPG fan clearly ,and I would love to speak with you one day! we have a ton in common! Thanks for what you do!

[@venkatesh4760]

Thanks Jay for the informative Video.

[@katnax3059]

On the one hand, this video is extremely easy to follow, on the other hand, I was expecting more than Hostname, User and Port in the config.

[@roylopez6673]

This is great. Thanks Jay

[@mkintzel]

Thank you - this is so helpful!!

[@darrylbaker8004]

Thanks really helped me very much

[@chrisumali9841]

Thanks for this great tip and info, have a great day

[@glyakk]

Great video and well done. I started using ssh config last year to simplify my life lol.

[@tigerfish66]

some great tips in here thank you.

[@murtadha96]

Fantastic! Thank you

[@GorkemYildirim]

Good guide, thanks.

[@olafhuerta2318]

Love it! I already create my config file in my laptop to access my mpg in my home easier. Do you know if there is an option for tunneling port automatically with this commands? (-L port:localhost:port)

[@FurikuriYugi]

Thank you sir, saved me some time.

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Thanks Jay!

[@brandon_wallace]

Good information in this video.

[@michalroesler]

Yes. Already subscribed.

[@legooos]

very useful, thanks

[@nandurx]

I love your videos as they are more in deep and more knowledgeable than anywhere. I have watched mostly all OPENssh videos... I am going to set up jumpbox VM in proxmox. How do we move ssh key so I can use in other PC if I ever destroy that VM or change pc all together? How do we back up ssh key?

[@EUPescar]

Great video!

[@anon1div0]

I normally use Fish aliases or Fish command history to simplify SSH commands but will now use this method instead. Thanks.

[@youtubeoneverything4581]

Loved it.

[@rcdenis1]

Thank you Jay. Oh, skynet is from the terminator, acme I'm not sure but wiley coyote somehow comes to mind.

[@markcain8029]

ssh command line auto completion works by reading from the config file. So getting into your acme server is as easy as: ssh a[tab]

[@aba-nascu]

Thank you!

[@bobwong8268]

👍👍👍👍👍Dear Jay, THANK YOU! Awesome! Use "server*" to match server1... how abt those different ip addresses? Perhaps we get to see them in the follow-up video.

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Thank you. :D

[@raul230285]

Hi Jay, you think you can do a Nagios tutorial, thank you very much I have been following you for a long time. Greetings from Peru.

[@greob]

Shinra is not just the evil corporation in Final Fantasy VII, it's actually the name of an ancient kingdom of Korea: "Shilla".

[@MrMackster01]

This is great! Thanks for the video! I’m not seeing where you saved the config file? Or what the config file name is. Could you please clarify?

[@richardmeyer418]

It's called config and it's in the .ssh folder off the /home/jay directory. The nano command (nano is the editor he uses) he gives shows this

[@plazotronik]

the configuration file is very similar to the configuration of the redial application. I recommend it for ordering connections

[@ibrahimamreya]

Great video. thanks for your efforts. i use alot of your videos as a refrence when creating labs for my students. thanks again :)

[@fredtheilig9636]

I find that uppercase U and P for user and port is not required, at least in Ubuntu. I've always used lowercase without a problem. I just checked Host and Hostname and it's the same. Also, I use some end of life equipment that require the use of obsolete protocols that you will cover next. Very useful information, here.

[@josh-rx6ly]

Hi, am I correct in thinking that IdentityFile should point to your private key? Does this need to be an absolute path or is relative fine? I ask because my desktop doesn't seem to use the key when I use the alias. Help is appreciated.

[@nandurx]

Is there a way to apply ssh key when connecting because without it, it asks password all the time

[@PaPaTheGMan1215]

Just tumbled on this video and was excited to try it. Unfortunately, the 'config' file didn't work for me. I tried Arch Linux, Ubuntu, and Windows. None of them recognized any entries I added to $HOME/.ssh/config.

[@jyvben1520]

added l.sh (or lh.sh might be a more logical name) cat config | grep "Host " to only show the hosts

[@kjn5991]

And what about the SSH connections to Github or other places? The known_hosts is filled with hashes and there's no way to recognize them (If I need to remove some connections from there).

[@kjn5991]

@Terminalforlife (LL) That's what I meant. When I set up keys for the Github / Gitlab -connection, the corresponding host is added to known_hosts, but since it is hashed, I cannot recognize it from all the other hashed hosts. I know the hashes are an intended security feature, but it makes maintaining the known_hosts more difficult since I can't clearly see what hosts I have there. I have an old Linux installation on a laptop that I used for some dev stuff and there's no way I can remember all those hosts.

[@shubashkamta1509]

Ya man. This does not work. Details are missing. Refuses connections have server install on one vm and client on another. Use syntax and conventions. Connection does not work at all. Docs on web detail same procedure but still fails to connect. What important details are you and all other resources omitting?

[@Rickety3263]

IdentifyFile!!!

[@Ranblv]

great video thanks. I would have used the username Johnconnor on the second server.

[@BDBD16]

I wonder how many networks/servers have a skynet name on them, then I wonder if they are all communicating...then I wonder....oh shit........

[@praecorloth]

C'mon. We all know Shinra is from Chrono Trigger. ... :D

[@d00dEEE]

I'm too lazy to look, but I assume scp and friends pick this up, too?

[@TheRubodj]

shinra FFVII

[@rebycfa5673]

FFIV nerd ova here 2:29

[@pylang3803]

don't connect to skynet :D

[@Shawshanck]

Null

[@hexbinoban6170]

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