Configure your SSH connections with the .ssh folder for Windows and Ubuntu

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Tiempo de lectura: 2 minutos

Reading time: 2 minutes

In order to connect to remote servers, we can use the .ssh folder configuration and the config file that Ubuntu and Windows use to create SSH connections.


This tool is presented as an alternative to Putty.

The first thing we need to do is create our .ssh directory:

  • In Ubuntu, it goes in the Home directory of our user.
/home/{username}
  • In Windows, it’s exactly the same, but with the Windows user.
C:\Users\{username}

Once you’ve located the directory, create the .ssh folder inside it:

Ubuntu:
/home/{username}/.ssh

Windows:
C:\Users\{username}/.ssh

Inside this folder, create a new file and name it config.

Host NAME_YOU_WANT
  HostName IP_OR_DOMAIN
  User USERNAME
  Port SSH_PORT
  PubKeyAuthentication yes
  IdentitiesOnly yes
  IdentityFile PATH_TO_KEY

Let me explain the file we’ve created:

  • Host: It’s the name of the host you want to assign, for example, TEST.
  • HostName: It’s the IP or address you want to connect to.
  • User: It’s the user that authenticates with SSH.
  • Port: It’s the SSH port; by default, it’s 22, but it can be changed (SSH server configuration).
  • PubKeyAuthentication: Indicates that we will use key authentication.
  • IdentitiesOnly: Indicates that we will use the key file.
  • IdentityFile: Indicates the path where we store our key.

The example file would look like this:

Host TEST
  HostName www.google.com
  User google
  Port 22
  PubKeyAuthentication yes
  IdentitiesOnly yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/key

In order for this configuration to work, we need to copy the RSA public key inside .ssh and name it key.

Additionally, set the permissions to 400 to allow using the key. Run the following command:

chmod 400 key

Once the permissions are set, you can use the created connection.

Type the ssh command followed by the chosen HostName (autocompletion is available).

ssh TEST

Furthermore, you can add more configurations in your config file as follows:

Host TEST
  HostName www.google.com
  User google
  Port 22
  PubKeyAuthentication yes
  IdentitiesOnly yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/key

Host TEST_2
  HostName www.yahoo.com
  User yahoo
  Port 22
  PubKeyAuthentication yes
  IdentitiesOnly yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/yahoo_key

If you want to create a configuration without an RSA key, you can use the following code in the config file:

Host TEST
  HostName www.google.com
  User google
  Port 22

As you can see, it’s a good way to keep our SSH connections well-organized.

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