I’m using ~/.ssh/config to ssh to various hosts. I’m using the shortcut hostname when I ssh to a host, eg. “ssh rekon” would log me in to the host rekon.
I have a different user name that is not in the global settings but is defined in the local setting for that particular host. If I ssh to that host, I still get the global user name. How can I change this?
My ~/.ssh/config
# Site-wide defaults for some commonly used default options
Host *
ForwardX11 yes
ForwardX11Trusted yes
ForwardAgent yes
ForwardX11 yes
Protocol 2
Port 22
**User chris**
IdentityFile /home/chris/ssh_keys/chris_ssh_keys
Compression yes
Host weldpond
HostName ssh1.company.tld
Host rekon
**User ben**
HostName ssh2.company.tld.
You can trace what ssh is doing with your config file by using -v. For example, ssh -v rekon should give you:
…
debug1: Applying options for rekon
debug1: Applying options for *
…
in the first few lines. If it doesn’t mention rekon, your file is faulty. Check these things: that you have ended the file with a newline. Add an extra blank line to be sure. Also that there is no junk after rekon, e.g. a carriage return introduced by a DOS editor. Also I don’t know if it matters, but it would be good practice to make the Host lines flush left. Makes it easier to see where the Hosts are too. And normally I put the global section at the bottom but I don’t think this matters.
The other thing I noticed is that you have specified an Identify file in the globals. Remember anything in the globals that isn’t overridden is appended to the specific config. So you would be using chris’s key for login instead of a password for User ben. You may have to specify that the host rekon uses passwords and not public key login.
