Introduction to SSH User Configuration Files

Process Software SSH client operation is simplified with SSH user configuration files. An individual user can set up a configuration file to customize the connections to SSH server nodes. One advantage of implementing configuration files is a simpler command line so that the user doesn't need to remember customized information pertaining to a specific node's configuration.

The user configuration file can contain configuration keywords that are common for connections to all remote servers (user name, for example). They can also have "stanzas" that contain target node specific keyword values, such as ciphers. This configuration file can be created once and then copied to all nodes where the user has an account.

Customizing the Connections to SSH Server Nodes

To illustrate, let's say that user JACKIE on node FLAT accesses an account named RALPH on node BUS in the domain EXAMPLE.COM. The system administrator on node BUS has changed the port that SSH listens on from the default of 22 to 9998. JACKIE is bored by the default password prompt, "ralph's password:", and would prefer something more friendly such as "Have a nice day!"

In this example, JACKIE's password prompt can be changed on the VMS command line with the following command:

$ SSH /PORT=9998 /OPTION=(PasswordPrompt="Have a nice day!") /USER=RALPH BUS

An alternate solution would involve JACKIE creating a user configuration file that contains all the values in the preceding command line. The file SSH2_CONFIG. would need to be created in JACKIE's SYS$LOGIN:[.SSH2] directory on node FLAT.

The contents of the file would contain:

MYBUS:
  host	bus.example.com
  port	9998
  passwordprompt	"Have a nice day!"
  user	ralph

This would simplify the following command:

 
$ SSH /PORT=9998 /OPTION=(PasswordPrompt="Have a nice day!") /USER=RALPH BUS

to be:

$ SSH MYBUS

If JACKIE needs to connect to node BUS with the username of NORTON, this could be accomplished with the following DCL command:


$ SSH /USER=NORTON MYBUS