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It's amazing to me how many people use ssh and don't have an ssh config. It would be easier to maintain a .ssh folder in version control then to install this o

It's amazing to me how many people use ssh and don't have an ssh config. It would be easier to maintain a .ssh folder in version control then to install this on each host and ssh until it learns. Your auto provision of servers with chef or puppet should be adding them to you .ssh/config with a pointer to the ssh key and special requirements like tunnels through jump hosts/ bastion hosts.

dhagz 12y ago
Are there any resources you recommend on maintaining a .ssh folder? I've done a little reading, but I've never really needed to worry about working with multiple servers before, but I'm going to need to learn soon for a project at work.
- voltagex_ 12y ago
  My set up dotfiles in a git repo (~/configs) with a Makefile that symlinks them to the correct location. I'm hoping someone chimes in with a bit of a better solution but there's no reason you couldn't have ~/.ssh/config symlinked in the same way. Make sure you know which version/s of ssh you'll be dealing with and make the config work with the lowest version Some HN articles/discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4677049 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4677049 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7658459 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7658459 Some stuff changed in OpenSSH 6+ so read the manpages, too.
  - bdarnell 12y ago
    There is actually a reason you can't have ~/.ssh/config symlinked the same way: ssh refuses to read a symlink for this file (for security purposes it is strict about the file type and permissions). My workaround is to copy the file instead of symlinking in my dotfile-setup script.
    - voltagex_ 12y ago
      Oops! Thanks for the clarification
    - wampus 12y ago
      I version control the entire directory (ignoring the known_hosts file) somewhere like ~/config/ssh and symlink it to ~/.ssh. It contains a Makefile with a target that runs this command: ln -s ${PWD} ~/.ssh Just make sure the directory is chmod 700 and the important files in it are chmod 600.
      - jethro_tell 12y ago
        Also ignore any private keys. For security, but also each host should have a different key so you can burn one without burning them all.
eranation 12y ago
Yep. 100% with you on that one. And it's not that hard to setup. I found this as a great resource: http://nerderati.com/2011/03/17/simplify-your-life-with-an-ssh-config-file/ http://nerderati.com/2011/03/17/simplify-your-life-with-an-s...

dhagz 12y ago

Are there any resources you recommend on maintaining a .ssh folder? I've done a little reading, but I've never really needed to worry about working with multiple servers before, but I'm going to need to learn soon for a project at work.

voltagex_ 12y ago
My set up dotfiles in a git repo (~/configs) with a Makefile that symlinks them to the correct location. I'm hoping someone chimes in with a bit of a better solution but there's no reason you couldn't have ~/.ssh/config symlinked in the same way. Make sure you know which version/s of ssh you'll be dealing with and make the config work with the lowest version Some HN articles/discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4677049 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4677049 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7658459 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7658459 Some stuff changed in OpenSSH 6+ so read the manpages, too.
- bdarnell 12y ago
  There is actually a reason you can't have ~/.ssh/config symlinked the same way: ssh refuses to read a symlink for this file (for security purposes it is strict about the file type and permissions). My workaround is to copy the file instead of symlinking in my dotfile-setup script.
  - voltagex_ 12y ago
    Oops! Thanks for the clarification
  - wampus 12y ago
    I version control the entire directory (ignoring the known_hosts file) somewhere like ~/config/ssh and symlink it to ~/.ssh. It contains a Makefile with a target that runs this command: ln -s ${PWD} ~/.ssh Just make sure the directory is chmod 700 and the important files in it are chmod 600.
    - jethro_tell 12y ago
      Also ignore any private keys. For security, but also each host should have a different key so you can burn one without burning them all.

eranation 12y ago

Yep. 100% with you on that one. And it's not that hard to setup. I found this as a great resource: http://nerderati.com/2011/03/17/simplify-your-life-with-an-ssh-config-file/ http://nerderati.com/2011/03/17/simplify-your-life-with-an-s...