SSH Config Host Aliases Guide

SSH Config Host Aliases Guide | Generated by AI

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Question: How to create aliases in ~/.ssh/config so I can use short names instead of typing full IP addresses or long hostnames in the ssh command?

Answer:

You can easily create short, memorable names (aliases/Host shortcuts) for servers in your ~/.ssh/config file.

Most common and clean way (recommended)

# ~/.ssh/config

Host myserver          # ← this is the short name you'll type
    HostName 192.168.1.45
    User username
    Port 22            # optional - only if not using default 22
    # IdentityFile ~/.ssh/my_special_key   # optional

Host web
    HostName 10.55.3.120
    User ubuntu

Host prod-db
    HostName 172.31.45.189
    User ec2-user
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/prod-db-key.pem

Host jump
    HostName bastion.company.com
    User admin
    ForwardAgent yes

After adding entries like this, you can simply connect with:

ssh myserver
ssh web
ssh prod-db
ssh jump

Quick minimal version (just IP → name)

Host home-nas
    HostName 192.168.178.55

Host rpi
    HostName 192.168.178.88

Then:

ssh home-nas
ssh rpi

Useful real-world examples

# 1. Short name + different user + key
Host forge
    HostName 85.236.12.44
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/forge_key

# 2. Using wildcard (nice for many similar servers)
Host *.staging
    User deploy
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/staging_key.pem

Host web-*
    User ubuntu
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/web-servers.pem

# Then you can do:
# ssh web-03.staging
# ssh web-17

# 3. Jump host / bastion example
Host internal-*
    ProxyJump jump.company.com
    User ubuntu

# Then: ssh internal-db01

Steps to set it up

Open or create the file:

nano ~/.ssh/config
# or
code ~/.ssh/config
# or
vim ~/.ssh/config

Add your Host blocks (make sure there is a blank line between different Host entries)
Set correct permissions (very important!):

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/config

Start using it right away — no ssh restart needed

ssh myserver
# or even tab-completion usually works

That’s the cleanest and most popular way people handle dozens/hundreds of servers.

References:

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