Are you still typing full SSH commands like it’s 2005?

meme

We’ve all been there: typing out the same SSH commands over and over:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/special_key.pem user@ec2-54-234-56-78.compute-1.amazonaws.com

Enter the magical ~/.ssh/config file

# ~/.ssh/config
Host bastion
    HostName ec2-54-234-56-78.compute-1.amazonaws.com
    User ec2-user
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/special_key.pem

Host prod-db
    HostName 10.0.5.12
    User admin
    ProxyJump bastion

Now you can simply type:

ssh bastion
# or
ssh prod-db

Why this is life-changing:

  • Human-readable aliases instead of IP addresses
  • Automatic key selection without the -i flag
  • Jump hosts configured once, used forever

Your future self will thank you for taking 5 minutes to set this up today!