3 .\" Author: Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>
4 .\" Copyright (c) 1995 Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>, Espoo, Finland
5 .\" All rights reserved
7 .\" As far as I am concerned, the code I have written for this software
8 .\" can be used freely for any purpose. Any derived versions of this
9 .\" software must be clearly marked as such, and if the derived work is
10 .\" incompatible with the protocol description in the RFC file, it must be
11 .\" called by a name other than "ssh" or "Secure Shell".
13 .\" Copyright (c) 1999,2000 Markus Friedl. All rights reserved.
14 .\" Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron Campbell. All rights reserved.
15 .\" Copyright (c) 1999 Theo de Raadt. All rights reserved.
17 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
18 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
20 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
21 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
22 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
23 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
24 .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
26 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
27 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
28 .\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
29 .\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
30 .\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
31 .\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
32 .\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
33 .\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
34 .\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
35 .\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
37 .\" $OpenBSD: ssh_config.5,v 1.56 2005/06/08 11:25:09 djm Exp $
38 .Dd September 25, 1999
43 .Nd OpenSSH SSH client configuration files
45 .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
47 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
51 obtains configuration data from the following sources in
53 .Bl -enum -offset indent -compact
57 user's configuration file
60 system-wide configuration file
61 .Pq Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
64 For each parameter, the first obtained value
66 The configuration files contain sections separated by
68 specifications, and that section is only applied for hosts that
69 match one of the patterns given in the specification.
70 The matched host name is the one given on the command line.
72 Since the first obtained value for each parameter is used, more
73 host-specific declarations should be given near the beginning of the
74 file, and general defaults at the end.
76 The configuration file has the following format:
78 Empty lines and lines starting with
82 Otherwise a line is of the format
83 .Dq keyword arguments .
84 Configuration options may be separated by whitespace or
85 optional whitespace and exactly one
87 the latter format is useful to avoid the need to quote whitespace
88 when specifying configuration options using the
97 keywords and their meanings are as follows (note that
98 keywords are case-insensitive and arguments are case-sensitive):
101 Restricts the following declarations (up to the next
103 keyword) to be only for those hosts that match one of the patterns
104 given after the keyword.
108 can be used as wildcards in the
112 as a pattern can be used to provide global
113 defaults for all hosts.
116 argument given on the command line (i.e., the name is not converted to
117 a canonicalized host name before matching).
119 Specifies which address family to use when connecting.
129 passphrase/password querying will be disabled.
130 This option is useful in scripts and other batch jobs where no user
131 is present to supply the password.
139 Specify the interface to transmit from on machines with multiple
140 interfaces or aliased addresses.
141 Note that this option does not work if
142 .Cm UsePrivilegedPort
145 .It Cm ChallengeResponseAuthentication
146 Specifies whether to use challenge response authentication.
147 The argument to this keyword must be
154 If this flag is set to
156 ssh will additionally check the host IP address in the
159 This allows ssh to detect if a host key changed due to DNS spoofing.
160 If the option is set to
162 the check will not be executed.
166 Specifies the cipher to use for encrypting the session
167 in protocol version 1.
175 is only supported in the
177 client for interoperability with legacy protocol 1 implementations
178 that do not support the
181 Its use is strongly discouraged due to cryptographic weaknesses.
185 Specifies the ciphers allowed for protocol version 2
186 in order of preference.
187 Multiple ciphers must be comma-separated.
188 The supported ciphers are
204 ``aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,blowfish-cbc,cast128-cbc,arcfour128,
205 arcfour256,arcfour,aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc,aes128-ctr,
206 aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr''
208 .It Cm ClearAllForwardings
209 Specifies that all local, remote and dynamic port forwardings
210 specified in the configuration files or on the command line be
212 This option is primarily useful when used from the
214 command line to clear port forwardings set in
215 configuration files, and is automatically set by
226 Specifies whether to use compression.
233 .It Cm CompressionLevel
234 Specifies the compression level to use if compression is enabled.
235 The argument must be an integer from 1 (fast) to 9 (slow, best).
236 The default level is 6, which is good for most applications.
237 The meaning of the values is the same as in
239 Note that this option applies to protocol version 1 only.
240 .It Cm ConnectionAttempts
241 Specifies the number of tries (one per second) to make before exiting.
242 The argument must be an integer.
243 This may be useful in scripts if the connection sometimes fails.
245 .It Cm ConnectTimeout
246 Specifies the timeout (in seconds) used when connecting to the ssh
247 server, instead of using the default system TCP timeout.
248 This value is used only when the target is down or really unreachable,
249 not when it refuses the connection.
251 Enables the sharing of multiple sessions over a single network connection.
255 will listen for connections on a control socket specified using the
258 Additional sessions can connect to this socket using the same
265 These sessions will reuse the master instance's network connection rather
266 than initiating new ones.
271 to listen for control connections, but require confirmation using the
273 program before they are accepted (see
280 will continue without connecting to a master instance.
282 Two additional options allow for opportunistic multiplexing: try to use a
283 master connection but fall back to creating a new one if one does not already
289 The latter requires confirmation like the
293 Specify the path to the control socket used for connection sharing as described
299 will be substituted by the target host name,
303 by the remote login username.
304 It is recommended that any
306 used for opportunistic connection sharing include
307 all three of these escape sequences.
308 This ensures that shared connections are uniquely identified.
309 .It Cm DynamicForward
310 Specifies that a TCP/IP port on the local machine be forwarded
311 over the secure channel, and the application
312 protocol is then used to determine where to connect to from the
314 The argument must be a port number.
315 Currently the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are supported, and
317 will act as a SOCKS server.
318 Multiple forwardings may be specified, and
319 additional forwardings can be given on the command line.
320 Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.
321 .It Cm EnableSSHKeysign
322 Setting this option to
324 in the global client configuration file
325 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
326 enables the use of the helper program
329 .Cm HostbasedAuthentication .
336 This option should be placed in the non-hostspecific section.
339 for more information.
341 Sets the escape character (default:
343 The escape character can also
344 be set on the command line.
345 The argument should be a single character,
347 followed by a letter, or
349 to disable the escape
350 character entirely (making the connection transparent for binary
353 Specifies whether the connection to the authentication agent (if any)
354 will be forwarded to the remote machine.
362 Agent forwarding should be enabled with caution.
363 Users with the ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host
364 (for the agent's Unix-domain socket)
365 can access the local agent through the forwarded connection.
366 An attacker cannot obtain key material from the agent,
367 however they can perform operations on the keys that enable them to
368 authenticate using the identities loaded into the agent.
370 Specifies whether X11 connections will be automatically redirected
371 over the secure channel and
381 X11 forwarding should be enabled with caution.
382 Users with the ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host
383 (for the user's X11 authorization database)
384 can access the local X11 display through the forwarded connection.
385 An attacker may then be able to perform activities such as keystroke monitoring
387 .Cm ForwardX11Trusted
388 option is also enabled.
389 .It Cm ForwardX11Trusted
390 If this option is set to
392 then remote X11 clients will have full access to the original X11 display.
394 If this option is set to
396 then remote X11 clients will be considered untrusted and prevented
397 from stealing or tampering with data belonging to trusted X11
401 token used for the session will be set to expire after 20 minutes.
402 Remote clients will be refused access after this time.
407 See the X11 SECURITY extension specification for full details on
408 the restrictions imposed on untrusted clients.
410 Specifies whether remote hosts are allowed to connect to local
414 binds local port forwardings to the loopback address.
415 This prevents other remote hosts from connecting to forwarded ports.
417 can be used to specify that
419 should bind local port forwardings to the wildcard address,
420 thus allowing remote hosts to connect to forwarded ports.
427 .It Cm GlobalKnownHostsFile
428 Specifies a file to use for the global
429 host key database instead of
430 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts .
431 .It Cm GSSAPIAuthentication
432 Specifies whether user authentication based on GSSAPI is allowed.
435 Note that this option applies to protocol version 2 only.
436 .It Cm GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
437 Forward (delegate) credentials to the server.
440 Note that this option applies to protocol version 2 only.
441 .It Cm HashKnownHosts
444 should hash host names and addresses when they are added to
445 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts .
446 These hashed names may be used normally by
450 but they do not reveal identifying information should the file's contents
454 Note that hashing of names and addresses will not be retrospectively applied
455 to existing known hosts files, but these may be manually hashed using
457 .It Cm HostbasedAuthentication
458 Specifies whether to try rhosts based authentication with public key
466 This option applies to protocol version 2 only and
468 .Cm RhostsRSAAuthentication .
469 .It Cm HostKeyAlgorithms
470 Specifies the protocol version 2 host key algorithms
471 that the client wants to use in order of preference.
472 The default for this option is:
473 .Dq ssh-rsa,ssh-dss .
475 Specifies an alias that should be used instead of the
476 real host name when looking up or saving the host key
477 in the host key database files.
478 This option is useful for tunneling ssh connections
479 or for multiple servers running on a single host.
481 Specifies the real host name to log into.
482 This can be used to specify nicknames or abbreviations for hosts.
483 Default is the name given on the command line.
484 Numeric IP addresses are also permitted (both on the command line and in
488 Specifies a file from which the user's RSA or DSA authentication identity
492 for protocol version 1, and
496 for protocol version 2.
497 Additionally, any identities represented by the authentication agent
498 will be used for authentication.
499 The file name may use the tilde
500 syntax to refer to a user's home directory.
501 It is possible to have
502 multiple identity files specified in configuration files; all these
503 identities will be tried in sequence.
504 .It Cm IdentitiesOnly
507 should only use the authentication identity files configured in the
512 offers more identities.
513 The argument to this keyword must be
517 This option is intented for situations where
519 offers many different identities.
522 .It Cm KbdInteractiveDevices
523 Specifies the list of methods to use in keyboard-interactive authentication.
524 Multiple method names must be comma-separated.
525 The default is to use the server specified list.
527 Specifies that a TCP/IP port on the local machine be forwarded over
528 the secure channel to the specified host and port from the remote machine.
529 The first argument must be
531 .Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port
533 and the second argument must be
534 .Ar host : Ns Ar hostport .
535 IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets or
536 by using an alternative syntax:
537 .Oo Ar bind_address Ns / Oc Ns Ar port
539 .Ar host Ns / Ns Ar hostport .
540 Multiple forwardings may be specified, and additional forwardings can be
541 given on the command line.
542 Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.
543 By default, the local port is bound in accordance with the
548 may be used to bind the connection to a specific address.
553 indicates that the listening port be bound for local use only, while an
556 indicates that the port should be available from all interfaces.
558 Gives the verbosity level that is used when logging messages from
560 The possible values are:
561 QUIET, FATAL, ERROR, INFO, VERBOSE, DEBUG, DEBUG1, DEBUG2 and DEBUG3.
563 DEBUG and DEBUG1 are equivalent.
564 DEBUG2 and DEBUG3 each specify higher levels of verbose output.
566 Specifies the MAC (message authentication code) algorithms
567 in order of preference.
568 The MAC algorithm is used in protocol version 2
569 for data integrity protection.
570 Multiple algorithms must be comma-separated.
572 .Dq hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,hmac-ripemd160,hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96 .
573 .It Cm NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
574 This option can be used if the home directory is shared across machines.
575 In this case localhost will refer to a different machine on each of
576 the machines and the user will get many warnings about changed host keys.
577 However, this option disables host authentication for localhost.
578 The argument to this keyword must be
582 The default is to check the host key for localhost.
583 .It Cm NumberOfPasswordPrompts
584 Specifies the number of password prompts before giving up.
585 The argument to this keyword must be an integer.
587 .It Cm PasswordAuthentication
588 Specifies whether to use password authentication.
589 The argument to this keyword must be
596 Specifies the port number to connect on the remote host.
598 .It Cm PreferredAuthentications
599 Specifies the order in which the client should try protocol 2
600 authentication methods.
601 This allows a client to prefer one method (e.g.\&
602 .Cm keyboard-interactive )
603 over another method (e.g.\&
605 The default for this option is:
606 .Dq hostbased,publickey,keyboard-interactive,password .
608 Specifies the protocol versions
610 should support in order of preference.
611 The possible values are
615 Multiple versions must be comma-separated.
620 tries version 2 and falls back to version 1
621 if version 2 is not available.
623 Specifies the command to use to connect to the server.
625 string extends to the end of the line, and is executed with
627 In the command string,
629 will be substituted by the host name to
633 The command can be basically anything,
634 and should read from its standard input and write to its standard output.
635 It should eventually connect an
637 server running on some machine, or execute
640 Host key management will be done using the
641 HostName of the host being connected (defaulting to the name typed by
643 Setting the command to
645 disables this option entirely.
648 is not available for connects with a proxy command.
650 This directive is useful in conjunction with
652 and its proxy support.
653 For example, the following directive would connect via an HTTP proxy at
655 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
656 ProxyCommand /usr/bin/nc -X connect -x 192.0.2.0:8080 %h %p
658 .It Cm PubkeyAuthentication
659 Specifies whether to try public key authentication.
660 The argument to this keyword must be
666 This option applies to protocol version 2 only.
668 Specifies that a TCP/IP port on the remote machine be forwarded over
669 the secure channel to the specified host and port from the local machine.
670 The first argument must be
672 .Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port
674 and the second argument must be
675 .Ar host : Ns Ar hostport .
676 IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets
677 or by using an alternative syntax:
678 .Oo Ar bind_address Ns / Oc Ns Ar port
680 .Ar host Ns / Ns Ar hostport .
681 Multiple forwardings may be specified, and additional
682 forwardings can be given on the command line.
683 Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.
687 is not specified, the default is to only bind to loopback addresses.
692 or an empty string, then the forwarding is requested to listen on all
696 will only succeed if the server's
698 option is enabled (see
699 .Xr sshd_config 5 ) .
700 .It Cm RhostsRSAAuthentication
701 Specifies whether to try rhosts based authentication with RSA host
709 This option applies to protocol version 1 only and requires
712 .It Cm RSAAuthentication
713 Specifies whether to try RSA authentication.
714 The argument to this keyword must be
718 RSA authentication will only be
719 attempted if the identity file exists, or an authentication agent is
723 Note that this option applies to protocol version 1 only.
725 Specifies what variables from the local
727 should be sent to the server.
728 Note that environment passing is only supported for protocol 2, the
729 server must also support it, and the server must be configured to
730 accept these environment variables.
735 for how to configure the server.
736 Variables are specified by name, which may contain the wildcard characters
740 Multiple environment variables may be separated by whitespace or spread
744 The default is not to send any environment variables.
745 .It Cm ServerAliveInterval
746 Sets a timeout interval in seconds after which if no data has been received
749 will send a message through the encrypted
750 channel to request a response from the server.
752 is 0, indicating that these messages will not be sent to the server.
753 This option applies to protocol version 2 only.
754 .It Cm ServerAliveCountMax
755 Sets the number of server alive messages (see above) which may be
758 receiving any messages back from the server.
759 If this threshold is reached while server alive messages are being sent,
761 will disconnect from the server, terminating the session.
762 It is important to note that the use of server alive messages is very
766 The server alive messages are sent through the encrypted channel
767 and therefore will not be spoofable.
768 The TCP keepalive option enabled by
771 The server alive mechanism is valuable when the client or
772 server depend on knowing when a connection has become inactive.
774 The default value is 3.
776 .Cm ServerAliveInterval
777 (above) is set to 15, and
778 .Cm ServerAliveCountMax
779 is left at the default, if the server becomes unresponsive ssh
780 will disconnect after approximately 45 seconds.
781 .It Cm SmartcardDevice
782 Specifies which smartcard device to use.
783 The argument to this keyword is the device
785 should use to communicate with a smartcard used for storing the user's
787 By default, no device is specified and smartcard support is not activated.
788 .It Cm StrictHostKeyChecking
789 If this flag is set to
792 will never automatically add host keys to the
793 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
794 file, and refuses to connect to hosts whose host key has changed.
795 This provides maximum protection against trojan horse attacks,
796 however, can be annoying when the
797 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
798 file is poorly maintained, or connections to new hosts are
800 This option forces the user to manually
802 If this flag is set to
805 will automatically add new host keys to the
806 user known hosts files.
807 If this flag is set to
810 will be added to the user known host files only after the user
811 has confirmed that is what they really want to do, and
813 will refuse to connect to hosts whose host key has changed.
815 known hosts will be verified automatically in all cases.
824 Specifies whether the system should send TCP keepalive messages to the
826 If they are sent, death of the connection or crash of one
827 of the machines will be properly noticed.
828 However, this means that
829 connections will die if the route is down temporarily, and some people
834 (to send TCP keepalive messages), and the client will notice
835 if the network goes down or the remote host dies.
836 This is important in scripts, and many users want it too.
838 To disable TCP keepalive messages, the value should be set to
840 .It Cm UsePrivilegedPort
841 Specifies whether to use a privileged port for outgoing connections.
852 Note that this option must be set to
855 .Cm RhostsRSAAuthentication
858 Specifies the user to log in as.
859 This can be useful when a different user name is used on different machines.
860 This saves the trouble of
861 having to remember to give the user name on the command line.
862 .It Cm UserKnownHostsFile
863 Specifies a file to use for the user
864 host key database instead of
865 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts .
866 .It Cm VerifyHostKeyDNS
867 Specifies whether to verify the remote key using DNS and SSHFP resource
869 If this option is set to
871 the client will implicitly trust keys that match a secure fingerprint
873 Insecure fingerprints will be handled as if this option was set to
875 If this option is set to
877 information on fingerprint match will be displayed, but the user will still
878 need to confirm new host keys according to the
879 .Cm StrictHostKeyChecking
888 Note that this option applies to protocol version 2 only.
890 Specifies the full pathname of the
894 .Pa /usr/X11R6/bin/xauth .
899 This is the per-user configuration file.
900 The format of this file is described above.
901 This file is used by the
904 Because of the potential for abuse, this file must have strict permissions:
905 read/write for the user, and not accessible by others.
906 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
907 Systemwide configuration file.
908 This file provides defaults for those
909 values that are not specified in the user's configuration file, and
910 for those users who do not have a configuration file.
911 This file must be world-readable.
916 OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
917 ssh 1.2.12 release by Tatu Ylonen.
918 Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos,
919 Theo de Raadt and Dug Song
920 removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
922 Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH
923 protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.