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 1.96 2006/07/11 18:50:48 markus 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
54 .Bl -enum -offset indent -compact
58 user's configuration file
61 system-wide configuration file
62 .Pq Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
65 For each parameter, the first obtained value
67 The configuration files contain sections separated by
69 specifications, and that section is only applied for hosts that
70 match one of the patterns given in the specification.
71 The matched host name is the one given on the command line.
73 Since the first obtained value for each parameter is used, more
74 host-specific declarations should be given near the beginning of the
75 file, and general defaults at the end.
77 The configuration file has the following format:
79 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
95 Arguments may optionally be enclosed in double quotes
97 in order to represent arguments containing spaces.
100 keywords and their meanings are as follows (note that
101 keywords are case-insensitive and arguments are case-sensitive):
104 Restricts the following declarations (up to the next
106 keyword) to be only for those hosts that match one of the patterns
107 given after the keyword.
110 as a pattern can be used to provide global
111 defaults for all hosts.
114 argument given on the command line (i.e. the name is not converted to
115 a canonicalized host name before matching).
119 for more information on patterns.
121 Specifies which address family to use when connecting.
131 passphrase/password querying will be disabled.
132 This option is useful in scripts and other batch jobs where no user
133 is present to supply the password.
141 Use the specified address on the local machine as the source address of
143 Only useful on systems with more than one address.
144 Note that this option does not work if
145 .Cm UsePrivilegedPort
148 .It Cm ChallengeResponseAuthentication
149 Specifies whether to use challenge-response authentication.
150 The argument to this keyword must be
157 If this flag is set to
160 will additionally check the host IP address in the
163 This allows ssh to detect if a host key changed due to DNS spoofing.
164 If the option is set to
166 the check will not be executed.
170 Specifies the cipher to use for encrypting the session
171 in protocol version 1.
179 is only supported in the
181 client for interoperability with legacy protocol 1 implementations
182 that do not support the
185 Its use is strongly discouraged due to cryptographic weaknesses.
189 Specifies the ciphers allowed for protocol version 2
190 in order of preference.
191 Multiple ciphers must be comma-separated.
192 The supported ciphers are
207 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
208 aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,blowfish-cbc,cast128-cbc,arcfour128,
209 arcfour256,arcfour,aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc,aes128-ctr,
210 aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr
212 .It Cm ClearAllForwardings
213 Specifies that all local, remote, and dynamic port forwardings
214 specified in the configuration files or on the command line be
216 This option is primarily useful when used from the
218 command line to clear port forwardings set in
219 configuration files, and is automatically set by
230 Specifies whether to use compression.
237 .It Cm CompressionLevel
238 Specifies the compression level to use if compression is enabled.
239 The argument must be an integer from 1 (fast) to 9 (slow, best).
240 The default level is 6, which is good for most applications.
241 The meaning of the values is the same as in
243 Note that this option applies to protocol version 1 only.
244 .It Cm ConnectionAttempts
245 Specifies the number of tries (one per second) to make before exiting.
246 The argument must be an integer.
247 This may be useful in scripts if the connection sometimes fails.
249 .It Cm ConnectTimeout
250 Specifies the timeout (in seconds) used when connecting to the
251 SSH server, instead of using the default system TCP timeout.
252 This value is used only when the target is down or really unreachable,
253 not when it refuses the connection.
255 Enables the sharing of multiple sessions over a single network connection.
259 will listen for connections on a control socket specified using the
262 Additional sessions can connect to this socket using the same
269 These sessions will try to reuse the master instance's network connection
270 rather than initiating new ones, but will fall back to connecting normally
271 if the control socket does not exist, or is not listening.
276 to listen for control connections, but require confirmation using the
278 program before they are accepted (see
284 ssh will continue without connecting to a master instance.
288 forwarding is supported over these multiplexed connections, however the
289 display and agent forwarded will be the one belonging to the master
290 connection i.e. it is not possible to forward multiple displays or agents.
292 Two additional options allow for opportunistic multiplexing: try to use a
293 master connection but fall back to creating a new one if one does not already
299 The latter requires confirmation like the
303 Specify the path to the control socket used for connection sharing as described
306 section above or the string
308 to disable connection sharing.
311 will be substituted by the local host name,
313 will be substituted by the target host name,
317 by the remote login username.
318 It is recommended that any
320 used for opportunistic connection sharing include
321 at least %h, %p, and %r.
322 This ensures that shared connections are uniquely identified.
323 .It Cm DynamicForward
324 Specifies that a TCP port on the local machine be forwarded
325 over the secure channel, and the application
326 protocol is then used to determine where to connect to from the
331 .Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port .
333 IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets or
334 by using an alternative syntax:
335 .Oo Ar bind_address Ns / Oc Ns Ar port .
336 By default, the local port is bound in accordance with the
341 may be used to bind the connection to a specific address.
346 indicates that the listening port be bound for local use only, while an
349 indicates that the port should be available from all interfaces.
351 Currently the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are supported, and
353 will act as a SOCKS server.
354 Multiple forwardings may be specified, and
355 additional forwardings can be given on the command line.
356 Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.
357 .It Cm EnableSSHKeysign
358 Setting this option to
360 in the global client configuration file
361 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
362 enables the use of the helper program
365 .Cm HostbasedAuthentication .
372 This option should be placed in the non-hostspecific section.
375 for more information.
377 Sets the escape character (default:
379 The escape character can also
380 be set on the command line.
381 The argument should be a single character,
383 followed by a letter, or
385 to disable the escape
386 character entirely (making the connection transparent for binary
388 .It Cm ExitOnForwardFailure
391 should terminate the connection if it cannot set up all requested
392 dynamic, local, and remote port forwardings.
400 Specifies whether the connection to the authentication agent (if any)
401 will be forwarded to the remote machine.
409 Agent forwarding should be enabled with caution.
410 Users with the ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host
411 (for the agent's Unix-domain socket)
412 can access the local agent through the forwarded connection.
413 An attacker cannot obtain key material from the agent,
414 however they can perform operations on the keys that enable them to
415 authenticate using the identities loaded into the agent.
417 Specifies whether X11 connections will be automatically redirected
418 over the secure channel and
428 X11 forwarding should be enabled with caution.
429 Users with the ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host
430 (for the user's X11 authorization database)
431 can access the local X11 display through the forwarded connection.
432 An attacker may then be able to perform activities such as keystroke monitoring
434 .Cm ForwardX11Trusted
435 option is also enabled.
436 .It Cm ForwardX11Trusted
437 If this option is set to
439 remote X11 clients will have full access to the original X11 display.
441 If this option is set to
443 remote X11 clients will be considered untrusted and prevented
444 from stealing or tampering with data belonging to trusted X11
448 token used for the session will be set to expire after 20 minutes.
449 Remote clients will be refused access after this time.
454 See the X11 SECURITY extension specification for full details on
455 the restrictions imposed on untrusted clients.
457 Specifies whether remote hosts are allowed to connect to local
461 binds local port forwardings to the loopback address.
462 This prevents other remote hosts from connecting to forwarded ports.
464 can be used to specify that ssh
465 should bind local port forwardings to the wildcard address,
466 thus allowing remote hosts to connect to forwarded ports.
473 .It Cm GlobalKnownHostsFile
474 Specifies a file to use for the global
475 host key database instead of
476 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts .
477 .It Cm GSSAPIAuthentication
478 Specifies whether user authentication based on GSSAPI is allowed.
481 Note that this option applies to protocol version 2 only.
482 .It Cm GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
483 Forward (delegate) credentials to the server.
486 Note that this option applies to protocol version 2 only.
487 .It Cm HashKnownHosts
490 should hash host names and addresses when they are added to
491 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts .
492 These hashed names may be used normally by
496 but they do not reveal identifying information should the file's contents
500 Note that hashing of names and addresses will not be retrospectively applied
501 to existing known hosts files, but these may be manually hashed using
503 .It Cm HostbasedAuthentication
504 Specifies whether to try rhosts based authentication with public key
512 This option applies to protocol version 2 only and
514 .Cm RhostsRSAAuthentication .
515 .It Cm HostKeyAlgorithms
516 Specifies the protocol version 2 host key algorithms
517 that the client wants to use in order of preference.
518 The default for this option is:
519 .Dq ssh-rsa,ssh-dss .
521 Specifies an alias that should be used instead of the
522 real host name when looking up or saving the host key
523 in the host key database files.
524 This option is useful for tunneling SSH connections
525 or for multiple servers running on a single host.
527 Specifies the real host name to log into.
528 This can be used to specify nicknames or abbreviations for hosts.
529 The default is the name given on the command line.
530 Numeric IP addresses are also permitted (both on the command line and in
533 .It Cm IdentitiesOnly
536 should only use the authentication identity files configured in the
541 offers more identities.
542 The argument to this keyword must be
546 This option is intended for situations where ssh-agent
547 offers many different identities.
551 Specifies a file from which the user's RSA or DSA authentication identity
555 for protocol version 1, and
559 for protocol version 2.
560 Additionally, any identities represented by the authentication agent
561 will be used for authentication.
563 The file name may use the tilde
564 syntax to refer to a user's home directory or one of the following
567 (local user's home directory),
573 (remote host name) or
577 It is possible to have
578 multiple identity files specified in configuration files; all these
579 identities will be tried in sequence.
580 .It Cm KbdInteractiveDevices
581 Specifies the list of methods to use in keyboard-interactive authentication.
582 Multiple method names must be comma-separated.
583 The default is to use the server specified list.
584 The methods available vary depending on what the server supports.
585 For an OpenSSH server,
586 it may be zero or more of:
592 Specifies a command to execute on the local machine after successfully
593 connecting to the server.
594 The command string extends to the end of the line, and is executed with
596 This directive is ignored unless
597 .Cm PermitLocalCommand
600 Specifies that a TCP port on the local machine be forwarded over
601 the secure channel to the specified host and port from the remote machine.
602 The first argument must be
604 .Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port
606 and the second argument must be
607 .Ar host : Ns Ar hostport .
608 IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets or
609 by using an alternative syntax:
610 .Oo Ar bind_address Ns / Oc Ns Ar port
612 .Ar host Ns / Ns Ar hostport .
613 Multiple forwardings may be specified, and additional forwardings can be
614 given on the command line.
615 Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.
616 By default, the local port is bound in accordance with the
621 may be used to bind the connection to a specific address.
626 indicates that the listening port be bound for local use only, while an
629 indicates that the port should be available from all interfaces.
631 Gives the verbosity level that is used when logging messages from
633 The possible values are:
634 QUIET, FATAL, ERROR, INFO, VERBOSE, DEBUG, DEBUG1, DEBUG2, and DEBUG3.
636 DEBUG and DEBUG1 are equivalent.
637 DEBUG2 and DEBUG3 each specify higher levels of verbose output.
639 Specifies the MAC (message authentication code) algorithms
640 in order of preference.
641 The MAC algorithm is used in protocol version 2
642 for data integrity protection.
643 Multiple algorithms must be comma-separated.
645 .Dq hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,hmac-ripemd160,hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96 .
646 .It Cm NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
647 This option can be used if the home directory is shared across machines.
648 In this case localhost will refer to a different machine on each of
649 the machines and the user will get many warnings about changed host keys.
650 However, this option disables host authentication for localhost.
651 The argument to this keyword must be
655 The default is to check the host key for localhost.
656 .It Cm NumberOfPasswordPrompts
657 Specifies the number of password prompts before giving up.
658 The argument to this keyword must be an integer.
660 .It Cm PasswordAuthentication
661 Specifies whether to use password authentication.
662 The argument to this keyword must be
668 .It Cm PermitLocalCommand
669 Allow local command execution via the
672 .Ic !\& Ns Ar command
682 Specifies the port number to connect on the remote host.
684 .It Cm PreferredAuthentications
685 Specifies the order in which the client should try protocol 2
686 authentication methods.
687 This allows a client to prefer one method (e.g.\&
688 .Cm keyboard-interactive )
689 over another method (e.g.\&
691 The default for this option is:
692 .Do gssapi-with-mic ,
695 keyboard-interactive,
699 Specifies the protocol versions
701 should support in order of preference.
702 The possible values are
706 Multiple versions must be comma-separated.
710 tries version 2 and falls back to version 1
711 if version 2 is not available.
713 Specifies the command to use to connect to the server.
715 string extends to the end of the line, and is executed with
717 In the command string,
719 will be substituted by the host name to
723 The command can be basically anything,
724 and should read from its standard input and write to its standard output.
725 It should eventually connect an
727 server running on some machine, or execute
730 Host key management will be done using the
731 HostName of the host being connected (defaulting to the name typed by
733 Setting the command to
735 disables this option entirely.
738 is not available for connects with a proxy command.
740 This directive is useful in conjunction with
742 and its proxy support.
743 For example, the following directive would connect via an HTTP proxy at
745 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
746 ProxyCommand /usr/bin/nc -X connect -x 192.0.2.0:8080 %h %p
748 .It Cm PubkeyAuthentication
749 Specifies whether to try public key authentication.
750 The argument to this keyword must be
756 This option applies to protocol version 2 only.
758 Specifies the maximum amount of data that may be transmitted before the
759 session key is renegotiated.
760 The argument is the number of bytes, with an optional suffix of
765 to indicate Kilobytes, Megabytes, or Gigabytes, respectively.
766 The default is between
770 depending on the cipher.
771 This option applies to protocol version 2 only.
773 Specifies that a TCP port on the remote machine be forwarded over
774 the secure channel to the specified host and port from the local machine.
775 The first argument must be
777 .Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port
779 and the second argument must be
780 .Ar host : Ns Ar hostport .
781 IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets
782 or by using an alternative syntax:
783 .Oo Ar bind_address Ns / Oc Ns Ar port
785 .Ar host Ns / Ns Ar hostport .
786 Multiple forwardings may be specified, and additional
787 forwardings can be given on the command line.
788 Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.
792 is not specified, the default is to only bind to loopback addresses.
797 or an empty string, then the forwarding is requested to listen on all
801 will only succeed if the server's
803 option is enabled (see
804 .Xr sshd_config 5 ) .
805 .It Cm RhostsRSAAuthentication
806 Specifies whether to try rhosts based authentication with RSA host
814 This option applies to protocol version 1 only and requires
817 .It Cm RSAAuthentication
818 Specifies whether to try RSA authentication.
819 The argument to this keyword must be
823 RSA authentication will only be
824 attempted if the identity file exists, or an authentication agent is
828 Note that this option applies to protocol version 1 only.
830 Specifies what variables from the local
832 should be sent to the server.
833 Note that environment passing is only supported for protocol 2.
834 The server must also support it, and the server must be configured to
835 accept these environment variables.
840 for how to configure the server.
841 Variables are specified by name, which may contain wildcard characters.
842 Multiple environment variables may be separated by whitespace or spread
846 The default is not to send any environment variables.
850 for more information on patterns.
851 .It Cm ServerAliveCountMax
852 Sets the number of server alive messages (see below) which may be
855 receiving any messages back from the server.
856 If this threshold is reached while server alive messages are being sent,
857 ssh will disconnect from the server, terminating the session.
858 It is important to note that the use of server alive messages is very
862 The server alive messages are sent through the encrypted channel
863 and therefore will not be spoofable.
864 The TCP keepalive option enabled by
867 The server alive mechanism is valuable when the client or
868 server depend on knowing when a connection has become inactive.
870 The default value is 3.
872 .Cm ServerAliveInterval
873 (see below) is set to 15 and
874 .Cm ServerAliveCountMax
875 is left at the default, if the server becomes unresponsive,
876 ssh will disconnect after approximately 45 seconds.
877 This option applies to protocol version 2 only.
878 .It Cm ServerAliveInterval
879 Sets a timeout interval in seconds after which if no data has been received
882 will send a message through the encrypted
883 channel to request a response from the server.
885 is 0, indicating that these messages will not be sent to the server.
886 This option applies to protocol version 2 only.
887 .It Cm SmartcardDevice
888 Specifies which smartcard device to use.
889 The argument to this keyword is the device
891 should use to communicate with a smartcard used for storing the user's
893 By default, no device is specified and smartcard support is not activated.
894 .It Cm StrictHostKeyChecking
895 If this flag is set to
898 will never automatically add host keys to the
899 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
900 file, and refuses to connect to hosts whose host key has changed.
901 This provides maximum protection against trojan horse attacks,
902 though it can be annoying when the
903 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
904 file is poorly maintained or when connections to new hosts are
906 This option forces the user to manually
908 If this flag is set to
910 ssh will automatically add new host keys to the
911 user known hosts files.
912 If this flag is set to
915 will be added to the user known host files only after the user
916 has confirmed that is what they really want to do, and
917 ssh will refuse to connect to hosts whose host key has changed.
919 known hosts will be verified automatically in all cases.
928 Specifies whether the system should send TCP keepalive messages to the
930 If they are sent, death of the connection or crash of one
931 of the machines will be properly noticed.
932 However, this means that
933 connections will die if the route is down temporarily, and some people
938 (to send TCP keepalive messages), and the client will notice
939 if the network goes down or the remote host dies.
940 This is important in scripts, and many users want it too.
942 To disable TCP keepalive messages, the value should be set to
947 device forwarding between the client and the server.
958 requests the default tunnel mode, which is
965 devices to open on the client
972 .Ar local_tun Op : Ar remote_tun .
974 The devices may be specified by numerical ID or the keyword
976 which uses the next available tunnel device.
979 is not specified, it defaults to
983 .It Cm UsePrivilegedPort
984 Specifies whether to use a privileged port for outgoing connections.
995 Note that this option must be set to
998 .Cm RhostsRSAAuthentication
1001 Specifies the user to log in as.
1002 This can be useful when a different user name is used on different machines.
1003 This saves the trouble of
1004 having to remember to give the user name on the command line.
1005 .It Cm UserKnownHostsFile
1006 Specifies a file to use for the user
1007 host key database instead of
1008 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts .
1009 .It Cm VerifyHostKeyDNS
1010 Specifies whether to verify the remote key using DNS and SSHFP resource
1012 If this option is set to
1014 the client will implicitly trust keys that match a secure fingerprint
1016 Insecure fingerprints will be handled as if this option was set to
1018 If this option is set to
1020 information on fingerprint match will be displayed, but the user will still
1021 need to confirm new host keys according to the
1022 .Cm StrictHostKeyChecking
1024 The argument must be
1031 Note that this option applies to protocol version 2 only.
1034 .Sx VERIFYING HOST KEYS
1037 .It Cm XAuthLocation
1038 Specifies the full pathname of the
1042 .Pa /usr/X11R6/bin/xauth .
1047 consists of zero or more non-whitespace characters,
1049 (a wildcard that matches zero or more characters),
1052 (a wildcard that matches exactly one character).
1053 For example, to specify a set of declarations for any host in the
1056 the following pattern could be used:
1060 The following pattern
1061 would match any host in the 192.168.0.[0-9] network range:
1063 .Dl Host 192.168.0.?
1067 is a comma-separated list of patterns.
1068 Patterns within pattern-lists may be negated
1069 by preceding them with an exclamation mark
1072 to allow a key to be used from anywhere within an organisation
1076 the following entry (in authorized_keys) could be used:
1078 .Dl from=\&"!*.dialup.example.com,*.example.com\&"
1081 .It Pa ~/.ssh/config
1082 This is the per-user configuration file.
1083 The format of this file is described above.
1084 This file is used by the SSH client.
1085 Because of the potential for abuse, this file must have strict permissions:
1086 read/write for the user, and not accessible by others.
1087 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
1088 Systemwide configuration file.
1089 This file provides defaults for those
1090 values that are not specified in the user's configuration file, and
1091 for those users who do not have a configuration file.
1092 This file must be world-readable.
1097 OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
1098 ssh 1.2.12 release by Tatu Ylonen.
1099 Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos,
1100 Theo de Raadt and Dug Song
1101 removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
1103 Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH
1104 protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.
andersk / openssh.git / blob