Syntax of SSH public and private key files

Meson · 05-10-2008, 03:57 PM

I can't seem to find a nice manual on the syntax of the public and private key files for SSH.

I see that for the public key I can limit the connection to a particular host, command, both.

For the private key I can indicate which username to login to the remote server as.

Is there a complete guide somewhere with all my options?

tredegar · 05-10-2008, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Is there a complete guide somewhere with all my options?

Try here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/...ation_with_ssh

Meson · 05-10-2008, 07:42 PM

Thanks, that's a good guide, but it's a little more basic than what I was looking for. It doesn't cover the options in the key files.

ntubski · 05-10-2008, 10:35 PM

see the sshd(8) manpage, section AUTHORIZED_KEYS FILE FORMAT. That's for the public key, I don't see any mention in the man pages about options for the private key. Where did you see that you could set the the username in the private key?

Meson · 05-11-2008, 08:19 AM

Ah, my bad. I guess we're all prone to oversights.

Thanks