How To Create SSH Alias In Linux

If you frequently access many remote systems via SSH, this trick will save you some time. You can create SSH alias to frequently-accessed systems via SSH. This way you don't have to remember all the different usernames, hostnames, ssh port numbers and IP addresses etc. Additionally, It avoids the need to repetitively type the same username/hostname, ip address, port number whenever you SSH into a Linux server(s).

Create SSH alias in Linux

Before I know this trick, usually, I connect to a remote system over SSH using anyone of the following ways.

Using IP address:

$ ssh 192.168.225.22

Or using port number, username and IP address:

$ ssh -p 22 sk@192.168.225.22

Or using port number, username and hostname:

$ ssh -p 22 sk@server.example.com

Here,

• 22 is the port number,
• sk is the username of the remote system,
• 192.168.225.22 is the IP of my remote system,
• server.example.com is the hostname of remote system.

I believe most of the newbie Linux users and/or admins would SSH into a remote system this way. However, If you SSH into multiple different systems, remembering all hostnames/ip addresses, usernames is bit difficult unless you write them down in a paper or save them in a text file. No worries! This can be easily solved by creating an alias (or shortcut) for SSH connections.

We can create an alias for SSH commands in two methods.

Method 1 - Using SSH config file

This is my preferred way of creating aliases.

We can use SSH default configuration file to create SSH alias. To do so, edit ~/.ssh/config file (If this file doesn't exist, just create one):

$ vi ~/.ssh/config

Add all of your remote hosts details like below:

Host webserver
    HostName 192.168.225.22
    User sk

Host dns
    HostName server.example.com
    User root

Host dhcp
    HostName 192.168.225.25
    User ostechnix
    Port 2233

Replace the values of Host, Hostname, User and Port with your own. Once you added the details of all remote hosts, save and exit the file.

Now you can SSH into the systems with commands:

$ ssh webserver

$ ssh dns

$ ssh dhcp

It is simple as that.

Have a look at the following screenshot.

See? I only used the alias name (i.e webserver) to access my remote system that has IP address 192.168.225.22.

Please note that this applies for current user only. If you want to make the aliases available for all users (system wide), add the above lines in /etc/ssh/ssh_config file.

You can also add plenty of other things in the SSH config file. For example, if you have configured SSH Key-based authentication, mention the SSH keyfile location as below.

Host ubuntu
    HostName 192.168.225.50
    User senthil
    IdentityFIle ~/.ssh/id_rsa_remotesystem

Make sure you have replaced the hostname, username and SSH keyfile path with your own.

Now connect to the remote server with command:

$ ssh ubuntu

This way you can add as many as remote hosts you want to access over SSH and quickly access them using their alias name.

Method 2 - Using Bash aliases

This is quick and dirty way to create SSH aliases for faster communication. You can use the alias command to make this task much easier.

Open ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile file in your preferred text editor:

$ nano ~/.bashrc 

Or,

$ sudo nano ~/.bash_profile

Add aliases for each SSH connections one by one like below.

alias webserver='ssh sk@192.168.225.22'
alias dns='ssh root@server.example.com'
alias dhcp='ssh ostechnix@192.168.225.25 -p 2233'
alias ubuntu='ssh senthil@192.168.225.50 -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa_remotesystem'

Again make sure you have replaced the host, hostname, port number and ip address with your own. Save the file and exit.

Then, apply the changes using command:

$ source ~/.bashrc

Or,

$ source ~/.bash_profile

In this method, you don't even need to use "ssh alias-name" command. Instead, just use alias name only like below.

$ webserver
$ dns
$ dhcp
$ ubuntu

These two methods are very simple, yet useful and much more convenient for those who often SSH into multiple different systems. Use any one of the aforementioned methods that suits for you to quickly access your remote Linux systems over SSH.