Re: ssh issue that I don't understand

["Alexander V. Makartsev" <avbetev@gmail.com>]

On 7/6/26 00:19, Chris Green wrote:

> This isn't a problem as such but I don't understand why it's happening
> and I'd like to understand.
>
> I have a VPS called isbd.biz and I access it using ssh.  My user
> account on both my local machine (desktop and laptop) is 'chris' and
> my user account on isbd.biz is also 'chris'.
>
> I have account 'chris' on isbd.biz set up to allow login only using
> public key authentication.
>
> The ip address of isbd.biz is 213.171.194.64.
>
> If I log in with 'ssh 213.171.194.64' I, correctly, get prompted for
> my local system's public key passphrase and I can log in successfully.
>
> However if I try 'ssh isbd.biz' I get prompted for "chris@isbd.biz's
> password" which doesn't exist and I can't log in.
>
> 'host isbd.biz' returns the correct IP address for isbd.biz so why
> does ssh not work using the name rather than the IP address?
>
>     
    Check your ssh client config file (should be at
    /home/chris/.ssh/config)
    You probably didn't setup it for the host isbd.biz, or didn't put
    the IdentityFile directive correctly.
    The host entry in your case should look like this:
    
      Host isbd.biz
         HostName isbd.biz
         Port 22
         User chris
         IdentityFile ~/.ssh/my-ssh-key-for-isbd-biz.key
    
    
    See "man ssh_config" if you want to know more about additional
    directives and syntax.

--

 With kindest regards, Alexander.

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