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Accepted
lpacheco
Asked: 2011-01-11 13:02:57 +0800 CST

When using ssh with priv/pub keys, how to connect to the destination using a user different from the origin machine?

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I need to connect to hostB using user2 from hostA where I´m connected using user1.

I've run ssh-keygen for user1 on hostA and copied the public key generated in id_rsa.pub to the authorized_keys of user2 in hostB.

Then I tried to connect from hostA to hostB using the command:

   $user1@hostA> ssh user2@hostB

I still get a request for password:

   user2@hostB's password:

If I try to connect using the same user on both hosts, it works correctly:

   $user1@hostA> ssh user1@hostB
   Enter passphrase for key '/home/user1/.ssh/id_rsa':

What am I missing?

authentication ssh

3 Answers

  1. You need to tell your ssh to use the private key of user2 instead of yours (user1):

    $user1@hostA> ssh -i /path/to/private_key_of_user2 user2@hostB

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  2. Best Answer

    sshd will ignore your files if it doesn't like the permissions. I was able to duplicate this behavior by setting "user2"s ~/.ssh directory world writable.

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  3. You could also place the pub key of user1 in the authorized_keys file of user2 on hostB.

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