SSH Cheatsheet - SSH Connection & Configuration Command Reference

Essential SSH commands organized by Login & Auth, Key Management, Config File, and Port Forwarding. Reference directly for passwordless login and tunneling.

SysOps·21 commands·Last updated 2026-07-21

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Connection & Auth 5

ssh user@host

ssh -p 2222 user@host

Specify port when server uses non-default port

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 user@host

Specify private key, common with multiple keys

ssh -vvv user@host

Verbose debug output for troubleshooting auth failures

ssh -o ConnectTimeout=5 user@host

Set connection timeout to prevent hanging

Key Management 5

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "tom@example.com"

Generate ed25519 key, shorter and faster than RSA

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "tom@example.com"

Generate RSA 4096-bit key, compatible with older servers

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub user@host

Copy public key to server for passwordless login

ssh-keygen -lf ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

View key fingerprint and length, verify server host key

eval $(ssh-agent) && ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Start agent and load private key, avoid repeated passwords

Config File ~/.ssh/config 6

Host prod

Define host alias, then ssh prod connects directly

HostName 1.2.3.4

Actual IP or domain to connect to

User deploy

Default login user, saves typing user@host each time

IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Specify private key for this host

ProxyJump bastion

Connect through a jump host, replaces ssh -t ssh -t multi-hop

LocalForward 8080 127.0.0.1:80

Auto-setup local port forwarding on login

Port Forwarding & Proxy 5

ssh -L 8080:127.0.0.1:80 user@host

Local port forwarding, access local:8080 = remote:80

ssh -R 9090:127.0.0.1:80 user@host

Remote port forwarding, expose local service remotely

ssh -D 1080 user@host

Dynamic SOCKS5 proxy, all traffic goes through remote

ssh -N -L 8080:127.0.0.1:80 user@host

Forward only, no command execution, for background tunnels

ssh -J bastion user@internal

Direct connection through jump host, equivalent to ProxyJump

Tips

Use ssh-copy-id for passwordless login — manually editing authorized_keys is error-prone with permissions and format.
~/.ssh directory must be 700, private keys must be 600 — SSH refuses keys with loose permissions.
Add -N -f to run port forwarding in the background, but remember to stop with ssh -O exit or kill to avoid lingering processes.

Official References

Commands are compiled from the official docs below. Click to verify the latest usage.

Linux man-pages

Maintained by LaoHand

Publicly updated on Jul 21, 2026, continuously proofread against official docs.

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