multiple ssh keys

[Rainer Burgstaller]

Hi

I have 2 github accounts with different ssh keys. I have reconfigured my .ssh/config to use my rburgst account on github, however, when I try to clone a private repo using it always tries to use id_rsa rather than id_rsa_github.

see my .ssh/config file below

Host github.com

User rburgst@email.com

Hostname github.com

IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github

[Shinta Smith · Accepted solution]

Actually, the Host and HostName of the original post are the correct ones:

Host public-github
        HostName github.com
        User yourown_username
        PreferredAuthentications publickey
        IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_github_pub
        IdentitiesOnly yes

[stevestreeting]

I think your config file is incorrect, you've mixed 'Host' and 'Hostname' with the same setting, they need to be different. Also your user name looks wrong, it will need to be your GitHub user name and not your email (I know that GitHub lets you log in with your email, but that's not the actual name of your account, and that's what SSH uses).

Try this:

Hostname GitHub1
Host github.com
User your_github_account_name_not_email
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github

Hostname GitHub2
Host github.com
User your_github_account2_name_not_email
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Then when you use the host, you use the friendly host name (GitHub1, GitHub2) as host aliases to these configurations instead of github.com.