---
title: "using short server names"
date: 2020-08-12T12:04:32+02:00
draft: false
snippet_types:
- ssh
---

It use to be when I was trying to ssh into one of my servers I would just: <Ctrl><r> in the shell to
get my fzz backwards command search, type ssh, then scroll up and down until I found the correct server. As
my number of servers has grown this is no longer manageable because I don't remember which IPs align
with with server. Time for some human readable names.

By adding something like this to your `~/.ssh/config`:

```
Host de1
    HostName vxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.megasrv.de
    User travis

Host de2
    HostName vyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyymegasrv.de
    User travis

Host de3
    HostName vzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.megasrv.de
    User travis

Host nyc1
    HostName 123.123.123.1233
    User travis
```

sshing becomes as easy as:


```shell
$ ssh de2
```

source -- https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-use-per-host-ssh-configuration/