SSH Through a Jumpbox using config files¶

We will be using 3 machines for this exercise: - Your Workstation - Jumpbox - Server

Prerequisites¶

Verify if we can ssh from your workstation to the jumpbox (server2), and then from the jumpbox to the server. This will create the .ssh directory at the same time

ssh [{username}@]jumpbox

ssh pluser@192.169.0.109

ssh [{username}@]server

ssh 192.169.0.110

Rename the VMs for simplicity¶

On each VM rename them to match workstation, server1, server2

hostnamectl hostname workstation
cat /etc/hostname

SSH Config¶

Jumpbox ssh configuration¶

Create or edit the SSH config file on your workstation

vi .ssh/config

Add the following lines

Host jumpbox
        HostName {jumpbox ip address}
        User {jumpbox username}

Host jumpbox
        HostName 192.168.0.109
        User pluser

From your workstation, test the new configuration

ssh jumpbox

Server ssh configuration¶

Modify the ssh config file on your workstation again

vi .ssh/config

Add the information to SSH to the server in the private subnet. This time we're going to add the extra ProxyJump attribute

Host {server connction name}
        HostName {server ip address}
        User {server username}
        ProxyJump {jumpbox}

example:

Host server3
        HostName 192.168.0.110
        User pluser
        ProxyJump jumpbox

Now you can connect to a server easily through a jumpbox without needing to specify anything

ssh server3