How can multiple private keys be used with ssh?

You can set this up in your ~/.ssh/config file. You would have something like this:

Host server1
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/key_file1

Host server2
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/key_file2

man ssh_config is a reference


There are a few options.

  1. Load both keys into your ssh agent using ssh-add. Then both keys will be available when connecting to both servers

  2. Create your $HOME/.ssh/config file and create a Host section for server1 and another for server2. In each Host section, add an IdentityFile option pointing to the appropriate private key file