Why I think ssh config is more practical than alias

[TOC]

Some years ago I decided to use the ssh user config instead of using an alias in my .zshrc file.

I have over the years found some practicalities of using the config file instead of aliases.

Configuration of a host

In general, I think the ssh config is more understandable and better structured than a bunch of aliases.

General host

ssh config:

Host example
    Hostname host.example.com
    Port 22010
    User root

command:

ssh example

alias:

alias example='ssh host.example.com -p 22010 -l root'

Connection with local portforwarding

ssh config:

Host example
    Hostname host.example.com
    Port 22010
    User root
    LocalForward 6000 192.168.1.10:6000
    LocalForward 6001 192.168.1.10:6001

command:

ssh example

alias:

alias example='ssh host.example.com -p 22010 -l root -L 6001:192.168.1.10:6001 -L 6000:192.168.1.10:6000'

ssh config advantages

My favorite advantage with an ssh config is that it works with all the other ssh related commands: rsync, scp, sftp and mosh.

You can for example do:

mosh example

Or move a file with:

scp somefile.txt example:/path/to/some/dir