Issue
I have an intermediate server between my local and my target server.
With password authentication I can ssh to the target like this:
ssh me@intermediate-server ssh me@target-server
But now both server works with key authentication.
How can I do something like this?
ssh me@intermediate-server ssh me@target-server -i /path/to/my-local-prv-key
The above command won't work of course because it looks for the key file on the intermediate-server.
So how to pass my private key to the final command safely?
Solution
You cannot, not this way.
But there's better way anyway, use the -J (jump) switch, instead of nesting the ssh.
ssh -J me@intermediate-server -i /path/to/my-local-prv-key me@target-server
The -i applies to both servers. But it should do no harm, if the key cannot be used on the target-server. If you need to use a different
key on each server, you can use two -i switches (ssh would then try both keys on both servers).
See also Does OpenSSH support multihop login?
Answered By - Martin Prikryl Answer Checked By - Mary Flores (WPSolving Volunteer)