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Asked: 2024-09-29T00:27:28+05:30

I am looking for a way to establish an SSH connection that will allow me to input a username after the connection is made, similar to how telnet operates. Can anyone provide guidance on how to achieve this?

I’ve been trying to figure out how to connect to a remote server using SSH in a way that lets me input my username after the connection is established, much like you would with telnet. It’s a bit of a pain because I really like the simplicity of telnet for certain tasks, but I know that SSH is way more secure, so I don’t want to abandon it entirely.

I’ve looked into various SSH clients, and most of them seem to expect you to provide the username right off the bat. The thing is, there are situations where I might not know the username beforehand, or I just want the option to type it in after I connect. I’ve tried to tweak a few settings here and there in my SSH configuration, but it hasn’t worked out the way I hoped.

The usual command `ssh user@hostname` is cool, but if I don’t know the username ahead of time, I’m stuck. I get that some people might think it’s strange wanting to do it this way, but I often connect to different servers and have different usernames depending on the project or client. It’d just be more flexible if I could get that connection established first and then enter my username.

Has anyone else faced this challenge? Is there a particular SSH client or command-line option that I might be missing that allows for this kind of interaction? Or maybe even a workaround to achieve the kind of flow I’m looking for? I know a bit of scripting might help, but I really hope there’s a more direct way to do this without diving deep into custom scripts or additional tools.

Any insights or guidance would be hugely appreciated! It’d be great to hear how others have managed this or if there’s even an existing solution that I’m just overlooking. Thanks in advance for any tips!

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    2 Answers

    1. To connect to a remote server using SSH without specifying the username upfront, you can use a couple of approaches. One effective method is to set up your SSH configuration file (usually located at `~/.ssh/config`) to create a custom entry for the server. For instance, you could configure it like this:

      Host myserver
    HostName hostname
    User your-username  # Optional, can be ignored if you want to input manually

      This way, you can simply type `ssh myserver` to connect. Once connected, instead of entering a username, you can just type `ssh localhost` after establishing the connection to input your username. Note that while this isn’t a direct solution to input your desired username upon connecting, it does simplify the connection process and allows some level of flexibility. Another alternative would be to utilize scripting where you prompt for the username before executing the SSH command, although this does diverge from your aim of avoiding additional tools or scripts.

    2. Hey there! I totally get where you’re coming from. It can be tricky when you’re used to something like telnet and then you want to switch to SSH but still keep that flexibility with usernames. So, here’s a thought:

      You can actually use SSH with a little trick to let you enter your username after making the connection. Instead of the usual `ssh user@hostname` command, you can use just:

      ssh hostname

      When you do that, it will connect to the server and prompt you for the username. You can enter it just like you would with telnet!

      Another option is to set up your SSH config file. You can create an entry in your ~/.ssh/config file like this:

      Host myserver
    Hostname hostname
    User yourDefaultUsername

      Then just run ssh myserver and it’ll use your default username. If you want to change it on the fly, you can still do the first method I mentioned.

      Also, if you’re open to some basic scripting (which isn’t that hard), you could create a small bash script that uses the `read` command to let you enter the username after connecting. It could look something like this:

      #!/bin/bash
    read -p "Enter your username: " username
    ssh $username@hostname

      Just save that script, give it execute permissions, and you’re good to go! It’s a little extra work, but once you set it up, you won’t have to worry about it again.

      Hope that helps you out! It’s always nice to find ways to make old habits work in a more secure environment.