Add an SSH key on boot

Question

I have a Git repo that is authenticated with an SSH key - the key is not the standard id_rsa.

I can run:

eval $(ssh-agent -s)
ssh-add /home/forge/.ssh/otherkey

Then

git pull origin master

This is working.

The server needs to do a git pull on boot.

So I have code in rc.local that pull the repo it's working only when the key is default id_rsa but not when the key is different.

If I add it in bashrc then it does add the key and work when I log in, but not immediately from boot.

How can I add an alternative SSH key than id_rsa for git to use, that can be instantiated before my git pull command in rc.local?

Thanks

Answer 1

You can add ssh key file using ssh config.

Here is default for all users /etc/ssh/ssh_config
Here is for current user ~/.ssh/config

Example of current user ssh config per host:

## Home nas server ##
Host nas01
     HostName 192.168.1.100
     User root
     IdentityFile ~/.ssh/nas01.key

## Login AWS Cloud ##
Host aws.apache
     HostName 1.2.3.4
     User wwwdata
     IdentityFile ~/.ssh/aws.apache.key

You can read more here