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I'm new to Linux. I have 2 Debian Squeeze hosts running. Let's call them SqueezeOne and SqueezeTwo. After logging into SqueezeOne, I ran ssh-keygen and added the resulting public key to my authorized key file:


I also added a public key generated by puttygen from my Windows desktop to the same key file.

I can ssh in from my putty just fine without being asked for my password. However, if I type in either of the following commands:

ssh localhost 
ssh One

I get the following error.

The authenticity of host 'localhost (' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 75:56:33:22:c3:da:43:72:11:33:ec:50:f4:d0:dd:c7.
Host key verification failed.

If I go to SqueezeTwo, and try to ssh to SqueezeOne, I receive the same message. On SqueezeTwo, there is a ~/.ssh/known_host file, which I know did not create on my own. However, I am not seeing the same known_hosts file on SqueezeOne.

On SqueezeTwo, I can ssh to localhost and itself with no problem.

What am I doing wrong?

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I would expect the host key for localhost ( to be different for each host. –  jsbillings May 11 '12 at 17:48
obviously i'm a dumb a**. instead of typing yes, i hit enter, which defaults to no. when i type yes, an entry is automatically added to known_hosts. DUUUUUUUUUUUH!!!!!!!!!!! –  Bajingan Keparat May 11 '12 at 19:02

2 Answers 2

Depending on what you are doing, it might be a good idea to not include localhost host key in ~/.ssh/known_hosts. This can be accomplished with the NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost option, either used on the command line with -o NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost or by inserting NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost yes into ~/.ssh/config.

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That option is meant for people who have shared home directories across multiple servers. –  Patrick May 12 '12 at 16:26

A hostkey identifies the machine. The keys in your authorized_keys file identify you. You should always expect to be prompted to accept the hostkey once for each machine you connect to.

If you are ever re-prompted for a machine you've already accepted, it may indicate something as innocuous as re-installing the SSH package, or as sinister as a man-in-the-middle attack.

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