In openssh, the collection of known host keys is stored in /etc/ssh/known_hosts and in .ssh/known_hosts in each user's home directory. management of host keys. host keys are cryptographic keys. the private keys should only be accessible to root. however, system administrators having root access to a server can obtain the server's private host key.. About ssh keys. secure shell (better known as ssh) is a cryptographic network protocol which allows users to securely perform a number of network services over an unsecured network. ssh keys provide a more secure way of logging into a server with ssh than using a password alone.. Cp ~/.ssh/known_hosts ~/.ssh/known_hosts.bak then edit known_hosts to clear the original key, then ssh to the host using: ssh name@computer it'll add the new key automatically; then compare the two files. a program such as meld is a nice way to compare the two files. then merge the files to make known_hosts contain both keys.
This is written for vi newbies. others please excuse. vi +6 ~.ssh/known_hosts (instruct vi to take you directly to the offending line in file) (take a look at the hostname — verify this is the key you want to delete). Rm -f .ssh/known_hosts ssh will recreate the file again, but you lose key checking for other hosts! or, you can use: ssh-keygen -r "hostname" or the ssh "man-in-the-middle" message should indicate which line of the known_hosts file has the offending fingerprint. edit the file, jump to that line and delete it.. Each entry in known_hosts is one big line with three or more whitespace separated fields as follows: a. one or more server names or ip addresses, joined together by commas. foo.com,107.180.00.00. b. the type of key. ssh-rsa. c. the public key data itself encoded to stay within the ascii range..
