Multiple SSH keys for Github and Gitlab 🔑🔑

July 11, 2019

2 minutes

Git is one of the most used version control management software used by software engineers all over the world. Github has been well known as a leading remote repository hosting service for more than a decade.However collaboration limitations on private repositiries have attracted teams to use Gitlab.So why not use both and harness the best features provided by each repository hosting service.

Generate ssh keys with different names.

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "[email protected]"

When you see the following message, enter a unique name. I will be using id_rsa_home for github and id_rsa_work for gitlab.

Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/username/.ssh/id_rsa): /home/username/.ssh.id_rsa_home

Next, you’ll be asked to enter a passphrase. Enter a secure one.So, you’ll have created SSH key for your home account(i.e Github).

Generate SSH keys for gitlab.

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "[email protected]"

Enter name for file.

Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/username/.ssh/id_rsa): /home/username/.ssh.id_rsa_work

Enter the paraphrase(a secure one again) and the key generation part is done.Now check all the keys created. You should see similar results.

$ ls ~/.ssh
    id_rsa_home  id_rsa_home.pub  id_rsa_work  id_rsa_work.pub  known_hosts

Now you need a config file for organise these keys.

$ cd ~/.ssh
$ touch config
$ vim config

Add into the config file.

# GITLAB
Host gitlab.com
   HostName gitlab.com
   PreferredAuthentications publickey
   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_work
#  You can also use gitlab.company_url.com as a Host and HostName instead
# GITHUB
Host github.com
   HostName github.com
   PreferredAuthentications publickey
   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_home

Next you’ll delete cached keys

$ ssh-add -D
#If the following message appears:
Could not open a connection to your authentication agent. Enter command below:
$ eval `ssh-agent -s` && ssh-add -D

Now add your keys

$ ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_work
$ ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_home

Now you can check connection

$ ssh -T [email protected]
#enter paraphrase for github
Hi github_user! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.

$ ssh -T [email protected]
#enter paraphrase for gitlab
Welcome to GitLab, gitlab_user!

You may need to set git config user details for any project. It’s required to distinguish your accounts.

$ cd github_project
$ git config user.name "home_user"
$ git config user.email "[email protected]"