# ssh – connect via ssh client binary

- Synopsis
- Parameters
- Status

## Synopsis

- This connection plugin allows ansible to communicate to the target machines via normal ssh command line.
- Ansible does not expose a channel to allow communication between the user and the ssh process to accept a password manually to decrypt an ssh key when using this connection plugin (which is the default). The use of `ssh-agent` is highly recommended.

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Configuration | Comments
--- | --- | --- | ---
control_path - |  | ini entries: [ssh_connection] control_path = VALUE env:ANSIBLE_SSH_CONTROL_PATH var: ansible_control_path | This is the location to save ssh's ControlPath sockets, it uses ssh's variable substitution. Since 2.3, if null, ansible will generate a unique hash. Use `%(directory)s` to indicate where to use the control dir path setting.
control_path_dir - | Default: "~/.ansible/cp" | ini entries: [ssh_connection] control_path_dir = ~/.ansible/cp env:ANSIBLE_SSH_CONTROL_PATH_DIR var: ansible_control_path_dir | This sets the directory to use for ssh control path if the control path setting is null. Also, provides the `%(directory)s` variable for the control path setting.
host - | Default: "inventory_hostname" | var: ansible_host var: ansible_ssh_host | Hostname/ip to connect to.
host_key_checking boolean |  | ini entries: [defaults] host_key_checking = VALUE [ssh_connection] host_key_checking = VALUE env:ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING env:ANSIBLE_SSH_HOST_KEY_CHECKING var: ansible_host_key_checking var: ansible_ssh_host_key_checking | Determines if ssh should check host keys
password - |  | var: ansible_password var: ansible_ssh_pass var: ansible_ssh_password | Authentication password for the `remote_user`. Can be supplied as CLI option.

pipelining
boolean

Default:
"ANSIBLE_PIPELINING"

ini entries:

[defaults]
pipelining = ANSIBLE_PIPELINING

env:ANSIBLE_PIPELINING
var: ansible_pipelining
var: ansible_ssh_pipelining

Pipelining reduces the number of SSH operations required to execute a module on the remote server, by executing many Ansible modules without actual file transfer.
This can result in a very significant performance improvement when enabled.
However this conflicts with privilege escalation (become). For example, when using sudo operations you must first disable 'requiretty' in the sudoers file for the target hosts, which is why this feature is disabled by default.

port integer | Default: 22 | ini entries: [defaults] remote_port = 22 env:ANSIBLE_REMOTE_PORT var: ansible_port var: ansible_ssh_port | Remote port to connect to.
private_key_file - |  | ini entries: [defaults] private_key_file = VALUE env:ANSIBLE_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE var: ansible_private_key_file var: ansible_ssh_private_key_file | Path to private key file to use for authentication
remote_user - |  | ini entries: [defaults] remote_user = VALUE env:ANSIBLE_REMOTE_USER var: ansible_user var: ansible_ssh_user | User name with which to login to the remote server, normally set by the remote_user keyword. If no user is supplied, Ansible will let the ssh client binary choose the user as it normally
retries integer | Default: 3 | ini entries: [connection] retries = 3 [ssh_connection] retries = 3 env:ANSIBLE_SSH_RETRIES var: ansible_ssh_retries | Number of attempts to connect.
scp_executable - added in 2.6 | Default: "scp" | ini entries: [ssh_connection] scp_executable = scp env:ANSIBLE_SCP_EXECUTABLE var: ansible_scp_executable | This defines the location of the scp binary. It defaults to `scp` which will use the first binary available in $PATH.
scp_extra_args - |  | ini entries: [ssh_connection] scp_extra_args = VALUE env:ANSIBLE_SCP_EXTRA_ARGS var: ansible_scp_extra_args | Extra exclusive to the ``scp`` CLI
scp_if_ssh - | Default: "smart" | ini entries: [ssh_connection] scp_if_ssh = smart env:ANSIBLE_SCP_IF_SSH var: ansible_scp_if_ssh | Prefered method to use when transfering files over ssh When set to smart, Ansible will try them until one succeeds or they all fail If set to True, it will force 'scp', if False it will use 'sftp'

sftp_batch_mode
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes ←

ini entries:

[ssh_connection]
sftp_batch_mode = yes

env:ANSIBLE_SFTP_BATCH_MODE
var: ansible_sftp_batch_mode

TODO: write it

sftp_executable - added in 2.6 | Default: "sftp" | ini entries: [ssh_connection] sftp_executable = sftp env:ANSIBLE_SFTP_EXECUTABLE var: ansible_sftp_executable | This defines the location of the sftp binary. It defaults to ``sftp`` which will use the first binary available in $PATH.
sftp_extra_args - |  | ini entries: [ssh_connection] sftp_extra_args = VALUE env:ANSIBLE_SFTP_EXTRA_ARGS var: ansible_sftp_extra_args | Extra exclusive to the ``sftp`` CLI
ssh_args - | Default: "-C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s" | ini entries: [ssh_connection] ssh_args = -C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s env:ANSIBLE_SSH_ARGS var: ansible_ssh_args | Arguments to pass to all ssh cli tools
ssh_common_args - |  | ini entries: [ssh_connection] ssh_common_args = VALUE env:ANSIBLE_SSH_COMMON_ARGS var: ansible_ssh_common_args | Common extra args for all ssh CLI tools

ssh_executable
-

Default:
"ssh"

ini entries:

[ssh_connection]
ssh_executable = ssh

env:ANSIBLE_SSH_EXECUTABLE
var: ansible_ssh_executable

This defines the location of the ssh binary. It defaults to ``ssh`` which will use the first ssh binary available in $PATH.
This option is usually not required, it might be useful when access to system ssh is restricted, or when using ssh wrappers to connect to remote hosts.

ssh_extra_args - |  | ini entries: [ssh_connection] ssh_extra_args = VALUE env:ANSIBLE_SSH_EXTRA_ARGS var: ansible_ssh_extra_args | Extra exclusive to the 'ssh' CLI

use_tty
boolean
added in 2.5

Choices:
- no
- yes ←

ini entries:

[ssh_connection]
usetty = yes

env:ANSIBLE_SSH_USETTY
var: ansible_ssh_use_tty

add -tt to ssh commands to force tty allocation

## Status

- This connection is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]
- This connection is maintained by the Ansible Community. [community]

### Authors

- ansible (@core)

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Hint

Configuration entries for each entry type have a low to high priority order. For example, a variable that is lower in the list will override a variable that is higher up.