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     ___                                     ___  
    |   | (connecting using "hxsr")         |   |
    | A | -----------------------------> P1 | B |
    |___| -----------------------------> P2 |___|

P1 = Private key 1 from user "hxusr" from machine A
P2 = Private key 2 from user "hxusr" from machine A

As you can see I have only "hxusr" user in machine A and machine B, but I want to have to access machine B using 2 different private keys from machine A.

Is this possible?

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I rewrote this with some English fixes based on my understanding of the question. If I was wrong in what you are after, please edit it again with a more complete explanation of what you want to accomplish. – Caleb May 18 '11 at 13:27
as an aside, using different key pairs for different hosts is generally recommended (albeit less convenient) as one compromised private key does not equate to many/all compromised remote hosts. – gravyface May 18 '11 at 13:37
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2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

You can certainly use your choice of more than one key, but I don't think SSH allows for requiring more than one key in a single connection. On the receiving side (your machine B) you specify a list of acceptable keys, and any of them that get provided will do the job.

Besides the config file Ignacio mentions, the ssh command has a -i option that you can use to specify the key file of your choice when authenticating on a case by case basis when you run it.

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Ok but how is the configuration at server side? I mean...will I put the 2 keys from A in in B's authorized_keys? – jyzuz May 18 '11 at 13:31
Yes, you put both of the public keys on separate lines of authorized_keys. – Caleb May 18 '11 at 13:32
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up vote 3 down vote

Yes. Use multiple Host stanzas in ~/.ssh/config, each with a different key. See the ssh_config(5) man page for details.

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