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Let's say I just have an ip address for a server and I don't have a domain with it (it's just a database server, so it doesn't need a domain). I don't want to have to remember the ip address every time, so is there a way I could still use the syntax like ssh username@database or something?

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  • This is mistake primarily in terminology. Replace the word "domain" with a correct word "name" and you will immediately see it. "I say the server doesn't need a name, so I would really like to refer to it by name" is a self-contradiction. Maybe your real questions should be "What is a domain? How to add a new name to a domain?"
    – kubanczyk
    Mar 12, 2018 at 22:48

5 Answers 5

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If you only want the name for ssh and ssh only, you can add a name to your ssh config in ~/.ssh/config

As an example, your config file could look like this:

Host database
    HostName <real IP address or hostname here>
    User username

Then you can type ssh database on the command line and ssh will automatically do ssh [email protected] for you.

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  • If in the HostName field I can put only the hostname or the IP, then how do I specify the hostname-IP association?
    – Ramy Al Zuhouri
    May 15, 2015 at 10:16
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    @RamyAlZuhouri you would put the hostname in the Host field, like "database" in the example, and (just) the IP address in the HostName field.
    – David
    May 17, 2015 at 3:03
  • THANK YOU! I've been trying to figure out how to do this from Termux and I don't have sudo on my android phone so I couldn't edit the /etc/hosts file. But this worked. AWESOME.
    – Gabriel Pumple
    Jun 7, 2023 at 16:16
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Add an entry for it to /etc/hosts on the system you're ssh'ing from.

The syntax is

1.1.1.1 hostname

This works on Linux and Mac. For Windows, the file is c:\windows\system\drivers\etc\hosts.

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  • 2
    This will definitely work, but be advised that the hosts file is sometimes overwritten by network managers. Also you have to have root privileges so this is only an option if you have root.
    – Freedom_Ben
    May 20, 2015 at 23:52
  • But is this method secure and safe to practice?
    – Shayan
    Sep 7, 2022 at 17:51
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clients have 2 or 3 ways to associate a name with a IP address.

1) DNS, but that implies a hostname and a domain.

2) host file, you can add any name in the clients host file and then it will be used. Add the line '192.168.1.1 database' in /etc/hosts to associate the name database with the address 192.168.1.1. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_%28file%29 for more specific details and OS specific locations.

3) NIS, Solaris computers can use NIS to share hostnames for multiple clients.

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You need just to add the database name-IP mapping to your /etc/hosts file. The hosts file can be easily edited. You will find some entries there.

This name can be used for any connection not just SSH.

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Create a DynDNS, it's free, in five minutes you can add a A record that points to your IP.

For example: create database1.dyndns.org as an A record pointing your ip
You can access from everywhere using:

ssh [email protected]

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