Handle SSH Host Key Changes

On the GreenNode AI Platform, notebook instances are ephemeral — meaning they may receive a new IP address and regenerate their SSH host keys each time you stop and restart them. This behavior can cause SSH to refuse the connection due to changed host identification, showing an error like:

This guide shows you how to safely and effectively bypass SSH StrictHostKeyChecking to streamline your connection to GreenNode notebook instances.

SSH host key checking is designed to prevent Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks. The steps below are suitable only when you're connecting to trusted GreenNode-managed environments.

Method 1: One-Time SSH Connection (No Host Key Check)

Use the following command to bypass the check for one session:

1. ssh -p <your-instance-port> root@<your-instance-ip> -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null

Use this for quick debugging or temporary access.

Method 2: SSH Config Entry for GreenNode Notebook Instances

To make SSH easier to use, add a config block to your ~/.ssh/config:

1. Host greennode-notebook    
   
2.            HostName <your-instance-ip>
3.            Port <your-instance-port>
4.            User root    
   
5.            StrictHostKeyChecking no    
   
6.            UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null
   
7.            IdentifyFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Then connect using:

1. ssh greennode-notebook

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