The Known Hosts File

The Reflection Secure Shell Client maintains a list of known hosts in the known hosts file. Reflection supports both user-specific and global known hosts files.

The user known hosts file

The user-specific known hosts file is called known_hosts and is located in the user's .ssh folder Reflection stores Secure Shell information for individual users in the following location in the Windows personal documents folder:

  • Windows XP, Windows Server 2003:
  • \Documents and Settings\ username \My Documents \Attachmate\Reflection\.ssh
  • Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008:
  • \Users\username\Documents\Attachmate\Reflection\.ssh
Comparable files are placed in the $HOME directory on UNIX systems. . This is the default known hosts file. Reflection automatically updates this file when:

  • You update the Trusted Host Keys list in the Host Keys tab of the Secure Shell settings dialog box.

- or -

  • You connect to a previously unknown host and answer Always in response to the Host Key Authenticity prompt.

The global known hosts file

System administrators can add a system-wide known hosts file named ssh_known_hosts to the Reflection application data folder Reflection stores Secure Shell information that is available to all users in the following location: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003: \Documents and Settings\all users\Application Data\Attachmate\Reflection Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008: \ProgramData\Attachmate\Reflection .

In this location the known hosts file provides a list of hosts for all users of the PC. Keys in this list can be viewed, but not edited in the Global Host Keys list in the Host Keys tab of the Secure Shell settings dialog box.