Is it really easier than just editing ~/.ssh/config? In the config, you can use wildcards for groups of servers
Host *.whatever.net
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/whatever-key
ServerAliveInterval 10
port 1022
and then add specific information and aliases per host
Host someserver.whatever.net someserver ss
Hostname someserver.whatever.net
User spin
Host otherserver.whatever.net otherserver os
Hostname otherserver.whatever.net
User dritf
Plus, since you probably edit it only once in a while, you don't need to remember the syntax and can simply base new additions on existing entries.
It seems like one of those situations where it is better to just learn the tool you're using instead of learning a tool to configure the tool you're using.
I doubt it's less error-prone. SSH config files aren't particularly complicated, and if you get it wrong, it's easy enough to fix - just edit the file again.
I don't have a problem with the tool. If it helps people it's doing a good job. My problem is only with the article title overplaying it's utility somewhat.
I agree with the comments to just freakin edit your .ssh/config. But, it clearly states "SSH like a boss". The implication I take means "configure ssh for people who don't know how to use an editor, can't read man page, don't know where man pages are, and can't find/don't know about .ssh."
So, not for us. We can move along and be happy someone else is taking care of those people.
The people who can't use an editor, read a man page, and don't know about SSH a) probably don't need this and b) would probably have just as hard of a time figuring out how to use this CLI utility as they would learning nano and .ssh/config syntax.
I've built a script that creates the config by querying EC2 for servers, this avoids having to pass around server names when new servers are created. Just run the script and every server is added.
It becomes useful when:
You have a large number of items in your ssh config, say 20-100+ and you don't want to jump around in vim.
When you want to control teams' ssh configs using scripts. If you have a team of developers that all have this installed, you can now update ssh configs just by having them run an executable or possibly by some sort of job queue.
Want to switch to key-based access for an old server, delete a different old server and give devs access to a new server without having to coordinate and answer questions with 20+ people? You now have the ability.
In OS X, by pressing Cmd+Shift+K whilst in Terminal.app, you can save SSH, SFTP, FTP and telnet connections. Personally I don't use it but some people might prefer it.
If this could make key management significantly easier (e.g. no need to rely on the buggy GNOME keychain app) or make it easier to manage persistent connections (ControlMaster is trivial, but juggling dozens of connections and gracefully terminating/resuming them is not), maybe it would be genuinely useful.
For the time being, though, this just looks like a lightweight editor for ssh_config.
I can see this being useful if you have lots of keys and the server kicks you when you try too many of them, but in theory you really shouldn't need more than one key.
No, that's a little different. The problem with password reuse is that if someone breaks into a site and steals the passwords, or a malicious administrator steals your password, they can reuse it. The public/private key separation of ssh keys means that that is much less of an issue. You can't login to another server with my public key.
If the integrity of a password was dependent on a one-time unlocking mechanism secured on my local machine, then yes, you would only need one password. Passwords are not public key cryptography.