Termius has slowly become one of my favorite SSH GUI clients on the market. Not only does it make managing SSH connections simple, it offers plenty of extra features that lift it above the competition.
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One of the features found in Termius is called Identities, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. You can create different Identity pairs — which consist of a username and password — and use them as needed.
With Identities, you can create multiple pairs and apply them when adding a new host. This has the added benefit of making the setup of a host easier and you don’t have to worry about anyone seeing you type credentials as you set up a host. If that sounds like a feature you could use, read on and I’ll show you how to use it.
Jump to:
- What you need to use Identities in Termius
- How to create an Identity
- How to use the new Identity
- The only caveat to this process
What you need to use Identities in Termius
The only thing you need to follow along is the Termius client installed on any of the supporting hosts, which are Linux, macOS, Windows, Android and iOS.
How to create an Identity
To create an Identity, you must either first create a host or open a host for editing. To open a host for editing, hover your cursor over the Identity listing and click the resulting pencil icon (Figure A).
Figure A
In the Edit Host pane, click Set An Identity (Figure B).
Figure B
In the resulting pane, click +NEW. In this new pane (Figure C), give the Identity a label, type the username, and then type the password.
Figure C
If this Identity uses SSH authentication keys, click Keys. In the resulting popout, select the key to use. If you’ve not already added an SSH key, you can do that from the Host Edit pane.
When finished, click SAVE and the new Identity is ready to use. Close the Edit pane by clicking the right-pointing arrow in the top right corner.
How to use the new Identity
Now that you’ve created an Identity and assigned it to a host, all you have to do is double-click the host listing to connect to the server. This is the same as if you entered the username and password combination in the general Host creation, but you can now re-use that Identity for any host it would apply to. Remember: If you added an SSH key to the Identity, then when you go to connect you’ll type the SSH key password and not your user password.
The only caveat to this process
The only caveat to Identities is that the developer hasn’t created the means to access Identities other than through the setup and editing of a host. It would be nice if there was an Identity section in the Settings pane, so you could create as many Identities as you need without having to go through a host configuration first.
Who knows — maybe a future release will see this feature brought to life. Note: I have requested this feature from the developer. If you find there’s a Termius feature you’d like to see in the app, you can click Request a Feature in the Settings window, click + and send the developer a note on the feature you’d like to have.
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