[Planetlab-users] can't skip host key verification

[Neil Spring]

> I kept getting asked to enter my passphrase when I connect to a node.
> I have added "StrictHostKeyChecking no"  to .ssh/config but it doesn't
> seem to work. Any ideas?

your passphrase has nothing to do with host keys.  

The passphrase protects your private key.  If you find that
you have to enter a passphrase, it is because when you
created it with ssh-keygen, you gave it a passphrase.  This
is, in general, a very good idea.  You may use ssh-agent to
"fix" this for you by storing the decrypted private key in
memory (which is better than storing it plaintext on disk or
over nfs).  You may also use ssh-keygen to set the new
passphrase to be empty (consult the man page for the correct
options).

update_known_hosts.pl (use google) downloads the correct
host keys for machines that are operational and in
production state.  (there are some minor issues with
planetlab federation at the moment, but these should be
fixed before they are troublesome.)  With a correct
known_hosts file, ssh will not prompt for accepting the key.

-neil