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In the first example (for the 
myserver
 server), I'm providing an IP address for the 
connection, rather than a hostname. This is useful in a situation where you may 
not have a DNS entry for your target server. With this example, I don't have to 
remember that the IP address for 
myserver
 is 
192.168.1.23
. I simply execute 
ssh 
myserver
 and it's taken care of for me.
The names of each server within the 
config
 file are arbitrary, and don't have to 
match the target server's hostname. I could've 
named the first server 
potato
 and 
it would still have routed me to 
192.168.1.23
, so I can create any sort of named 
shortcut I want, whatever I find is most convenient for me and easiest to remember. 
As you can see, maintaining a 
config
 file in your home directory containing your 
most commonly used SSH connections will certainly help keep you organized and 
allow you to connect more easily.
Summary
In this chapter, we worked through several examples of connecting to other 
networks. We started off by configuring our hostname, managing network interfaces, 
assigning static IP addresses, as well as looking at how name resolution works in 
Linux. A decent portion of this chapter was dedicated to topics regarding OpenSSH, 
which is an extremely useful utility that allows you to remotely manage your servers. 
We'll revisit OpenSSH in 
Chapter 21
, 
Securing Your Server
, with a look at boosting its 
security. Overall, we've only begun to scratch the surface of this tool. Entire books 
have been written about SSH, but the examples in this chapter should be enough to 
make you productive with it. The name of the game is to practice, practice, practice!
In the next chapter, we'll talk about managing software packages. We'll work 
through adding and removing them, adding additional repositories, and more!