+\H{config-ssh-hostkey} The Host Keys panel
+
+The Host Keys panel allows you to configure options related to SSH-2
+\i{host key management}.
+
+Host keys are used to prove the server's identity, and assure you that
+the server is not being spoofed (either by a man-in-the-middle attack
+or by completely replacing it on the network). See \k{gs-hostkey} for
+a basic introduction to host keys.
+
+This entire panel is only relevant to SSH protocol version 2; none of
+these settings affect SSH-1 at all.
+
+\S{config-ssh-hostkey-order} \ii{Host key type} selection
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.hostkey.order}
+
+PuTTY supports a variety of SSH-2 host key types, and allows you to
+choose which one you prefer to use to identify the server.
+Configuration is similar to cipher selection (see
+\k{config-ssh-encryption}).
+
+PuTTY currently supports the following host key types:
+
+\b \q{Ed25519}: \i{Edwards-curve} \i{DSA} using a twisted Edwards
+curve with modulus \cw{2^255-19}.
+
+\b \q{ECDSA}: \i{elliptic curve} \i{DSA} using one of the
+NIST-standardised elliptic curves.
+
+\b \q{DSA}: straightforward \i{DSA} using modular exponentiation.
+
+\b \q{RSA}: the ordinary \i{RSA} algorithm.
+
+If PuTTY already has one or more host keys stored for the server,
+it will prefer to use one of those, even if the server has a key
+type that is higher in the preference order. You can add such a
+key to PuTTY's cache from within an existing session using the
+\q{Special Commands} menu; see \k{using-specials}.
+
+Otherwise, PuTTY will choose a key type based purely on the
+preference order you specify in the configuration.
+
+If the first key type PuTTY finds is below the \q{warn below here}
+line, you will see a warning box when you make the connection, similar
+to that for cipher selection (see \k{config-ssh-encryption}).
+
+\S{config-ssh-kex-manual-hostkeys} \ii{Manually configuring host keys}
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.kex.manualhostkeys}
+
+In some situations, if PuTTY's automated host key management is not
+doing what you need, you might need to manually configure PuTTY to
+accept a specific host key, or one of a specific set of host keys.
+
+One reason why you might want to do this is because the host name
+PuTTY is connecting to is using round-robin DNS to return one of
+multiple actual servers, and they all have different host keys. In
+that situation, you might need to configure PuTTY to accept any of a
+list of host keys for the possible servers, while still rejecting any
+key not in that list.
+
+Another reason is if PuTTY's automated host key management is
+completely unavailable, e.g. because PuTTY (or Plink or PSFTP, etc) is
+running in a Windows environment without access to the Registry. In
+that situation, you will probably want to use the \cw{-hostkey}
+command-line option to configure the expected host key(s); see
+\k{using-cmdline-hostkey}.
+
+For situations where PuTTY's automated host key management simply
+picks the wrong host name to store a key under, you may want to
+consider setting a \q{logical host name} instead; see
+\k{config-loghost}.
+
+To configure manual host keys via the GUI, enter some text describing
+the host key into the edit box in the \q{Manually configure host keys
+for this connection} container, and press the \q{Add} button. The text
+will appear in the \q{Host keys or fingerprints to accept} list box.
+You can remove keys again with the \q{Remove} button.
+
+The text describing a host key can be in one of the following formats:
+
+\b An MD5-based host key fingerprint of the form displayed in PuTTY's
+Event Log and host key dialog boxes, i.e. sixteen 2-digit hex numbers
+separated by colons.
+
+\b A base64-encoded blob describing an SSH-2 public key in
+OpenSSH's one-line public key format. How you acquire a public key in
+this format is server-dependent; on an OpenSSH server it can typically
+be found in a location like \c{/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub}.
+
+If this box contains at least one host key or fingerprint when PuTTY
+makes an SSH connection, then PuTTY's automated host key management is
+completely bypassed: the connection will be permitted if and only if
+the host key presented by the server is one of the keys listed in this
+box, and the \I{host key cache}host key store in the Registry will be
+neither read \e{nor written}, unless you explicitly do so.
+
+If the box is empty (as it usually is), then PuTTY's automated host
+key management will work as normal.
+