Encrypting SSH host keys?

[Artis]

Is it possible to encrypt SSH host keys so that a password is requested at the SSH server startup?

[Dr Small]

Generally you are prompted with a password anyhow, if you use sudo.

sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start

[Artis]

Generally you are prompted with a password anyhow, if you use sudo.
Right, that doesn't mean that the keys are encrypted however...

[Dr Small]

Correct. You could however encrypt the host keys with GPG, and then edit the init.d script to decrypt the keys before it starts SSH.