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Troubleshooting SSH

Stuck with errors trying to get your SSH setup configured? See below for some common problems. Or as always, reach out to us by creating an Issue or start a Discussion

No Such File or Directory

Symptom: BBS not starting with an error similar to the following:

Error initializing: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '<path>/config/security/ssh_private_key.pem'

Solution: Several things can cause this:

  1. ssh_private_key.pem was installed to the wrong location. Make sure that it is in the config/security directory and has the name matching the error message. You can also change your config.hjson if you prefer to point to the location of the key file.
  2. ssh_private_key.pem has the wrong file permissions. Verify that the file will be readable by the user that the BBS is running as. Because it is a cryptographic key however, we do recommend that access is restricted only to that user.

Error With Netrunner

Symptom: Some ssh clients connect, but Netrunner (and other older clients) get a connection failed message and the following is in the log:

"level":40,"error":"Handshake failed","code":2,"msg":"SSH connection error"

Solution:

The key was most likely not generated with the -t rsa option, and is using a newer algorithm that is not supported by Netrunner and similar clients. Regenerate the certificate with the -t rsa option.

Symptom: Some ssh clients connect, but Netrunner (and other older clients) get a connection failed message and the following is in the log:

"level":40,"error":"Group exchange not implemented for server","msg":"SSH connection error"

Solution:

Remove the following encryption protocols from your config.hjson: diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256 and diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1

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