Chris Geldenhuis wrote: > Stephen John Smoogen wrote: >> On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 1:32 PM, Chris Geldenhuis >> <chris.gelden at iafrica.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi, >>> >>> I am trying to set up an automatic connection between CentOS 4 system >>> (server) and a CentOS 5 DomU VM (client) via ssh to enable my to back up >>> development files on the server to the client with a cron process. >>> >>> I generate they key pair without a pass phrase on the client and >>> copy the >>> public key to the same user's .ssh directory on the server as >>> authorized_keys2. >>> >>> When I try to ssh to the Server from the Client, I am still asked >>> for the >>> user's password on the client. >>> >>> If I do the same with CentOS 5 for both Client and Server, I can login >>> without providing a password. >>> >>> The versions of ssh on the two systems are: >>> >>> Client (CentOS 5): OpenSSH_4.3p2, OpenSSL 0.9.8b 04 May 2006 >>> >>> Server (CentOS 4): OpenSSH_3.9p1, OpenSSL 0.9.7a Feb 19 2003 >>> >>> Does anyone on the list know whether these versions are compatible >>> or how >>> to get them to work together without requiring a password. >>> >>> It is not an option to change to CentOS5 on the server side as that >>> system >>> is serving as a development system for a client running RedHat ES 4 >>> and has >>> to have the identical configuration and be binary compatible. >>> >> >> I know this works between the entire CentOS family. The main problems >> I have seen are that the users home directory or .ssh permissions are >> not secure enough for ssh to do its thing. >> >> ssh -v -v -v will tell you more than you want on where it is having >> problems.. but the quick fix I use are the following: >> >> su - root >> chown $user $user_homedir # fill in $user and $user_home correctly as >> in dude and /nfs/home/d/dude >> chmod 0750 $user_homedir >> chown $user $user_homedir/.ssh >> chmod 0700 $user_homedir/.ssh >> chmod 0600 $user_homedir/.ssh/authorized_keys >> >> If that doesn't fix the problem the -v -v -v will tel what else might >> be the cause. >> >> >> >> > Thanks - changing the permissions fixed the problem . Thanks also to > Daniel for his suggestions. > Yes, if StrictModes is set to yes in /etc/ssh/sshd_config (which is the default), then the correct permissions *must* be set on ~/.ssh and ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. It is also documented in the Wiki article here: http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Network/SecuringSSH#head-9c5717fe7f9bb26332c9d67571200f8c1e4324bc Regards, Ned