6

I followed the step six at https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-ssh-keys-with-digitalocean-droplets but I still get a password prompt when I try to connect to the server using ssh from other machines that don't have the private key.

Troubleshooting ideas? Thanks

user3553107
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  • The guide only denys root login via password. Are you using antother user to log in? – Pabi Nov 03 '14 at 15:27
  • I'm trying "ssh root@myipaddress" which gives "root@myipaddress's password:" – user3553107 Nov 03 '14 at 15:38
  • Have you restarted the ssh server after chaning the config? If so, please edit your post with your /etc/ssh/sshd_config. – Pabi Nov 03 '14 at 15:40
  • I ran "service ssh restart" but get the same problem. /etc/ssh/sshd_config is at http://pastebin.com/zCwbDTAU – user3553107 Nov 03 '14 at 15:47
  • Config looks fine. If the server restart was successfull please edit the question with the output from ssh -vv root@server. Make sure to replace the IP in the output. – Pabi Nov 03 '14 at 16:03

1 Answers1

6

That is normal behaviour. You will be prompted for a password, but if PermitRootLogin without-password is set, then no password will work. If you don't want to be prompted for a password at all, then set in your sshd_config:

PasswordAuthentication no

If you only want to deny it for root, try:

Match User root
    PasswordAuthentication no
muru
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  • Match User root PasswordAuthentication no seems to have worked :) Can anyone confirm you should still see the prompt if you use without-password (I'm hosting my machine with digital ocean and don't really want them to e-mail me the password for me to try this theory out)? – user3553107 Nov 03 '14 at 16:25
  • @user3553107 Anyone other than me? – muru Nov 03 '14 at 16:27
  • After the amount of dubious comments on the original guide I posted it's always good to check ;) If you had a man page etc stating the expected behaviour that would be great – user3553107 Nov 03 '14 at 16:37
  • @user3553107 The manpage doesn't mention the expected behaviour, but this question shows imilar behaviour. – muru Nov 03 '14 at 16:41
  • @user3553107: check the comment above UsePAM yes in your /etc/ssh/sshd_config – Andrea Corbellini Nov 03 '14 at 17:01