# Unable to establish SSH connection using Ansible

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-establish-ssh-connection-using-ansible/18882>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Tags:** ee\
**Created:** [July 29, 2015, 11:22am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-establish-ssh-connection-using-ansible/18882 "2015-07-29T11:22:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cmacrae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cmacrae](https://forum.ansible.com/u/cmacrae)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 11:22am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-establish-ssh-connection-using-ansible/18882/1 "2015-07-29T11:22:08Z")

</div>

I’m working on a role to deploy my Ansible setup (sort of a ‘master node’ configuration - where I execute Ansible from).

Issue Description

I’ve encountered a rather strange issue: I’m able to SSH as the user I’m running Ansible as to systems within my infrastructure using key pair authentication, however; when using ansible from the shell, it seems it fails SSH connection.

Debugging this reveals (what I feel is the relevant message):

`  
debug3: authmethod\_is\_enabled publickey  
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey  
debug1: Trying private key: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_rsa  
debug3: sign\_and\_send\_pubkey: RSA SHA256:GOyUuuByt5CVOiBABZy+O2AKtfBzbmOIvp7Fj6A2ljA  
debug2: we sent a publickey packet, wait for reply

`

Following this, it attempts several other private key locations, then drops to keyboard-interactive, then fails.

What makes this strange is the last line:

` `debug2: we sent a publickey packet, wait for reply`

`

As it doesn’t seem there is any response - yet I’m able to SSH in fine from the shell, as that same user, with that private key:

`[ansible@test ~/etc]$ ssh bunny.cmacr.ae -l root -i /opt/ansible/.ssh/id_rsa [root@bunny ~]# `  
The above is exhibited when trying to execute any functions - testing using ‘ping’ and ‘setup’ like so:

`  
ansible bunny.cmacr.ae -m ping

` `  
ansible bunny.cmacr.ae -m setup  
`

I’ve also tried explicitly passing the ‘remote\_user’ value as an argument, just in case it was not evaluating this from my inventory variables (I have it set for all systems as ‘root’), like so:

`ansible -e remote_user=root bunny.cmacr.ae -m setup`  
But I’m afraid it’s the same results.

Environment Details

I’m running Ansible from Git, version 2.0.0:

`  
[ansible@test ~/etc]$ ansible --version  
ansible 2.0.0 (devel 42cfacf83b) last updated 2015/07/28 20:45:45 (GMT +000)  
lib/ansible/modules/core: (detached HEAD a46b3a4dc4) last updated 2015/07/28 20:45:51 (GMT +000)  
lib/ansible/modules/extras: (detached HEAD e30d8b84fe) last updated 2015/07/28 20:45:56 (GMT +000)  
v1/ansible/modules/core: (detached HEAD f8d8af17cd) last updated 2015/07/28 20:46:00 (GMT +000)  
v1/ansible/modules/extras: (detached HEAD 495ad450e5) last updated 2015/07/28 20:46:04 (GMT +000)  
config file = /opt/ansible/etc/ansible.cfg  
configured module search path = /opt/ansible/git/lib/ansible

`

This is running in a SmartOS zone (base64 14.3.0) - I’ve been operating from the same OS environment using Ansible 1.9.1 fine for quite some time.

I have ‘remote\_user’ set to ‘root’ for all systems within my inventory.

Full Debug Output

Here’s the full debug log from running ‘ansible -vvvv bunny.cmacr.ae -m setup’:

`  
Using /opt/ansible/etc/ansible.cfg as config file  
Loaded callback minimal of type stdout, v2.0  
\<bunny.cmacr.ae\> ESTABLISH SSH CONNECTION FOR USER: ansible  
\<bunny.cmacr.ae\> EXEC ssh -C -tt -vvv -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s -o ControlPath=“/tmp/ansible-ssh-%h-%p-%r” -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o KbdInteractiveAuthentication=no -o PreferredAuthentications=gssapi-with-mic,gssapi-keyex,hostbased,publickey -o PasswordAuthentication=no -o ConnectTimeout=10 bunny.cmacr.ae mkdir -p “$HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1438166197.14-198606753001666” && chmod a+rx “$HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1438166197.14-198606753001666” && echo “$HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1438166197.14-198606753001666”  
bunny.cmacr.ae | FAILED! =\> {  
“failed”: true,  
“msg”: “ERROR! SSH encountered an unknown error. The output was:  
OpenSSH\_6.9p1, OpenSSL 1.0.2d 9 Jul 2015  
debug1: Reading configuration data /opt/local/etc/ssh/ssh\_config  
debug1: auto-mux: Trying existing master  
debug1: Control socket "/tmp/ansible-ssh-bunny.cmacr.ae-22-ansible" does not exist  
debug2: ssh\_connect: needpriv 0  
debug1: Connecting to bunny.cmacr.ae [10.19.3.19] port 22.  
debug2: fd 4 setting O\_NONBLOCK  
debug1: fd 4 clearing O\_NONBLOCK  
debug1: Connection established.  
debug3: timeout: 10000 ms remain after connect  
debug1: key\_load\_public: No such file or directory  
debug1: identity file /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_rsa type -1  
debug1: key\_load\_public: No such file or directory  
debug1: identity file /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_rsa-cert type -1  
debug1: key\_load\_public: No such file or directory  
debug1: identity file /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_dsa type -1  
debug1: key\_load\_public: No such file or directory  
debug1: identity file /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_dsa-cert type -1  
debug1: key\_load\_public: No such file or directory  
debug1: identity file /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_ecdsa type -1  
debug1: key\_load\_public: No such file or directory  
debug1: identity file /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_ecdsa-cert type -1  
debug1: key\_load\_public: No such file or directory  
debug1: identity file /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_ed25519 type -1  
debug1: key\_load\_public: No such file or directory  
debug1: identity file /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_ed25519-cert type -1  
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0  
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH\_6.9  
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version Sun\_SSH\_1.5  
debug1: no match: Sun\_SSH\_1.5  
debug2: fd 4 setting O\_NONBLOCK  
debug1: Authenticating to bunny.cmacr.ae:22 as ‘ansible’  
debug3: hostkeys\_foreach: reading file "/opt/ansible/.ssh/known\_hosts"  
debug3: record\_hostkey: found key type RSA in file /opt/ansible/.ssh/known\_hosts:3  
debug3: load\_hostkeys: loaded 1 keys from bunny.cmacr.ae  
debug3: order\_hostkeyalgs: prefer hostkeyalgs: [ssh-rsa-cert-v01@openssh.com](mailto:ssh-rsa-cert-v01@openssh.com),ssh-rsa-cert-v00@openssh.com,ssh-rsa  
debug1: SSH2\_MSG\_KEXINIT sent  
debug1: SSH2\_MSG\_KEXINIT received  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: [curve25519-sha256@libssh.org](mailto:curve25519-sha256@libssh.org),ecdh-sha2-nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1,diffie-hellman-group14-sha1,diffie-hellman-group1-sha1  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: [ssh-rsa-cert-v01@openssh.com](mailto:ssh-rsa-cert-v01@openssh.com),ssh-rsa-cert-v00@openssh.com,ssh-rsa,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01@openssh.com,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01@openssh.com,ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,ssh-dss-cert-v01@openssh.com,ssh-dss-cert-v00@openssh.com,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,ssh-ed25519,ssh-dss  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: [chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com](mailto:chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com),aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-gcm@openssh.com,aes256-gcm@openssh.com,arcfour256,arcfour128,aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,blowfish-cbc,cast128-cbc,aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc,arcfour,rijndael-cbc@lysator.liu.se  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: [chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com](mailto:chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com),aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-gcm@openssh.com,aes256-gcm@openssh.com,arcfour256,arcfour128,aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,blowfish-cbc,cast128-cbc,aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc,arcfour,rijndael-cbc@lysator.liu.se  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: [umac-64-etm@openssh.com](mailto:umac-64-etm@openssh.com),umac-128-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha1-etm@openssh.com,umac-64@openssh.com,umac-128@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1,hmac-md5-etm@openssh.com,hmac-ripemd160-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha1-96-etm@openssh.com,hmac-md5-96-etm@openssh.com,hmac-md5,hmac-ripemd160,hmac-ripemd160@openssh.com,hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: [umac-64-etm@openssh.com](mailto:umac-64-etm@openssh.com),umac-128-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha1-etm@openssh.com,umac-64@openssh.com,umac-128@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1,hmac-md5-etm@openssh.com,hmac-ripemd160-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha1-96-etm@openssh.com,hmac-md5-96-etm@openssh.com,hmac-md5,hmac-ripemd160,hmac-ripemd160@openssh.com,hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: [zlib@openssh.com](mailto:zlib@openssh.com),zlib,none  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: [zlib@openssh.com](mailto:zlib@openssh.com),zlib,none  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit:  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit:  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: first\_kex\_follows 0  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: reserved 0  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1,diffie-hellman-group1-sha1  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,arcfour128,arcfour256,arcfour  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,arcfour128,arcfour256,arcfour  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: none,zlib  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: none,zlib  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: af-ZA,ar-AE,ar-BH,ar-DZ,ar-EG,ar-IQ,ar-JO,ar-KW,ar-LB,ar-LY,ar-MA,ar-OM,ar-QA,ar-SA,ar-TN,ar-YE,as-IN,az-AZ,be-BY,bg-BG,bn-BD,bn-IN,bo-CN,bo-IN,bs-BA,ca-ES,cs-CZ,da-DK,de-AT,de-BE,de-CH,de-DE,de-LI,de-LU,el-CY,el-GR,en-AU,en-BW,en-BZ,en-CA,en-GB,en-HK,en-IE,en-IN,en-JM,en-MH,en-MT,en-NA,en-NZ,en-PH,en-PK,en-SG,en-TT,en-US,en-ZA,en-ZW,es-AR,es-BO,es-CL,es-CO,es-CR,es-DO,es-EC,es-ES,es-GQ,es-GT,es-HN,es-MX,es-NI,es-PA,es-PE,es-PR,es-PY,es-SV,es-US,es-UY,es-VE,et-EE,fi-FI,fr-BE,fr-CA,fr-CF,fr-CH,fr-FR,fr-GN,fr-LU,fr-MC,fr-MG,fr-ML,fr-NE,fr-SN,ga-IE,gu-IN,he-IL,hi-IN,hr-HR,hu-HU,hy-AM,id-ID,ii-CN,is-IS,it-CH,it-IT,ja-JP,ka-GE,kk-KZ,km-KH,kn-IN,ko-KR,lt-LT,lv-LV,mk-MK,ml-IN,mn-CN,mn-MN,mr-IN,ms-MY,mt-MT,nb-NO,ne-IN,ne-NP,nl-BE,nl-NL,nn-NO,or-IN,pa-IN,pa-PK,pl-PL,pt-BR,pt-GW,pt-MZ,pt-PT,ro-MD,ro-RO,ru-MD,ru-RU,ru-UA,sa-IN,si-LK,sk-SK,sl-SI,sq-AL,sr-BA,sr-ME,sr-RS,sv-FI,sv-SE,ta-IN,ta-LK,te-IN,th-TH,tr-TR,ug-CN,uk-UA,ur-IN,ur-PK,vi-VN,zh-CN,zh-HK,zh-MO,zh-SG,i-default,zh-TW  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: af-ZA,ar-AE,ar-BH,ar-DZ,ar-EG,ar-IQ,ar-JO,ar-KW,ar-LB,ar-LY,ar-MA,ar-OM,ar-QA,ar-SA,ar-TN,ar-YE,as-IN,az-AZ,be-BY,bg-BG,bn-BD,bn-IN,bo-CN,bo-IN,bs-BA,ca-ES,cs-CZ,da-DK,de-AT,de-BE,de-CH,de-DE,de-LI,de-LU,el-CY,el-GR,en-AU,en-BW,en-BZ,en-CA,en-GB,en-HK,en-IE,en-IN,en-JM,en-MH,en-MT,en-NA,en-NZ,en-PH,en-PK,en-SG,en-TT,en-US,en-ZA,en-ZW,es-AR,es-BO,es-CL,es-CO,es-CR,es-DO,es-EC,es-ES,es-GQ,es-GT,es-HN,es-MX,es-NI,es-PA,es-PE,es-PR,es-PY,es-SV,es-US,es-UY,es-VE,et-EE,fi-FI,fr-BE,fr-CA,fr-CF,fr-CH,fr-FR,fr-GN,fr-LU,fr-MC,fr-MG,fr-ML,fr-NE,fr-SN,ga-IE,gu-IN,he-IL,hi-IN,hr-HR,hu-HU,hy-AM,id-ID,ii-CN,is-IS,it-CH,it-IT,ja-JP,ka-GE,kk-KZ,km-KH,kn-IN,ko-KR,lt-LT,lv-LV,mk-MK,ml-IN,mn-CN,mn-MN,mr-IN,ms-MY,mt-MT,nb-NO,ne-IN,ne-NP,nl-BE,nl-NL,nn-NO,or-IN,pa-IN,pa-PK,pl-PL,pt-BR,pt-GW,pt-MZ,pt-PT,ro-MD,ro-RO,ru-MD,ru-RU,ru-UA,sa-IN,si-LK,sk-SK,sl-SI,sq-AL,sr-BA,sr-ME,sr-RS,sv-FI,sv-SE,ta-IN,ta-LK,te-IN,th-TH,tr-TR,ug-CN,uk-UA,ur-IN,ur-PK,vi-VN,zh-CN,zh-HK,zh-MO,zh-SG,i-default,zh-TW  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: first\_kex\_follows 0  
debug2: kex\_parse\_kexinit: reserved 0  
debug1: kex: server-\>client aes128-ctr hmac-sha1 zlib  
debug1: kex: client-\>server aes128-ctr hmac-sha1 zlib  
debug1: SSH2\_MSG\_KEX\_DH\_GEX\_REQUEST(1024\<7680\<8192) sent  
debug1: got SSH2\_MSG\_KEX\_DH\_GEX\_GROUP  
debug2: bits set: 2017/4095  
debug1: SSH2\_MSG\_KEX\_DH\_GEX\_INIT sent  
debug1: got SSH2\_MSG\_KEX\_DH\_GEX\_REPLY  
debug1: Server host key: ssh-rsa SHA256:kQ55qytyt1/NNW3vi0cKIBRRSFYiElZxOya2t1UACok  
debug3: hostkeys\_foreach: reading file "/opt/ansible/.ssh/known\_hosts"  
debug3: record\_hostkey: found key type RSA in file /opt/ansible/.ssh/known\_hosts:3  
debug3: load\_hostkeys: loaded 1 keys from bunny.cmacr.ae  
debug3: hostkeys\_foreach: reading file "/opt/ansible/.ssh/known\_hosts"  
debug3: record\_hostkey: found key type RSA in file /opt/ansible/.ssh/known\_hosts:3  
debug3: load\_hostkeys: loaded 1 keys from 10.19.3.19  
debug1: Host ‘bunny.cmacr.ae’ is known and matches the RSA host key.  
debug1: Found key in /opt/ansible/.ssh/known\_hosts:3  
debug2: bits set: 2038/4095  
debug2: set\_newkeys: mode 1  
debug1: Enabling compression at level 6.  
debug1: SSH2\_MSG\_NEWKEYS sent  
debug1: expecting SSH2\_MSG\_NEWKEYS  
debug2: set\_newkeys: mode 0  
debug1: SSH2\_MSG\_NEWKEYS received  
debug1: Roaming not allowed by server  
debug1: SSH2\_MSG\_SERVICE\_REQUEST sent  
debug2: service\_accept: ssh-userauth  
debug1: SSH2\_MSG\_SERVICE\_ACCEPT received  
debug2: key: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_rsa (0),  
debug2: key: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_dsa (0),  
debug2: key: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_ecdsa (0),  
debug2: key: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_ed25519 (0),  
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,keyboard-interactive  
debug3: start over, passed a different list publickey,keyboard-interactive  
debug3: preferred gssapi-with-mic,gssapi-keyex,hostbased,publickey  
debug3: authmethod\_lookup publickey  
debug3: remaining preferred: ,gssapi-keyex,hostbased,publickey  
debug3: authmethod\_is\_enabled publickey  
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey  
debug1: Trying private key: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_rsa  
debug3: sign\_and\_send\_pubkey: RSA SHA256:GOyUuuByt5CVOiBABZy+O2AKtfBzbmOIvp7Fj6A2ljA  
debug2: we sent a publickey packet, wait for reply  
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,keyboard-interactive  
debug1: Trying private key: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_dsa  
debug3: no such identity: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_dsa: No such file or directory  
debug1: Trying private key: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_ecdsa  
debug3: no such identity: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_ecdsa: No such file or directory  
debug1: Trying private key: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_ed25519  
debug3: no such identity: /opt/ansible/.ssh/id\_ed25519: No such file or directory  
debug2: we did not send a packet, disable method  
debug1: No more authentication methods to try.  
Permission denied (publickey,keyboard-interactive).”}

`

Last Note

Thanks in advance for any help on this! Quite curious as to what’s going on.  
If I can provide any more detail, please; let me know.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shaps](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/shaps/32/1356_2.png) [@Shaps](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Shaps)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 11:32am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-establish-ssh-connection-using-ansible/18882/2 "2015-07-29T11:32:08Z")

</div>

Hi,

From the full debug you can see ansible is using the “ansible” user to try the login.

Have you tried setting remote\_user in the ansible.cfg [/opt/ansible/etc/ansible.cfg in your case]?

Ref. [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/intro\_configuration.html#remote-user](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/intro_configuration.html#remote-user)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Paul\_Markham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@Paul\_Markham](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Paul_Markham)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 11:37am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-establish-ssh-connection-using-ansible/18882/3 "2015-07-29T11:37:03Z")

</div>

The problem looks to be that you’re trying to ssh as user ‘ansible’ when running the ansible command, instead of user ‘root’. Using ‘-e remote\_user=root’ sets a variable, not a configuration option.

Try specifying remote\_user=root in your ansible.cfg, setting environment variable $ANSIBLE\_REMOTE\_USER=root, or using ansible\_ssh\_user in your inventory.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cmacrae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cmacrae](https://forum.ansible.com/u/cmacrae)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 11:39am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-establish-ssh-connection-using-ansible/18882/4 "2015-07-29T11:39:09Z")

</div>

Ah! Not sure how I didn’t catch that in the debug output!  
Thank you very much, after setting this in ansible.cfg, this now works.

Cheers, I appreciate the help 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cmacrae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cmacrae](https://forum.ansible.com/u/cmacrae)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 11:39am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-establish-ssh-connection-using-ansible/18882/5 "2015-07-29T11:39:51Z")

</div>

Cheers Paul! This is now sorted - really appreciate the help - I’m not sure how I missed that in the debug output…