(Solved: user error) Dietpi automatic setup: OpenSSH login fails ?

General Discussion
1

UPDATE: user error.



In dietpi.txt:

##### Software Options #####
# SSH server choice: 0=none/custom | -1=Dropbear | -2=OpenSSH
AUTO_SETUP_SSH_SERVER_INDEX=-2

…

# Software to automatically install
# - List of available software IDs: https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/wiki/DietPi-Software-list
# - Add as many entries as you wish, one each line.
# - DietPi will automatically install all pre-reqs (e.g. ALSA/X11 for desktops etc)
# - E.g. the following (without the leading "#") will install the LXDE desktop automatically on first boot:
# OpenSSH Client
AUTO_SETUP_INSTALL_SOFTWARE_ID=0

…

# OpenSSH Server
AUTO_SETUP_INSTALL_SOFTWARE_ID=105

However the credentials documented here:

https://dietpi.com/docs/software/ssh/#openssh

… are not working.

Note: I do have this as well:

# Fail2Ban
AUTO_SETUP_INSTALL_SOFTWARE_ID=73

Is there possibly an issue with the default Fail2Ban config?

Have not knowingly installed a firewall and only attempting to access DietPi via LAN.

Would use authorised_keys but not seeing an option for that, so I guess I need to write a separate script.

Please let me know if I can help.

2

Maybe you like to share what image you are running. RPI or some other device? 32bit or 64bit?

Would use authorised_keys but not seeing an option for that, so I guess I need to write a separate script.

There is no option in DietPi so automatically use SSH keys. This would need to be setup manually.

3

REMOVED OBSOLETE LINK

Downloaded on 23rd July 2021.

aarch64

If that is not 7.4.2 out of the box, which I doubt, than DietPi is self-upgrading to 7.4.2 automatically, as is no doubt intended.

Hardware is a DeskPi Pro with an RPi4 including 4GB RAM.

Installation method:

balenaEtcher creates the image on a SanDisk 32GB Ultra USB stick with a USB3 interface and it’s plugged into a USB3 port.

Currently booting to a logged in screen as root.

Using PuTTY from a Windows 10 laptop on the same network. Have connected to a previous DietPi instance via OpenSSH using PuTTY.

PuTTY receives a username prompt as I do not have that pre-filled. I type in root and the the Password prompt. I type in what I think is the password and PuTTY just hangs until it times out.

Then, subsequent new PuTTY windows fail to display even a Login (username) prompt.

shutdown -r now

Wow, still no Login prompt, just a quick timeout.

sshd, fail2ban are confirmed to be running via htop.

Set the log system to full. /var/log/fail2ban.log remains empty whilst /var/log/auth.log does contain references to the failed logins.

So I changed the root passwd and it still failed.

Checked /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

PermitRootLogin yes

All very strange!

4

I did an automated test installation and for me it’s working without issues.

can you check following

journalctl -u ssh.service
fail2ban-client status sshd

if you did to many failed logins, you most probably got blocked by fail2ban now

5

Looks like fail2ban was kicking in as suggested.

Must have chased my tail when trying passwords. There’s possibly three that I thought may apply. One from dietpi.txt; the default dietpi password; the password I changed to via console to force a known password.

Apologies for wasting your time. This thread may be possibly best deleted to remove rubbish from people’s searches and browsing for real issues.

6

there is just a single root password. You would need to use the new one as soon as you have changed it via one of the available methods. :slight_smile: