ssh access denied putty

[Kieren]

Sorry, I guessed I missed that bit. Is this error message just coming from Putty? Have you tried logging in from a different ssh client, even from localhost?

[Kieren]

That looks like your message of the day. Had you played with that at all? Check /etc/motd and /etc/banner files, see if either contains the "Access is denied" message.

Would MOTD be shown before the password is entered?

[IanVaughan]

That looks like your message of the day. Had you played with that at all? Check /etc/motd and /etc/banner files, see if either contains the "Access is denied" message.

# cat /etc/motd
# cat /etc/banner
cat: /etc/banner: No such file or directory

login as: root
Access denied
root@hostname's password:
Last login: ...
#

(Small point, text is "Access denied")

Nice try!

[IanVaughan]

Sorry, I guessed I missed that bit. Is this error message just coming from Putty? Have you tried logging in from a different ssh client, even from localhost?

If I login via a an Putty shell already SSH'd into a different host,
ie Putty SSH into HostA
1. Windows launch Putty
2. Get "login as:" prompt
3. enter "root", enter
4. "Access denied" displayed"
5. prompted for password, type in and press enter.
6. date displayed and am in.

Now from that putty ssh shell open (above)
1. type "ssh HostB"
2. date displayed, and am straight in!

Clearer?

[Kieren]

I understand how you're connecting, I'm just trying to figure out if the "Access denied" message is coming from RedHat or if it's an error with Putty. Are there any error logs on Putty that provide more information?

What I was trying to get you to do is after step 6 above try connecting to localhost and see if you get the same message:

ssh localhost

[bigtomrodney]

Would MOTD be shown before the password is entered?

Fair point, I think I missed the mark on this one

[IanVaughan]

I've still not solved this, I dont think I've answered all the replies posted yet, so sorry about that, and thanks.
But I was looking into SSHing in general, and found this info I wanted logged :-

In the "/etc/init.d/sshd"
There is the "Banner" setting

If set to a file with the text "My SSH Banner" in, I get

login as: root
My SSH Banner
Access denied

So still get the access denied, but its after the Banner!
Will look into this access denied issue more later!