Can't connect with ssh - my first time connecting to preexisting site

I've taken over a site that's hosted on Linode, but I can't connect to pull down a local copy of the site for development. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

  • When I follow the instructions for connecting over ssh, it fails with "Permission denied (publickey)" rather than offering me the opportunity to put in a password (since, obviously, I haven't uploaded my public key yet).

    • I tracked down the Linode table at DrupalCon, and the tech there told me to use Lish. I had already put my public key in the Lish settings and confirmed it was set to allow both password and public key, so I thought this would be easy. However:
    • When I attempt Lish through the Ajax Console, I get "Invalid Session. Session closed."
    • I felt the closest to success with Lish terminal access. When I use the Lish via SSH command at the bottom of my remote access screen (ssh -t MY_USER_NAME@lish-dallas.linode.com linodeMYLINODENUMBER), I can indeed connect, but then I get a "localhost login" prompt, and I can't come up with a syntax to enter my username and password that satisfies this, and I get "login incorrect" every time. This isn't covered in the documentation, which just instructs "log in with your username and password."

    What's the correct procedure once I get connected with terminal, or what can I do differently elsewhere to get this to work? Thanks in advance for any help.

3 Replies

When you connect to Lish via SSH, and it says "localhost login:", type a username for a system user on the Linode, like "root" or any other user that whoever set it up created. Then hit Enter. Then it'll say "Password:", and you type that user's password. And then hit Enter.

If you don't have a password for any user on the system, you either need to ask the person who set up the system, or you need to reset the root password:

https://www.linode.com/docs/search?q=reset

Aah - thanks, that was my problem. I was trying to use the Linode Manager credentials without realizing those weren't the same as the server credentials. Hopefully my client has the root password so we don't have to shut down the linode to reset it.

I followed the steps listed by Akerl and reset my root password but I am still getting the same issue.

How can I get my password to work? I have tried both "root" and my "username" and all I keep getting is the invalid login response.

How can I fix this.

Thank you.

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