unable to launch/connect to a remote server

[zawedcvg]

Unable to use distant launch for a particular server. I have tried launching and connecting to a different remote server and it works, but just this one server, I am not able to connect. Only difference I can think of is that it requires an identity file. On just trying distant launch *** in the command line, I get:

Failed to launch server

Caused by:
    Fatal: ssh handshake with xxxxx: [Session(-5)] Unable to exchange encryption keys

However using ssh to connect to the same thing works fine. Is there a way to get more logs to help debug? I have tried this command

distant launch ***** \
    --distant-args '--log-level trace --log-file /tmp/server.log'

but the /temp/server.log is always empty.

distant launch **** --options ssh.identity_files="~/.ssh/priv_key"  --distant-args '--log-level trace --log-file /tmp/server.log'

explicitly specifying the identity file doesnt seem to work either.

[chipsenkbeil]

Does the manager log file show anything? It should be located as manager.log on your local machine (not the remote machine) in the same folder as the client.log file, assuming you didn't change any of those paths.

Also, the ssh library we use is a C binding that can be a bit unstable. Have you tried using the alternative library?

distant launch ssh://example.com \
  --options 'backend=libssh ssh.identity_files="~/.ssh/priv_key' \
  --distant-args '--log-level trace --log-file /tmp/server.log'

[zawedcvg]

Where are the manager.log/client.log supposed to be located? Couldn't find it in the docs. Only thing I found was setting it up in neovim, but I am assuming that is related to the neovim plugin's log file, not the one specific to distant.

Also, the ssh library we use is a C binding that can be a bit unstable. Have you tried using the alternative library?

I installed libssh but I get the following error when using libssh as the backend:

Failed to launch server

Caused by:
    Invalid backend

[zawedcvg]

Found the logs in ~/.cache/distant, but the client.log doesn't show anything different

[2025-01-01 10:29:50.344651 +04:00] INFO [distant-net/src/manager/client.rs:89] Using ssh2 to connect to ****:22
[2025-01-01 10:29:51.059760 +04:00] ERROR [distant-net/src/manager/client.rs:92] ssh handshake with ****:22: [Session(-5)] Unable to exchange encryption keys
[2025-01-01 10:29:51.060704 +04:00] ERROR [src/lib.rs:143] Failed to launch server

Caused by:
    Fatal: ssh handshake with *****:22: [Session(-5)] Unable to exchange encryption keys

[chipsenkbeil]

I installed libssh but I get the following error when using libssh as the backend:

You shouldn't need to install libssh separately. It's statically compiled into the binary. Did you use an option like this? And your version is 0.20.0, right?

[zawedcvg]

I used the commandline arguments metioned earlier:

distant launch ssh://example.com \
  --options 'backend=libssh ssh.identity_files="~/.ssh/priv_key' \
  --distant-args '--log-level trace --log-file /tmp/server.log'

and got the invalid backend error. I thought it was something I needed to install and I get the same error regardless.

I tried using the other method for connecting mentioned here: https://distant.dev/getting-started/usage/. On using distant connect from the local machine with backend libssh or even without it, I get missing port number.
I haven't been able to figure out where to add the port number information.

[chipsenkbeil]

distant launch ssh://example.com
--options 'backend=libssh ssh.identity_files="~/.ssh/priv_key'
--distant-args '--log-level trace --log-file /tmp/server.log'

Oh, you need to have your options comma-separated, and replace the double-quote with a single quote. Some of the typos I had writing that reply late at night. :) Can you try that briefly?

Also, can you share exactly what you're trying so I can see what host you're attempting to connect to if it's claiming that you're missing a port. SSH should default to port 22, and the port is only needed when connecting to a distant server (so no ssh://).

[zawedcvg]

Ok so here's the new command I tried out:

❯ distant launch xyz --options 'backend=libssh, ssh.identity_files="~/.ssh/priv.key"'
Failed to launch server

Caused by:
    Fatal: unhandled auth case; methods=PUBLIC_KEY | HOST_BASED, status={PUBLIC_KEY: Denied}

Also, can you share exactly what you're trying so I can see what host you're attempting to connect to if it's claiming that you're missing a port. SSH should default to port 22, and the port is only needed when connecting to a distant server (so no ssh://).

I am basically trying to connect to a cluster, and I have all the configuration details in ~/.ssh/config. I normally connect to it using ssh xyz, and basically want to use distant for this so that I can avoid the latency and stuff.

Example of what the config file looks like

Host website
    HostName my-website.com
    User my-user
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

[chipsenkbeil]

Oh, wait, you're trying ssh aliases? Those aren't supported yet: #133

What if you try directly supplying ssh://my-user@my-website.com ? And supply your identify file directly instead of in the config.

---

More documentation for the options at https://distant.dev/reference/cli/commands/connect/#options-for-distant

[zawedcvg]

Ah I see, wasn't aware of that. However I get this now

Failed to connect to server

Caused by:
    Connection timed out (os error 110)

For context I am using the following command

distant launch user@website.com --options 'backend=libssh'   

I moved the priv.key to ~/.ssh/id_ed22519, which distant checks automatically according to the docs.

for comparison running the following command connects me to the cluster with no issues, even after I remove the ssh config file.

ssh user@website.com   

[zawedcvg]

fixed.

[zawedcvg]

never mind looks like the issue still persists after I "fixed" it.