SSH problem after ubuntu update

Question

Setting up openssh-server (1:5.3p1-3ubuntu7) ... Creating SSH2 RSA key; this may take some time ... Creating SSH2 DSA key; this may take some time ... start: Job failed to start

can't inicialize ssh, already tried reinstall.

netstat -tlnp shows that no service is running on tcp port 22

Answer 1

You've not provided much information but some common reasons why a service fails to start are:

• If there is something already listening on port 22; Do a netstat -tlnp to see if there is something listening on port 22.
• If there is insufficient memory. Do a free -m to ensure that there is sufficient memory free.

You can possibly try starting it manually to see if it works or shows more error messages. Check your log files.

Run /etc/init.d/sshd restart to see.

Answer 2

Not sure that my solution is right. But if you just want to start your SSH server and then solve your problem later, here is my fast solution:

start-stop-daemon --start --pidfile /var/run/sshd.pid --exec /usr/sbin/sshd -- -p 22

if then you will see error:

Missing privilege separation directory: /var/run/sshd

then just create that missing directory, and try above start-stop-daemon command again:

mkdir /var/run/sshd
chmod 0755 /var/run/sshd

that helped me to start my sshd daemon.

Answer 3

If your machine is a VPS which runs in an OpenVZ container, then try to comment out the "oom never" line in the /etc/init/ssh.conf file.