sshd: connections times out with putty
 

Howdy there,

I have set up sshd (OpenSSH) in both PCLinuxOS using the PCLInuxOS Control Center and in Slackware 11.0. I have a domain name from Dynamic DNS (www.dyndns.com) and computer names set up on both installations.

I can log in to each from the machine itself, for example:

ssh joel@xxx.xxx.com

and I connect successfully. Of course, I check /var/log/messages and it says the connection is coming from 127.0.0.1 (because it is).

Now, I have not set up any RSA keys or anything like that -- all the tutorials I've found sound rather contradictory -- it seems like I'd have to connect in order to set up the keys, but I can't connect without setting up public/private keys. Please tell me I'm wrong about this.

Also, I have not added "AllowUsers" or "AllowGroups" or any other camel-cased options in the configuration file: I have not edited the configuration files at all.

The problem is that when I've tried to ssh in using PuTTY on two separate Win$uck machines and ssh from the command line in OS X, I get time-outs.

Is anyone aware of tutorial for a server-newbie?

Thanks,
Joel

Oh, one more critical piece of information: I'm behind a router -- sharing a connection with the landlord upstairs (with his permission, of course).

Thanks,
Joel

well you don't say where you're sshing in from, but i'd assume you mean elsewhere on the internet? you need to use portforwarding on the router you are getting your connectivity through, as the ip address being pointed at is the router, not your actual PC, so the router needs to know where to redirect the connection attempts to when it recieves them. http://www.portforward.com is a great site for that sort of configuration info.

Mr. Kewpie,

Yes, by saying "two other...machines and the command line in OS X" I mean from elsewhere on the internet (my office, to be specific).

The router is out of my jurisdiction -- it belongs to my landlord. Am I screwed for ssh from home?

Thanks,
Joel

Quite possibly you are if the landlord won't forward the port for you. Occassionally routers are not set to block unprivileged ports. Try setting the ssh server to port 23000 or something equally high and ssh'ing using that port number.

that isn't going to help i'm afraid, you still need to port forward from the router to the machine, no where near caring about port numbers yet...

so no, unless you can get the router configured, you can not reach your machine from the internet. there is the possibility of a reverse ssh tunnel, where you connect out from your machine to an external endpoint and then connect to that machine, but that's much mor difficult and restrictive.