I was trying to find some information on how to get my Mandrake 9.1 box to display a banner or MOTD before issueing a Login prompt during a SSH connection. I have been looking at the different ways like changing the /etc/issue file, the /ssh/sshd_config,the /hosts.allow. I have done these steps and it still does not seem to work. Is this even possible for the box to display a MOTD or Banner before issuing the login prompt. I can get the MOTD to display after login , but i mean at that point it is a little pointless. I am a real newbie so bare with me. If you need more information let me know. I have looked around and cant find anything on this clear in the forums. Thanks in adbance for any help.

Well, I know it is possible but I don't know how it is done. A long time ago I installed bastille and one of the options was to display a warning about logging into the server. Unfortunatly I don't know how bastille did it.

Yeah i know that there has to be a way. Linux was set up so that you could tweak your system to your liking unlike Mircroshaft. Hope someone will have the answer.

Take a look at the sshd_config manpage and search for Banner:
man sshd_config

I already did this as stated in the first post i made. I still dont get the banner to come up before login.

The banner is only available with protocol 2 and above as mentioned in the man page - are you using version 2 for both client and server? What client are you using?

I am using Putty from one machine and secure crt on the other. I know that the secure crt is running version 2. Now i can get the motd no problem after i log in. But i want to make it come up before the login prompt. That seems to be the only thing i cant find definite answers on the net for, other than making a tcp wrapper. Which i am still too new to get into that just yet.

When using putty you need to tell it to only use ssh protocol 2 or go into your sshd config and only allow clients to connect with ssh protocol 2.

If you look at the SSHd_conf file it should state the banner file name. I am running Red Hat 7.1, the banner is /usr/local/etc/banner. If you use this file it will display the banner after the login prompt and before the password is entered. Just edit the file to contain what ever banner you want to display between the fewd slashes, such as "/ banner content /"

So did you ever find a way to show upa banner or ACSII logo before the login prompt

because I haven't found answer yet

TT

Since I like to be helpful and add to 5 year old threads

tommytomato I expect you have found your solution by now, but here is a good howto:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/change...in-banner.html

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