Still prompted for a password after adding SSH public key to a server

Posted by Nathan Arthur on Pro Webmasters See other posts from Pro Webmasters or by Nathan Arthur
Published on 2013-11-03T15:11:14Z Indexed on 2013/11/03 22:18 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 219

Filed under:
|

I'm attempting to setup a git repository on my Dreamhost web server by following the "Setup: For the Impatient" instructions here. I'm having difficulty setting up public key access to the server.

After successfully creating my public key, I ran the following command:

cat ~/.ssh/[MY KEY].pub | ssh [USER]@[MACHINE] "mkdir ~/.ssh; cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

...replacing the appropriate placeholders with the correct values.

Everything seemed to go through fine. The server asked for my password, and, as far as I can tell, executed the command. There is indeed a ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on the server.

The problem: When I try to SSH into the server, it still asks for my password. My understanding is that it shouldn't be asking for my password anymore. What am I missing?

EDIT: SSH -v Log:

Macbook:~ michaeleckert$ ssh -v [USER]@[SERVER URL]
OpenSSH_6.2p2, OSSLShim 0.9.8r 8 Dec 2011
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh_config line 20: Applying options for *
debug1: /etc/ssh_config line 53: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to [SERVER URL] [[SERVER IP]] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /Users/michaeleckert/.ssh/id_rsa type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/michaeleckert/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/michaeleckert/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/michaeleckert/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_6.2
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_5.5p1 Debian-6+squeeze3
debug1: match: OpenSSH_5.5p1 Debian-6+squeeze3 pat OpenSSH_5*
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: server->client aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: kex: client->server aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST(1024<1024<8192) sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY
debug1: Server host key: RSA [STRING OF NUMBERS AND LETTERS SEPARATED BY SEMI-COLONS]
debug1: Host ‘[SERVER URL]' is known and matches the RSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /Users/michaeleckert/.ssh/known_hosts:2
debug1: ssh_rsa_verify: signature correct
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: Roaming not allowed by server
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Trying private key: /Users/michaeleckert/.ssh/id_rsa
debug1: Trying private key: /Users/michaeleckert/.ssh/id_dsa
debug1: Next authentication method: password
[USER]@[SERVER URL]'s password: 
debug1: Authentication succeeded (password).
Authenticated to [SERVER URL] ([[SERVER IP]]:22).
debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
debug1: Requesting [email protected]
debug1: Entering interactive session.
debug1: Sending environment.
debug1: Sending env LANG = en_US.UTF-8

 Welcome to [SERVER URL]

Any malicious and/or unauthorized activity is strictly forbidden.
All activity may be logged by DreamHost Web Hosting.

Last login: Sun Nov  3 12:04:21 2013 from [MY IP]
[[SERVER NAME]]$ 

© Pro Webmasters or respective owner

Related posts about webserver

Related posts about authentication