How to fix request failed on channel 0

Question

when i want to connect to my server like this

ssh -a [e-mail] -p 22

it gives me two error messages:

PTY allocation request failed on channel 0
shell request failed on channel 0

when i use the Parameter -T the first error message goes away. But how to fix the second one? I can't connect. To other server i can connect without any problems.

i'm on MAC OS 10.9 The Parameter -v shows me this debug output:

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: Connecting to xxx.your-server.de [188.40.3.15] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /Users/xxx/.ssh/id_rsa type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/xxx/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/xxx/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/xxx/.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 mod_sftp/0.9.8
debug1: no match: mod_sftp/0.9.8
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 55:f5:ca:ca:01:45:0f:7b:71:0a:1f:ba:9e:25:17:fb
debug1: Host 'xxx.your-server.de' is known and matches the RSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /Users/xxx/.ssh/known_hosts:1
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/xxx/.ssh/id_rsa
debug1: Trying private key: /Users/xxx/.ssh/id_dsa
debug1: Next authentication method: password

after i enter the password i get this

debug1: Authentication succeeded (password).
Authenticated to xxx.your-server.de ([xxx.xxx.3.15]:22).
debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
debug1: Entering interactive session.
debug1: Sending environment.
debug1: Sending env LANG = de_DE.UTF-8
shell request failed on channel 0

Answer 1

PTY allocation request failed on channel 0

There is a limit of 256 pseudo terminals on a system. Maybe you have an application that is leaking pseudo terminals. Use

lsof /dev/pts/*

to see what processes have open pseudo-terminals

shell request failed on channel 0

I was getting this error (without PTY allocation error). It turns out that one of my applications (QtCreator 3.0.?) was leaking Zombie processes. Other users were able to log in so I might have been hitting my per user process quota (if there is such a thing). I've updated to QtCreator 3.3. So far so good.

Answer 2

Try this:

vi /etc/security/limits.d/20-nproc.conf
*          soft    nproc     4096   # change to 65535 
root       soft    nproc     unlimited

Answer 3

I solved a similar problem with one of our users who was used only for ssh port forwarding so he don't need to have access to PTY and it was prohibited in .ssh/authorized_keys file:

no-pty ssh-rsa AAA...nUB9 someuser

So when you tried to log in to this user, only message

PTY allocation request failed on channel 0

was returned. So check your user's authorized_keys file.

Answer 4

I had the exact same error trying to connect via ssh to my server. As I can see you're using a server provided by Hetzner connecting to it on port 22:

debug1: Connecting to xxx.your-server.de [188.40.3.15] port 22.

The offical wiki/documention from Hetzner says:

Protocol for encrypted remote diagnostics for servers/computers(consoles). The SSH port to be used is 222.

So you have to connect via port 222:

ssh -p 222 [e-mail]

Answer 5

Just add these lines to your /etc/mtab and /etc/fstab, and reboot the system.

none    /dev/pts    devpts    defaults    0    0

Answer 6

shell request failed on channel 0

mean you don't have shell or remote commands access, fix your user permission on server to have shell access or if you just want tunneling use -N and -T options