ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by

Question

I work at win7 and set up git server with sshd. I git --bare init myapp.git, and clone ssh://git@localhost/home/git/myapp.git in Cywgin correctly. But I need config git of Cygwin again, I want to git clone in Git Bash. I run git clone ssh://git@localhost/home/git/myapp.git and get following message

ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host

then I run ssh -vvv git@localhost in Git Bash and get message

debug2: ssh_connect: needpriv 0
debug1: Connecting to localhost [127.0.0.1] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /c/Users/MoreFreeze/.ssh/identity type -1
debug3: Not a RSA1 key file /c/Users/MoreFreeze/.ssh/id_rsa.
debug2: key_type_from_name: unknown key type '-----BEGIN'
debug3: key_read: missing keytype
debug3: key_read: missing whitespace 
// above it repeats 24 times
debug2: key_type_from_name: unknown key type '-----END'
debug3: key_read: missing keytype
debug1: identity file /c/Users/MoreFreeze/.ssh/id_rsa type 1
debug1: identity file /c/Users/MoreFreeze/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host

it seems my private keys has wrong format? And I find that there are exactly 25 line in private keys without BEGIN and END. I'm confused why it said NOT RSA1 key, I totally ensure it is RSA 2 key.

Any advises are welcome. btw, I have read first 3 pages on google about this problem.

Answer 1

You can get "ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host" if your sshd service is not operational!

If you have access to the server check you have the sshd service running with:

  ps aux | grep ssh

and check it is listening on port 22:

 netstat -plant | grep :22

more details here

Answer 2

We migrated our git host instance/servers this morning to a new data center and while being connected to both: VPN (from remote/home) or when in office network, I got the same error and was not able to connect to clone any GIT repo.

Cloning into 'some_repo_in_git_dev'...
ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

This will help if you are connecting to some or all servers via a jump host server.

Earlier in my ~/.ssh/config file, my setting to connect were:

Host * !ssh.somejumphost.my.company.com
     ProxyCommand ssh -q -W %h:%p ssh.somejumphost.my.company.com

What this means is, for any SSH based connection, it will connect to any * server via the given jump host server except/by ignoring "ssh.somejumphost.my.company.com" server (as we don't want to connect to a jump host via jump host server.

To FIX the issue, all I did was, change the config to ignore git server as well:

Host * !ssh.somejumphost.my.company.com !mycompany-git.server.com !OrMyCompany-some-other-git-instance.server.com
     ProxyCommand ssh -q -W %h:%p ssh.somejumphost.my.company.com

So, now to connect to mycompany-git.server.com while doing git clone (git SSH url), I'm telling SSH not to use a jump host for those two extra git instances/servers.

Answer 3

Hit the following ssh restart command in linux

prayag@prayag:~/backup/NoisyNeighbour$ service ssh restart 
stop: Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type="method_call", sender=":1.75" (uid=1417676764 pid=5933 comm="stop ssh ") interface="com.ubuntu.Upstart0_6.Job" member="Stop" error name="(unset)" requested_reply="0" destination="com.ubuntu.Upstart" (uid=0 pid=1 comm="/sbin/init")
start: Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type="method_call", sender=":1.76" (uid=1417676764 pid=5930 comm="start ssh ") interface="com.ubuntu.Upstart0_6.Job" member="Start" error name="(unset)" requested_reply="0" destination="com.ubuntu.Upstart" (uid=0 pid=1 comm="/sbin/init")

Answer 4

Make sure you are not connect to any kind of VPN.

Answer 5

Got the same error message. Turning off WiFi and turning it back on again worked for me.

Answer 6

Simple server reboot solved the problem for me. Try hard reboot , if dont work after soft reboot.