---
title: Checking SSH connectivity
description: The Secure Shell (SSH) connectivity check provides details regarding the configured user, the IP address of the hosts for which SSH connectivity works or fails. Run the check before deploying PingIntelligence components.
component: pingintelligence
version: 5.2
page_id: pingintelligence:installing_pingintelligence_for_apis:pingintelligence_check_ssh_connectivity
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingintelligence/5.2/installing_pingintelligence_for_apis/pingintelligence_check_ssh_connectivity.html
revdate: April 3, 2024
section_ids:
  about-this-task: About this task
  steps: Steps
  troubleshooting: Troubleshooting
---

# Checking SSH connectivity

The Secure Shell (SSH) *(tooltip: \<div class="paragraph">
\<p>Protocol for secure operation of network services over an unsecured network.\</p>
\</div>)* connectivity check provides details regarding the configured `user`, the IP address of the hosts for which SSH connectivity works or fails. Run the check before deploying PingIntelligence components.

## About this task

To check the SSH connectivity from the management machine to other host machines:

## Steps

* Enter the `$ ./bin/start.sh check` command on the management host command line.

  ```
  User configured for SSH: ec2-user
  Checking sudo connectivity between ansible management host and other hosts...
  172.16.40.187 | SUCCESS => {
      "changed": false,
      "ping": "pong"
  }
  SSH connectivity to all hosts is successful
  Capturing host information...
  Host information is captured successfully
  ```

## Troubleshooting

During SSH connectivity check between management host machine and PingIntelligence hosts, you might encounter errors because of user permission issues or connectivity issues between machines. The following are some of the common error messages:

```
User configured for SSH: ec2-user
Checking connectivity between ansible management host and other hosts...
172.16.40.187 | UNREACHABLE! => {
    "changed": false,
    "msg": "Authentication failure.",
    "unreachable": true
}
Sun Jul 12 19:22:41 MDT 2020: SSH connection error: connectivity to all hosts is not successful for ec2-user
```

You have configured the user to use a password to authenticate with the hosts machines; however, the configured password in the `hosts` file is wrong.

```
User configured for SSH: ec2-user
Checking connectivity between ansible management host and other hosts...
172.16.40.187 | UNREACHABLE! => {
    "changed": false,
    "msg": "Failed to connect to the host via ssh: Permission denied (publickey,password).\r\n",
    "unreachable": true
}
Sun Jul 12 19:26:16 MDT 2020: SSH connection error: connectivity to all hosts is not successful for ec2-user
```

`ansible_ssh_pass` for authentication with password is uncommented in the `hosts` file. However, the password field has been left empty. Leaving the value empty is equivalent to passwordless authentication.

```
User configured for SSH: ec2-user
Checking sudo connectivity between ansible management host and other hosts...
172.16.40.187 | FAILED! => {
    "changed": false,
    "module_stderr": "Connection to 172.16.40.187 closed.\r\n",
    "module_stdout": "sudo: a password is required\r\n",
    "msg": "MODULE FAILURE",
    "rc": 1
}
Sun Jul 12 19:30:26 MDT 2020: SSH connection error: sudo connectivity to all hosts is not successful for ec2-user
```

`install_with_sudo` is set to `true`, and there is an error connecting toPingIntelligence host machines.

Some probable reasons for error in connectivity are:

* The user is not in the `sudoers` file, or the user is not in any group that has `sudo` privileges.

* The user does not have `NOPASSWD: ALL` privileges in the `sudoers` file.

  ```
  User configured for SSH: ec2-user
  Checking sudo connectivity between ansible management host and other hosts...
  172.16.40.81 | UNREACHABLE! => {
      "changed": false,
      "msg": "Failed to connect to the host via ssh: ssh: connect to host 172.16.40.81 port 22: Connection timed out\r\n",
      "unreachable": true
  }
  Sun Jul 12 21:41:08 MDT 2020: SSH connection error: sudo connectivity to all hosts is not successful for ec2-user
  ```

  The IP address configured in the `hosts` file is not available.

  ```
  [localhost]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": "Aborting, target uses selinux but python bindings (libselinux-python) aren't installed!"}
    to retry, use: --limit @/home/ec2-user/411/pingidentity/pi-api-deployment/ansible/setup.retry
  ```

  `selinux` dependency: If you encounter the following error, you must install the `selinux` package on the host machine on which you see this error. Check the machine mentioned before `FAILED!` in the output to identify the machine where `selinux` needs to be installed.