SSH connection to Amazon EC2 in Linux

Question

I am trying to ssh to amazon ec2 instance from shell using the following command

ssh -vi sec.ppk ubuntu@ec2-xx.compute-1.amazonaws.com

but failed to connect

Here is the debug output generated by the above command

OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu7, OpenSSL 0.9.8k 25 Mar 2009
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to ec2-xx.compute-1.amazonaws.com port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file security1.ppk type -1
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_5.5p1 Debian-4ubuntu5
debug1: match: OpenSSH_5.5p1 Debian-4ubuntu5 pat OpenSSH*
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu7
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: Host 'ec2-xx.compute-1.amazonaws.com' is known and matches the RSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /home/ma/.ssh/known_hosts:9
debug1: ssh_rsa_verify: signature correct
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Trying private key: sec.ppk
debug1: PEM_read_PrivateKey failed
debug1: read PEM private key done: type <unknown>
Enter passphrase for key 'sec.ppk':

Why it is asking passphrase for sec.ppk

What is the issue? Can anyone help?

Forgot to mention that i successfully made a connection using FileZilla with same above credentials

Because `sec.ppk` is encrypted with a passphrase. Have you tried entering it? — phihag, Jan 24 '12 at 10:24
But i successfully made a connection using FileZilla with same above credentials using the same key. — MA1, Jan 24 '12 at 10:27
That means FileZilla has stored the passphrase in its settings. — phihag, Jan 24 '12 at 11:21
But How? I never gave it anything except key file, user name and host . — MA1, Jan 24 '12 at 11:49
Oops, I overlooked the previous lines, which indicate a proprietary (or at least unsupported) key format. Have a look at Ravi's answer, which details that and how to convert your key to an openssh-compatible format. — phihag, Jan 24 '12 at 12:05

score 45 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 13 '13 at 19:53

45

Try with

ssh -i /directory/keyname.pem ubuntu@ec2-xx.compute-1.amazonaws.com

Where .pem is the key pair file you've created while you setup your instance.

edited Feb 13 '13 at 19:53

animuson

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answered Jan 24 '12 at 14:07

Hasanavi

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Great Thanks. Successfully made a connection using .pem file. – MA1 Jan 25 '12 at 12:07
you need to chage `–` to `-` in the line `-i` – t q Aug 27 '12 at 20:00

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 03 '15 at 07:11

7

For users who are new to AWS. The .ppk extension isn't compatible with openSSH and hence works only with FileZilla / PutTTY.

The easiest thing to do in this case is to install PutTTY and convert the .ppk to .pem using putty-tools. Here are the commands

sudo apt-get install putty
puttygen <path_to_key>/keyname.ppk -O private-openssh -o aws_key.pem
ssh -vi aws_key.pem ubuntu@<ip_address>

Hope this helps as a quick solution.

answered Dec 03 '15 at 07:11

stochastic_zeitgeist

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Thanks, – GrvTyagi May 25 '16 at 06:47
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Thank you bro. You made day. – Aabir Hussain Dec 08 '16 at 05:09
This should be accepted answer because it is brief, sometimes you don't have pair key (pem) so this answer is brief enough to give you two ideas, first ppk is not compatible with openssh and second how you will generate pem from ppk. – Adnan Nov 17 '17 at 00:37

Ravi Bhatt · Answer 3 · 2012-01-24T10:33:49.730

Sounds like you've created your private key with a passphrase. How did you create your key pair? Did you enter a passphrase when you created your private key?

You need to enter the passphrase you supplied while creating the key. and

debug1: read PEM private key done: type <unknown>

this suggests, your key was not recogined. Ideally you would get a method name like RSA.

Further check if you have a public key like id_rsa.pub somewhere, if yes, try using it and you will be in in case you don't remember your passphrase.

EDIT:

Okay, guess you are using ppk from amazon. To use your EC2-priv.ppk key, you will have to convert it into a format that OpenSSH will understand. You can go this with the PutTTYgen program. This will create a .pub file for you and then you can connect using that.

But how FileZilla successfully made a connection without a password? — MA1, Jan 24 '12 at 10:33

SSH connection to Amazon EC2 in Linux

3 Answers3