Command Line SSH restart Mac OSX Mountain Lion

Question

How can I restart the SSH service via the command line on Mac OSX Mountain Lion please?

Using ps aux | grep 'ssh', I was able to deduce that the process is most likely /usr/sbin/sshd.

From here I searched the sshd documentation for references to 'restart' but found none.

I don't know what my next step should be.

What are you actually trying to accomplish? If it's something like reloading the sshd config, you don't need to -- launchd starts a new sshd process on demand when an incoming connection is received, which means that the config is automatically reread for each new connection. OTOH, if you're trying to change the listener settings, those are controlled by launchd not the sshd config at all (see here).
This was just one test of debugging a password request from supposedly passwordless ssh using public keys. Turns out the thing I has missed was to turn off StrictMode

slhck · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-24 09:50:18Z

up vote 2 down vote accepted

See this answer to a similar question on ServerFault. The command should be the same in Mountain Lion.

You can stop the service using the 'unload' subcommand.
sudo launchctl unload  /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist

edited Mar 24 at 9:50

slhck♦
55.7k1089148

answered Sep 21 '12 at 18:17

Ansgar Wiechers
2,756227

James Webster · Answer 2 · 2012-12-06 17:41:32Z

up vote 0 down vote

I couldn't confirm Ansgar's answer worked as there were no messages / obvious signs though I'm confident it did.

I also found killall sshd which kills and restarts sshd processes with the disadvantage that any connections are stopped.

edited Dec 6 '12 at 17:41

answered Sep 21 '12 at 18:45

James Webster
12015

2 Answers