1

I can login to my server using a certificate if I issue the command directly in the shell:

$ ssh -p 26000 rambo@jumanji.gov

However, when I configure this host in .ssh/config falls back to password authentication. 

Host jumanji
  HostName jumanji.gov
  User rambo
  Port 26000
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/jumanji_rsa.pub

so

$ ssh jumanji
rambo@jumanji.gov's password

Previously SSH complained about permissions on jumanji_rsa.pub were too open set at 644. I changed it to 600 and lost the permissions error and gained the password fallback. I then changed it back to 644 and SSH still doesn't complain about permissions but still wants a password.

I've also restarted sshd several times.

Output of ssh -v jumanji per request in comments:

$ ssh -v jumanji
OpenSSH_5.9p1, OpenSSL 0.9.8x 10 May 2012
debug1: Reading configuration data /Users/bronson/.ssh/config
debug1: /Users/bronson/.ssh/config line 11: Applying options for jumanji
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh_config line 20: Applying options for *
debug1: /etc/ssh_config line 53: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to jumanji.gov [192.***.***.**] port 26000.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /Users/bronson/tmp/ssh/jumanji_rsa.pub type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/bronson/tmp/ssh/jumanji_rsa.pub-cert type -1
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_6.0p1 Debian-4
debug1: match: OpenSSH_6.0p1 Debian-4 pat OpenSSH*
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_5.9
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 14:3b:75:e0:03:24:f9:f9:69:3d:9d:80:14:3d:1c:bd
debug1: checking without port identifier
debug1: Host 'jumanji.gov' is known and matches the RSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /Users/bronson/.ssh/known_hosts:15
debug1: found matching key w/out port
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/bronson/tmp/ssh/jumanji_rsa.pub
debug1: Next authentication method: password
rambol@jumanji.gov's password:
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  • Can you run the latter command with ssh -v jumanji and show the output? – ott-- Aug 7 '13 at 16:34
  • Edited question to include ssh -v jumanji output. – Jack Frost Aug 7 '13 at 17:16
2

600 is the correct permissions--for both your ssh config and your private key. IdentityFile should point to your private key, not the public one. So you should want:

Host jumanji
  HostName jumanji.gov
  User rambo
  Port 26000
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/jumanji_rsa

This is assuming the contents of jumanji_rsa.pub have been appended to the remote server's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.

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