Intermittant failures to connect to ssh servers

[Mary Gardiner]

I'm experiencing intermittant difficulty connecting to SSH remote hosts using
Nautilus.

Method of connection:
 * File -> Connect to server
 * Select "SSH" from service type
 * Put in host name value ("trogdor", "192.168.1.34") -- the particular host is
on a 10MBps LAN
 * Click "connect"
 * Double click on appropriately named desktop icon

One of four things will happen (assuming I've already used ssh-add to provide the
 * A window will immediately open containing the remote files (ie, the working
condition)
 * A window will immediately appear with the titlebar "Nautilus" and it is
empty. Usually after two minutes or so of this, all Nautilus icons disappear
from the desktop and evern *local* Nautilus windows stop rendering.
 * A dialog box will appear saying "Opening [remote host]..." and stay there
(for at least 5 minutes or more, until I press Cancel)
 * An error message will appear about an error in handling the sftp:// protocol,
and will suggest using an alternative viewer.

I've tried this under varying conditions involving:
 * Either or both hosts having each other or not having each other in /etc/hosts
(there is no DNS for this network)
 * Having my public key added via ssh add
 * Telling nautilus my passphrase
 * Using my password instead of my public key

It doesn't appear to entirely depend on any of these factors.

http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=157738: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=157738

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

do you have slow reply time on your network ?

[Mary Gardiner (puzzlement)]

I'm not exactly sure what you meant, but if you meant "time to send packets",
here's ping output to the relevant host:

$ ping 192.168.1.33
PING 192.168.1.33 (192.168.1.33) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.1.33: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.058 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.33: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.050 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.33: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.038 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.33: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.030 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.33: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.041 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.33: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.041 ms

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

(In reply to comment #2)

> 64 bytes from 192.168.1.33: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.041 ms

ok, so the problem is not due to a slow network, thanks

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

I've opened a bug upstream about this:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=157738

[Carthik Sharma (carthik)]

Changing to Confirmed since Upstream has acknowledged the bug.

Thank you for reporting this.

[Martin Jensen (martin-mdc)]

I just write to confirm the above behaviour.

One odd thing I noticed is that I have no problems whatsover with a server using:

OpenSSH_3.6.1p2 (runs centos 3 something)

While another server is causing the above symptons very often:

OpenSSH_3.9p1 (runs centos 4 something)

Both machines are in the same hosting center

I work with those two servers several days a week. I am using this function extensively on my job. Behaviour is consistent no matter if I am using my ubuntu machine at work or at home. Both run fully updated edgy.

Regards

/Martin

[HDunix (hdunix)]

Hi

I had a simular issue, till I uninstalled sea-horse

Steve P

[Luca Gervasio (gervasio)]

Ok,
I confirm I have the same problem. I noticed that if I use FTP everything goes fine.
In particular I connect my PC, through Nautilus, to an external server located outside my lan.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

does anybody still get this issue in hardy?

[Spoilerhead (spoilerhead)]

i'm getting this in hardy
nautilus says ~ "connection timed out"
works fine on command line with ssh and scp

server side reports:
bash-2.04$ ssh -V
ssh: SSH Secure Shell 3.2.3 (non-commercial version) on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.00
it worked in all previous ubuntu versions

connecting to my local ssh server still works fine

[Motin (motin)]

@Spoilerhead: That's at least the symptons I am having. I can use scp and ssh without problems, but sftp in nautilus or filezilla just ends up with connection timed out messages...

Is this a problem related to SFTP only then?

Hardy users: This bug report is about 4 years old - we are probably not being affected by the same bug, but most likely a new one - maybe one related to Hardy's use of GVFS?

[Motin (motin)]

Note: I can still use sshfs - for instance:
sshfs 192.168.1.3:/home/motin /home/motin/pavilion-sshfs/home/motin

[Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

We would like to know if this is still an issue for you with Ubuntu 10.04? Thanks in advance.

[Mary Gardiner (puzzlement)]

I have not seen the issue in 10.04, or for some years in fact.

[Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

Thanks. I am closing this bug due to your last comment.

[emorkay (emorkay24-deactivatedaccount)]

Hi,
I still face the same problem in Ubuntu 10.10 64-bit. I can ssh using terminal but not with nautilus. I can ping the remote machine. In fact, the remote machine is in my LAN only.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
emorkay