ssh-agent doesn't work if the server side components (sshd) are not installed

[charabaruk]

Whenever trying to add or list identities in ssh-agent, the ssh-add process fails with the message "communication with agent failed". For example:

> Get-Service ssh-agent

Status   Name               DisplayName
------   ----               -----------
Running  ssh-agent          ssh-agent


> ssh-add .ssh\some_identity
Enter passphrase for .ssh\some_identity:
Could not add identity ".ssh\some_identity": communication with agent failed
> ssh-add -l
error fetching identities for protocol 2: communication with agent failed
The agent has no identities.

[manojampalam]

Can you check if the process id under the following
reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SSH\Agent

matches that of ssh-agent.exe process? If not delete the above entry and restart ssh-agent. This problem should go away in next drop as these checks were removed in code.

[charabaruk]

The ProcessID value did match the ssh-agent.exe PID, but even after removing the property and restarting the ssh-agent service, the problem remains with the same output from the ssh-add commands.

Does the ssh-agent service require that the SSHD service is also required? I have OpenSSH installed with the agent but not the server (via Chocolatey package param /SSHAgentFeature).

[manojampalam]

It should not. Do you have ssh-agent logs? Looks at Wiki Troubleshooting link.

[charabaruk]

I did look at the Troubleshooting wiki page, but it exclusively refers to sshd, not ssh-agent. As far as I can tell, there's no enhanced logging for ssh-agent the way there is for ssh and sshd.

[manojampalam]

https://github.com/PowerShell/Win32-OpenSSH/wiki/Troubleshooting%20Steps
ssh-agent.log should be there under logs folder

[charabaruk]

There was no logs folder, either, but after creating one a ssh-agent.log file was generated in it. I put LogLevel to DEBUG3, and here's what showed up in the log file (using same scenario as above):

13640 08:47:04 204 agent_start pid:13640, dbg:0, child:0, pipe:0
13640 08:47:19 454 client pid 7020 connected
13640 08:47:19 455 debug1: spawned worker 23476 for agent client pid 7020 
23476 08:47:19 463 agent_start pid:23476, dbg:0, child:1, pipe:104
23476 08:47:19 463 debug3: connection io 000002CD080F4300 #bytes:0 state:0
23476 08:47:29 237 debug3: connection io 000002CD080F4300 #bytes:4 state:1
23476 08:47:29 237 debug3: connection io 000002CD080F4300 #bytes:1863 state:2
23476 08:47:29 238 debug1: connection 000002CD080F4300 clean up
23476 08:47:29 238 debug1: iocp error: 6 on 0000000000000000 \n
13640 08:47:32 159 client pid 24612 connected
13640 08:47:32 160 debug1: spawned worker 16740 for agent client pid 24612 
16740 08:47:32 168 agent_start pid:16740, dbg:0, child:1, pipe:104
16740 08:47:32 168 debug3: connection io 000002415C2A6600 #bytes:0 state:0
16740 08:47:32 168 debug3: connection io 000002415C2A6600 #bytes:4 state:1
16740 08:47:32 168 debug3: connection io 000002415C2A6600 #bytes:1 state:2
16740 08:47:32 168 debug1: connection 000002415C2A6600 clean up
16740 08:47:32 168 debug1: iocp error: 6 on 0000000000000000 \n

[DarwinJS]

@manojampalam - I am thinking the chocolatey package could just create the logs folder all the time so that this confusion could be avoided? Maybe you could also put an empty flag file in the logs folder in the zip so it is created? I wouldn't do just an empty folder as many unzippers have to be explicitly told to create empty folders.

[charabaruk]

@DarwinJS maybe just create it whenever the sshd or ssh-agent options are used? Unless ssh uses the same directory for client logs (which doesn't sound right).

[manojampalam]

@DarwinJS yes please.

[DarwinJS]

@manojampalam - already added along with a couple additional logging features: #577

[manojampalam]

@coldacid do you still see this issue? Did you try out the latest version?

[charabaruk]

@manojampalam just updated to 0.0.10.0 now and gave it a shot. Same results:

260 07:27:54 893 agent_start pid:260, dbg:0, child:0, pipe:0
260 07:28:02 150 client pid 16568 connected
260 07:28:02 151 debug1: spawned worker 8612 for agent client pid 16568 
8612 07:28:02 160 agent_start pid:8612, dbg:0, child:1, pipe:536
8612 07:28:02 160 debug3: connection io 0000019310779F90 #bytes:0 state:0
8612 07:28:08 265 debug3: connection io 0000019310779F90 #bytes:4 state:1
8612 07:28:08 266 debug3: connection io 0000019310779F90 #bytes:1850 state:2
8612 07:28:08 266 debug1: connection 0000019310779F90 clean up
8612 07:28:08 266 debug1: iocp error: 6 on 0000000000000000 \n
260 07:28:12 797 client pid 11008 connected
260 07:28:12 798 debug1: spawned worker 11928 for agent client pid 11008 
11928 07:28:12 808 agent_start pid:11928, dbg:0, child:1, pipe:536
11928 07:28:12 808 debug3: connection io 0000012E14CCA950 #bytes:0 state:0
11928 07:28:12 808 debug3: connection io 0000012E14CCA950 #bytes:4 state:1
11928 07:28:12 808 debug3: connection io 0000012E14CCA950 #bytes:1 state:2
11928 07:28:12 808 debug1: connection 0000012E14CCA950 clean up
11928 07:28:12 808 debug1: iocp error: 6 on 0000000000000000 \n