“Connection closed by [HOST IP]” using dsa key authentication

Question

I have a shared /home setup using Perceus Cluster Software (http://perceus.org) for our Cluster. Nodes are using CentOS 6.1 x86_64. /home is shared from the head to the nodes b

Answer 1

The correct solutions is to fix the problem, not disable the pam usage, as you might be hiding a security problem.

ssh is failing because PAM is denying the user login by failing some check. Verify the /etc/pam.d/sshd for what rules you have and what might be failing.

most common problem is a user without password (compare the /etc/passwd with /etc/shadow, or check your /etc/nsswitch and /etc/pam.d/* to see where the users and auth is coming from), but also no home directory, missing some extra auth configuration, UID too low or too high, etc.

If its the missing password, at least make sure you this in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config

PermitEmptyPasswords no

This blocks ssh to allow login on users without password (but does nothing to other protocols, like telnet, ftp, http and login).