ssh: Could not resolve hostname [hostname]: nodename nor servname provided, or not known

Question

I am trying to set up a VPN with a Raspberry Pi, and the first step is gaining the ability to ssh into the device from outside my local network. For whatever re

Answer 1

For me, the problem was a typo on my ~/.ssh/config file. I had:

Host host1:
  HostName 10.10.1.1
  User jlyonsmith

The problem was the : after the host1 - it should not be there. ssh gives no warnings for typos in the ~/.ssh/config file. When it can't find host1 it looks for the machine locally, can't find it and prints the cryptic error message.

Answer 2

This was happening to me when trying to access Github. The problem is that I was in the habit of doing:

git remote add <xyz> ssh:\\git@github.com......

But, if you are having this error from the question, removing ssh:\\ may resolve the issue. It solved it for me!

Note that you will have to do a git remote remove <xyz> and re-add the remote url without ssh:\\.

Answer 3

It seems that some apps won't read symlinked /etc/hosts (on macOS at least), you need to hardlink it.

ln /path/to/hosts_file /etc/hosts

Answer 4

Recently I came across the same issue. I was able to ssh to my pi on my network, but not from outside my home network.

I had already:

• installed and tested ssh on my home network.
• Set a static IP for my pi.
• Set up a Dynamic DNS service and installed the software on my pi. I referenced these instructions for setting up the static ip, and there are many more instructional resources out there.

Also, I set up port forward on my router for hosting a web site and I had even port forward port 22 to my pi's static IP for ssh, but I left the field blank where you specify the application you are performing the port forwarding for on the router. Anyway, I added 'ssh' into this field and, VOILA! A working ssh connection from anywhere to my pi.

I'll write out my router's port forwarding settings.

(ApplicationTextField)_ssh     (external port)_22     (Internal Port)_22     (Protocal)_Both     (To IP Address)_192.168.1.###     (Enabled)_checkBox

Port forwarding settings can be different for different routers though, so look up directions for your router.

Now, when I am outside of my home network I connect to my pi by typing:

ssh pi@[hostname]

Then I am able to input my password and connect.

Answer 5

I got this error by using a .yml inventory file in ansible that was not properly formatted. For multiple hosts in a group, each hostname needs to end in a hard colon ":". Otherwise ansible runs the host names together and produces this ssh error.

Answer 6

I had the same issue connecting to a remote machine. but I managed to login as below:

ssh -p 22 myName@hostname

or:

ssh -l myName -p 22 hostname