SFTP - Invalid User
Hi
I am pretty new to Linode, but have been trying for weeks now to get SFTP access so we can upgrade one of our plugins.
I have been through pages and pages of troubleshooting, but cannot work out why I am unable to get my SFTP connect.
I have the root password, I have another user that has all permissions also and neither will connect.
On the setting I use
Host: the IP address in the network tab on linode
Username: tried both root and my username
Password: as appropriate.
On Lish Console (logged in as root) I used command
sudo tail -n 30 /var/log/auth.log
To see if I could see what is going wrong
I can see an error message saying Invalid User.
On FileZilla when I try to connect I get Could not connect to server.
I created a ssh key on the windows laptop that is running filezilla, put this into the public key bit of the settings also.
I am at a loss as to what I am missing…any help would be amazing…remember I am new to Linode so might need more explanation than usual :)
1 Reply
tlambert
Linode Staff
No problem! We're all new at some point. The first thing you would want to check is that you can connect to your instance via SSH using those usernames. Since SFTP and SSH both use port 22, if you can connect with the root user through a terminal application, you should be able to connect as the root user in FileZilla. Same goes for your limited user. If not, you can check out this guide on Troubleshooting SSH to help you narrow down your issue.
You mention seeing "Invalid User" in your /var/log/auth.log file. While this may be the log of you attempting to login to your instance, it could also be noise from others attempting to login to your server, which is very common. Since I haven't seen the log output, I can't say one way or another. However, the "Invalid User" message generally occurs when an attempt to login is made with a username that is not available on that server.
Finally, I suggest looking into the FileZilla documentation for troubleshooting steps. Here, you'll find information on how to enable logging for the client side, which may be useful. Additionally, you may want to post your question to the FileZilla Forum to see if folks who are more familiar with the application itself have any suggestions for you.