On Sun, 5 Jul 2026 20:19:12 +0100 Chris Green <[email protected]> wrote: > This isn't a problem as such but I don't understand why it's happening > and I'd like to understand. > > I have a VPS called isbd.biz and I access it using ssh. My user > account on both my local machine (desktop and laptop) is 'chris' and > my user account on isbd.biz is also 'chris'. > > I have account 'chris' on isbd.biz set up to allow login only using > public key authentication. > > The ip address of isbd.biz is 213.171.194.64. > > If I log in with 'ssh 213.171.194.64' I, correctly, get prompted for > my local system's public key passphrase and I can log in successfully. > > However if I try 'ssh isbd.biz' I get prompted for "[email protected]'s > password" which doesn't exist and I can't log in. > > 'host isbd.biz' returns the correct IP address for isbd.biz so why > does ssh not work using the name rather than the IP address? >
Could the issue be that technically isbd.biz is a domain name and not a hostname? That ssh is trying to log you into a network account rather than a particular computer, and is using the only name it knows you by? If so, it may well be that Alexander's recommendation will fix things. -- Joe
