SSH error

[Michael]

I am trying to set up Minarca server and Minarca client for the first time. I have Minarca server installed on Ubuntu 24.04.03. I have Minarca client installed for MacOS 26.1.

I can access the Minarca server webpage by logging in as admin or as a user. But when I try to set up the Minarca client for the user, I get stuck at the Create online backup: Server connection. The error is "An error occurred during the connection to Minarca server: Details: ssh." 

From the MacOS client I can ssh just fine using ssh keys either as admin or as the user. I have no idea where to go from here. I tried to look at the minarca server logs but could not discern anything useful. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[Michael]

Looking at the user admin page, I can see that Minarca appears to be ignoring the SSH key I added and instead, each time I try to set up the Minarca client for the user, it is adding an additional SSH key. So after trying repeatedly, I get a whole bunch of mystery SSH keys that are not ones I added for the user. No idea where they are coming from. 

[Patrik Dufresne]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the detailed explanation — what you’re seeing is actually normal behavior.

The Minarca client automatically generates its own SSH identity the first time it tries to connect to the server. Each connection attempt can result in a new key being uploaded if the previous attempt didn’t complete successfully. That’s why you’re seeing “mystery” SSH keys appear in the user admin page — they’re coming from the client itself, not from keys you manually added.

If you’d like, you can safely revoke or delete all of those SSH keys and start fresh. Minarca will simply generate a new one on the next connection attempt.

That said, if the connection is still failing and you’d like help troubleshooting, we’ll need a bit more technical detail about your setup, along with the relevant logs:

• Server logs: server.log and shell.log
• Client log: minarca.log

The exact locations of these files are documented in the Minarca documentation.

Once you can share those details, it should be much easier to pinpoint what’s preventing the SSH connection from completing successfully.

Best regards,

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Patrik Dufresne
IKUS Software
https://www.ikus-soft.com/
514-971-6442
St-Colomban, QC J5K 1T9

[Michael]

Attached is the client minarca.log file. I can see where, when it tries to establish the ssh key, it throws an error. For example:

```

2026-01-04 08:47:23,875 [25024][DEBUG][MainThread  ] Configuring remote instance with URL: http://10.0.1.4:8080, username: rhead, repositoryname: MacBookPro, force: False
2026-01-04 08:47:23,986 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] Starting new HTTP connection (1): 10.0.1.4:8080
2026-01-04 08:47:24,128 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] http://10.0.1.4:8080 "GET /api/ HTTP/1.1" 200 20
2026-01-04 08:47:24,186 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] http://10.0.1.4:8080 "GET /api/currentuser/ HTTP/1.1" 200 211
2026-01-04 08:47:24,187 [25024][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: exchanging SSH identity with server
2026-01-04 08:47:24,247 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] http://10.0.1.4:8080 "POST /api/currentuser/sshkeys HTTP/1.1" 400 513
2026-01-04 08:47:24,248 [25024][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: generating new SSH identity after failure
2026-01-04 08:47:24,310 [25024][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: exchanging new SSH identity with server
2026-01-04 08:47:24,465 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] http://10.0.1.4:8080 "POST /api/currentuser/sshkeys HTTP/1.1" 200 414
2026-01-04 08:47:24,591 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] http://10.0.1.4:8080 "GET /api/minarca/ HTTP/1.1" 200 1578
2026-01-04 08:47:24,593 [25024][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: testing connection
2026-01-04 08:47:24,593 [25024][ERROR][MainThread  ] unknown exception
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "minarca_client/ui/backup_connection_remote.py", line 272, in _create_remote
  File "minarca_client/core/exceptions.py", line 62, in wrapper
  File "minarca_client/core/backup.py", line 314, in configure_remote
  File "minarca_client/core/instance.py", line 533, in test_connection
  File "minarca_client/core/instance.py", line 626, in _remote_schema
  File "minarca_client/core/compat.py", line 206, in get_ssh
FileNotFoundError: ssh

```

Same with trying to connect to the test server:

```

2026-01-04 10:33:36,297 [25024][DEBUG][MainThread  ] Configuring remote instance with URL: https://test.minarca.net/, username: rhead, repositoryname: MacBookPro, force: False
2026-01-04 10:33:36,429 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] Starting new HTTPS connection (1): test.minarca.net:443
2026-01-04 10:33:37,065 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] https://test.minarca.net:443 "GET /api/ HTTP/1.1" 200 38
2026-01-04 10:33:37,476 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] https://test.minarca.net:443 "GET /api/currentuser/ HTTP/1.1" 200 186
2026-01-04 10:33:37,487 [25024][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: exchanging SSH identity with server
2026-01-04 10:33:38,182 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] https://test.minarca.net:443 "POST /api/currentuser/sshkeys HTTP/1.1" 400 513
2026-01-04 10:33:38,183 [25024][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: generating new SSH identity after failure
2026-01-04 10:33:38,234 [25024][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: exchanging new SSH identity with server
2026-01-04 10:33:38,238 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] Resetting dropped connection: test.minarca.net
2026-01-04 10:33:39,240 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] https://test.minarca.net:443 "POST /api/currentuser/sshkeys HTTP/1.1" 200 414
2026-01-04 10:33:39,604 [25024][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] https://test.minarca.net:443 "GET /api/minarca/ HTTP/1.1" 200 1005
2026-01-04 10:33:39,612 [25024][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: testing connection
2026-01-04 10:33:39,612 [25024][ERROR][MainThread  ] unknown exception
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "minarca_client/ui/backup_connection_remote.py", line 272, in _create_remote
  File "minarca_client/core/exceptions.py", line 62, in wrapper
  File "minarca_client/core/backup.py", line 314, in configure_remote
  File "minarca_client/core/instance.py", line 533, in test_connection
  File "minarca_client/core/instance.py", line 626, in _remote_schema
  File "minarca_client/core/compat.py", line 206, in get_ssh
FileNotFoundError: ssh

```

[Patrik Dufresne]

Minarca cannot find the executable named "ssh". It seams your Mac doesn't ship "ssh". Could you tell me which version of MacOS you are running ?

You might need to install ssh manually to get it working.

To make sure the server is working as expected. Could you test with a Windows Client ?

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/minarca/8c92ba06-628b-4d1b-bff2-40cccaf55facn%40googlegroups.com.

[Michael]

macOS 26.2, running on a MacBook Pro M1. It definitely has ssh. I use ssh every day, and I use it to log into the Linux server where I set up the Minarca server. So the error about not finding ssh makes no sense. And no, I cannot try it on a Windows machine. Even if I had a Windows computer, I don’t see how that would help my Mac client connect to the Minarca test server. Thanks for looking at the error logs though. 

[Patrik Dufresne]

Hello Michael,

The error below indicates that the client is unable to locate the ssh executable, which is unexpected. Could you please verify where ssh is located on your system? Running which ssh in a terminal should return its full path. I'm expecting the path to be: /usr/bin/ssh.

2026-01-04 10:40:34,185 [25024][ERROR][MainThread  ] unknown exception
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "minarca_client/ui/backup_connection_remote.py", line 272, in _create_remote
  File "minarca_client/core/exceptions.py", line 62, in wrapper
  File "minarca_client/core/backup.py", line 314, in configure_remote
  File "minarca_client/core/instance.py", line 533, in test_connection
  File "minarca_client/core/instance.py", line 626, in _remote_schema
  File "minarca_client/core/compat.py", line 206, in get_ssh
FileNotFoundError: ssh

Regarding testing on Windows, the goal would simply be to confirm whether the issue is client-specific or related to the server configuration.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/minarca/8e5eb869-de64-4591-aecd-f81365283ad8n%40googlegroups.com.

[Michael]

Yes, it is at /usr/bin/ssh:

```

 ~ % which ssh                
/usr/bin/ssh

```

[Michael]

I was able to use the instructions at this comment to compile minarca client from git. That works, in that I was able to connect to the server and start a backup. Doesn't completely solve my problem because I need a non-terminal GUI application that I can install on other computers for users that are definitely not going to use the terminal. But it suggests a problem with the non-arm version of the client UI—maybe some permissions issue?

[Patrik Dufresne]

Would you be willing to test with the beta version of Minarca client ? here: https://minarca.org/en_CA/beta

If it's not working, I might create a special version to help us debug why Minarca cannot find the "ssh" executable in your context.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/minarca/2b794776-9121-4e97-a75b-70f54fbe1bf4n%40googlegroups.com.