Custom ssh_config Not Working As Expected

[James Goodhouse]

I am having some issues with a custom ssh_config file and not sure if I'm doing something wrong, if it's an ssh bug, or if it's an Ansible bug.

I currently have a custom ssh_config file placed next to my ansible.cfg file. In the ansible.cfg file I have the line ssh_args = -F ssh_config under the [ssh_connection] section. Inside of my ssh_config file is the following:

  Host bastion

    HostName        xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

    User            ubuntu

  Host app01

    HostName        xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

    ProxyCommand    ssh bastion nc %h %p

    User            ubuntu

If I then run the command ssh app01 -F ssh_config I receive the following error:

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

However, if instead of referencing the ssh_config file, I instead place the contents into ~/.ssh/config and run the command ssh app01, all is well and it is able to resolve the hostname, bastion.

Is there a setting I am missing somewhere or is this potentially a bug in either ssh or Ansible?

Thanks for your help and if you need any more info, please ask!

- James

[Michael DeHaan]

Could this possibly be because the CWD when executing ansible can't find your specified ssh_config ?

Maybe try fulling pathing it for starters?

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[James Goodhouse]

I tried fully pathing it to no avail. It seems to be picking up on the custom ssh_config because if I change the ProxyCommand from ssh bastion nc %h %p to ssh ubu...@x.x.x.x nc %h %p then it works fine. It's almost like it's not referencing the custom ssh_config for the ProxyCommand and is defaulting back to looking in the config in ~/.ssh or /etc/ssh.

[Karl E. Jorgensen]

Hi

On Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 06:27:30PM -0700, James Goodhouse wrote:
> I am having some issues with a custom ssh_config file and not sure if I'm doing
> something wrong, if it's an ssh bug, or if it's an Ansible bug.
>
> I currently have a custom ssh_config file placed next to my ansible.cfg file.
> In the ansible.cfg file I have the line ssh_args = -F ssh_config under the
> [ssh_connection] section. Inside of my ssh_config file is the following:
>
> Host bastion
> HostName xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
> User ubuntu
> Host app01
> HostName xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
> ProxyCommand ssh bastion nc %h %p
> User ubuntu
>
> If I then run the command ssh app01 -F ssh_config I receive the following
> error:
>
> ssh: Could not resolve hostname bastion: nodename nor servname provided, or
> not known
>
> However, if instead of referencing the ssh_config file, I instead place the
> contents into ~/.ssh/config and run the command ssh app01, all is well and it
> is able to resolve the hostname, bastion.

That makes sense.

When you run "ssh app01 -F ssh_config", it will obviously use the
given SSH config file.... But in order to connect to app01, it needs
to run the ProxyCommand. But this will use the *default* ssh config
file. Not the one in the current directory...

As far as SSH is concerned, the ProxyCommand is simply a shell
command - even if it just invokes ssh...
--
Karl E. Jorgensen

[James Goodhouse]

Thanks for your reply, Karl!

So given that is the case, would there be a way for it to behave the way I'm expecting when using a custom ssh_config file?

On a separate but related note, I'm trying to use a wildcard entry in my ssh_config for various servers. So for example, my inventory file has the entry app01-stg ansible_ssh_host=10.0.11.195 and my ssh_config file is as follows:

  Host app*-stg

    ProxyCommand    ssh ubuntu@*.*.*.* nc %h %p

    User            ubuntu

When I then run the command ansible all -m ping -i inventory/staging.ini -l app01-stg I receive the error app01-stg | FAILED => SSH Error: data could not be sent to the remote host. Make sure this host can be reached over ssh. However, all works fine if I remove the ansible_ssh_host address from the inventory file and rerun the command with the following ssh_config file:

  Host app01-stg

    HostName        10.0.11.195

    ProxyCommand    ssh ubuntu@*.*.*.* nc %h %p

    User            ubuntu

Thanks in advance!!

- James