How to resolve the issue of SSH service failing to start in Linux.

8 months ago

Liam

2 minutes

If the sshd service fails to start on a Linux system, it could be due to errors in the configuration file, the port being occupied, sshd service not being installed, or other reasons. Here are some solutions:

Check the configuration file: Make sure that the sshd configuration file (usually located in /etc/ssh/sshd_config) does not have any errors, especially checking if the port number is not already in use, and if the ListenAddress is correct.
Check if the port is in use: Use the command netstat -tuln to check if the port is occupied. If the port number conflicts with the port number in the sshd configuration file, you can try changing the port number in the sshd configuration file.
Check if the sshd service is installed: Make sure that the sshd service is installed on the system. You can use the command sudo systemctl status sshd to check the status of sshd. If it is not installed, you can use a package management tool to install the sshd service.
Restart the sshd service: If the above methods do not solve the issue, you can try restarting the sshd service by using the command sudo systemctl restart sshd.

If the above methods still do not solve the problem, you can check the system log files (usually located at /var/log/messages or /var/log/syslog) for more detailed information, or try reinstalling the sshd service.