Could not load host key

[Daniel Prevett]

On Fri, 20 Apr 2001, Jim Seymour wrote:

> Hi All,
> 
> So I tried to upgrade to 2.5.2p2 today.  Got this when I stopped/started
> sshd:
> 
>     Disabling protocol version 2. Could not load host key
> 
> Re-installed 2.3.0p1 and all was well again.
> 
> This look familiar to anybody?
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> Jim
> -- 
> Jim Seymour                  | PGP Public Key available at:
> jseymour at jimsun.LinxNet.com  | http://www.uk.pgp.net/pgpnet/pks-commands.html
> http://jimsun.LinxNet.com    |

Yep, it does look familiar.  Look at your sshd_config for the HostKey
entries.  If I remember correctly, 2.5.1 added support for DSA and RSA
hostkeys.  My guess is that sshd is not finding either of those for SSH2
support.  I have the following in my sshd_config file:

HostKey /usr/local/etc/ssh_host_key
HostKey /usr/local/etc/ssh_host_dsa_key
HostKey /usr/local/etc/ssh_host_rsa_key

and of course those three host keys exist.  ssh_host_dsa_key and
ssh_host_rsa_key are for SSH2 (I believe).  ssh_host_key is for SSH1 only.
I belive all three keys are generated by the makefile and are installed
when you do a 'make install'.  If you're upgrading from rpms you're on
your own, as I know nothing about them.

     -Daniel