No subject

as a known host, but should have been. Failure output (machine names
edited):
----------------------------------------------------------
SSH Version OpenSSH_2.3.0p1, protocol versions 1.5/2.0.
Compiled with SSL (0x0090600f).
debug: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug: Seeding random number generator
debug: ssh_connect: getuid 500 geteuid 0 anon 0
debug: Connecting to MachineB [10.0.0.2] port 22.
debug: Seeding random number generator
debug: Allocated local port 986.
debug: Connection established.
debug: Remote protocol version 1.99, remote software version
OpenSSH_2.3.0p1
debug: no match: OpenSSH_2.3.0p1
debug: Local version string SSH-1.5-OpenSSH_2.3.0p1
debug: Waiting for server public key.
debug: Received server public key (768 bits) and host key (1024 bits).
The authenticity of host 'MachineB' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 54:8a:1c:ae:30:02:12:c2:f9:34:2d:19:a4:81:d9:d1.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'MachineB,10.0.0.2' (RSA) to the list of
known hosts.
debug: Seeding random number generator
debug: Encryption type: 3des
debug: Sent encrypted session key.
debug: Installing crc compensation attack detector.
debug: Received encrypted confirmation.
debug: Trying RSA authentication with key
'userX at MachineB.somedomain.com'
debug: Server refused our key.
Permission denied.
debug: Calling cleanup 0x805cc6c(0x0)
----------------------------------------------------------

Within machine B's /var/log/messages:
sshd[9554]: Cannot close PAM session[4]: System error
----------------------------------------------------------

I assume the error might be because the other end at machine A died. I
assume that the "PasswordAuthentication no" defines that passwords are
not needed, but does not cause it to not ask when keys are not found
that are a valid login means? I ask because the one thing I'm not
positive about having completely cleaned out on both machines are the
man pages themselves. I'm also unclear about whether I can really use
directories ~/.ssh/authorized_keys/ to hold other identity.pub files,
and whether it is valid to place other host public keys in
/etc/ssh/known_hosts/. At the moment that I said "yes" to ssh adding the
other machine permanently to known hosts, it created file
~/.ssh/known_hosts, and not a directory. Should I have copied my other
identity.pub from the opposite machine directly to this as a file? If
so, how do I merge multiple public keys into known_hosts (copy will
overwrite). Plus I am assuming that the name "hosts" of "known_hosts"
for home directory/.ssh/known_hosts is a misnomer, and that this can
contain public keys of individuals, rather than machines as a whole.

I'm getting desparate to set this up correctly, I'm going to need to set
my keys up in a similar manner for someone else's machine soon, and keep
delaying a project until done. Any ideas are welcome.

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com