Studio failed to connect sshd on IBM i - long user ID or password

Issue

Zend Studio displays a message similar to this:

Failed to connect sshd on "<some ip address>"

Environment

Any version of Zend Studio connecting to IBM i 6.1 or higher.

Resolution

A failure to connect to SSH on the IBM i partition may mean you need to start or restart SSH.  Please see this article for details:

Studio failed to connect sshd on IBM i - verify SSH is started

Another reason the connection may fail is a user ID or password that is more than 8 characters long.  This is related to a limit in PASE.  This limit can be changed by setting up a configuration file.  For V6R1 and 7.1 a PTF is required before the configuration settings will work.

For V6R1:  SI43594

For 7.1: SI43709

After the PTF is applied, or if you have 7.2 and don't need the PTF, here is how to set up the configuration file.

Logged in as QSECOFR or a *SECOFR class user, use this command to enter the PASE shell:

call qp2term

Change to the directory where the configuration file is located.  This location is different for each version of IBM i.

If you have V6R1:

cd /QOpenSys/QIBM/UserData/SC1/OpenSSH/openssh-3.8.1p1/etc

If you have 7.1:

cd /QOpenSys/QIBM/UserData/SC1/OpenSSH/openssh-4.7p1/etc

If you have 7.2:

cd /QOpenSys/QIBM/UserData/SC1/OpenSSH/etc

Display the current contents of the sshd_config file:

cat sshd_config

The contents will take up several pages, use page up to scroll back through the file.  Check for this line of code:

ibmpaseforienv PASE_USRGRP_LIMITED=N

If it is present, you do not need to add it.  You are done.  If it is not present, add it with this command (be very careful to use this exact command):

echo 'ibmpaseforienv PASE_USRGRP_LIMITED=N' >> sshd_config

You should copy and paste the command.  You especially do not want to use only one greater than sign, as this will replace your configuration file with the single line of code.

Verify that your line of code went in:

cat sshd_config

The last line of the config file should now be this:

ibmpaseforienv PASE_USRGRP_LIMITED=N

Use F3 to exit the PASE shell.  Restart SSH for the change to take effect.  This article can help:

Studio failed to connect sshd on IBM i - verify SSH is started

You should now be able to log in to SSH with a user ID or password longer than 8 characters.