Question

shell request failed on channel 0

I was running two Python scripts 24x7, and when I added two more it started giving the error

shell request failed on channel 0

When I run in a debug mode it outputs the following:

OpenSSH_8.1p1, LibreSSL 2.7.3
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 47: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to 1.2.230.166 [1.2.230.166] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file dokey type 0
debug1: identity file dokey-cert type -1
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_8.1
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_9.0p1 Ubuntu-1ubuntu7
debug1: match: OpenSSH_9.0p1 Ubuntu-1ubuntu7 pat OpenSSH* compat 0x04000000
debug1: Authenticating to 1.2.230.166:22 as 'root'
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: algorithm: curve25519-sha256
debug1: kex: host key algorithm: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256
debug1: kex: server->client cipher: chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com MAC: <implicit> compression: none
debug1: kex: client->server cipher: chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com MAC: <implicit> compression: none
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY
debug1: Server host key: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 SHA256:lznBqzR8ZwxO68S3OLtGe9CaVe/RwXDyhlHpYRL31ro
debug1: Host '1.2.230.166' is known and matches the ECDSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /Users/f/.ssh/known_hosts:125
debug1: rekey out after 134217728 blocks
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: rekey in after 134217728 blocks
debug1: Will attempt key: dokey RSA SHA256:xxxxxx+iIlF6lnN0 explicit
debug1: SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO received
debug1: kex_input_ext_info: server-sig-algs=<ssh-ed25519,sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com,ssh-rsa,rsa-sha2-256,rsa-sha2-512,ssh-dss,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com,webauthn-sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com>
debug1: kex_input_ext_info: publickey-hostbound@openssh.com (unrecognised)
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Offering public key: dokey RSA SHA256:xxxxxx+iIlF6lnN0 explicit
debug1: Server accepts key: dokey RSA SHA256:xxxxxx+iIlF6lnN0 explicit
debug1: Authentication succeeded (publickey).
Authenticated to 1.2.230.166 ([1.2.230.166]:22).
debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
debug1: Requesting no-more-sessions@openssh.com
debug1: Entering interactive session.
debug1: pledge: network
debug1: client_input_global_request: rtype hostkeys-00@openssh.com want_reply 0
debug1: Remote: /root/.ssh/authorized_keys:1: key options: agent-forwarding port-forwarding pty user-rc x11-forwarding
debug1: Remote: /root/.ssh/authorized_keys:1: key options: agent-forwarding port-forwarding pty user-rc x11-forwarding
debug1: Sending environment.
debug1: Sending env LANG = en_US.UTF-8
debug1: Sending env LC_ALL = en_US.UTF-8
debug1: Sending env LC_CTYPE = UTF-8
shell request failed on channel 0

Please help!


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KFSys
Site Moderator
Site Moderator badge
January 12, 2023

Hi there, There are a lot of reasons that can be behind this error.

There is a limit of 256 pseudo terminals on a system. Maybe your python scripts are leaking pseudo terminals or creating Zombie processes. Use

lsof /dev/pts/*

to see what processes have open pseudo-terminals.

Additionally, you can try this:

vi /etc/security/limits.d/20-nproc.conf
*          soft    nproc     4096   # change to 65535
root       soft    nproc     unlimited

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