Apple xserve Service Manual

Xserve Verification of Basic Services - 14

 Troubleshooting Authentication Issues

Troubleshooting Authentication 
Issues

A warning message such as “authenticity of host cannot be established” appears when 

you attempt to log in to Xserve remotely. 

Delete and then recreate the authentication keys related to the specific host. 

Important: 

• Make sure you have the IP address and Admin login information for the appropriate 

Xserve.

• Verify the first 8 characters of the serial number that correspond to the appropriate 

Xserve.

• Make sure that the administration computer has Mac OS X version 10.1 or later 

installed.

When authentication of the RSA host key is invalid, the warning message states which 

hosts file, and line number within the file, is invalid. For example: 

Offending key in /Users/admin/.ssh/known_hosts2:42 

In this example, known_hosts2 has the offending authentication key and the host on line 

42 of known_hosts2 is the line that needs to be deleted. 

Note: The warning message has some very stern wording; however, there are non-

threatening reasons for authentication keys not matching.