FreeBSD-11.1p10 and autossh

[James B. Byrne via freebsd-questions]

I cannot seem to configure autossh to work from anything other than
the command line, which defeats the purpose. I would like it to
automatically start when the system boots but I have been unsuccessful
in all my attempts to date. I have tried adding this in rc.conf:

autossh -M0 -f -i /root/.ssh/id_ed25519 -L 143:localhost:143
***@192.168.216.17

But there is no evidence that this even gets executed. In any case it
is not running after a restart and no error messages are logged.

I created a primitive rd.d script which runs but which does not
establish a link between the systems. ps reports that autossh is
running and that it is the parent of a process pid. But that pid does
not exist and there is nothing logged anywhere that I can find to show
that it ever did.

The options that I pass from rc.conf to the rc.d/autossh script are:

autossh_enable="YES" # enable autossh
autossh_flags='-M0 -f \
-i "/root/.ssh/id_rsa" \
-o "ServerAliveInterval 30" \
-o "ServerAliveCountMax 3" \
-L "143:localhost:143" \
-N \
"***@192.168.216.17"'

This starts autossh as shown below:

ps -auxw | grep ssh
root 2971 0.0 0.0 8332 1640 - SsJ 10:52 0:00.00
autossh: parent of 33977 (8) (autossh)
root 13736 0.0 0.1 57812 4856 - SsJ 10:52 0:00.00
/usr/sbin/sshd
root 32028 0.0 0.1 85228 5620 - SsJ 10:52 0:00.02 sshd:
***@pts/1 (sshd)
root 34983 0.0 0.0 14828 1804 1 S+J 10:52 0:00.00 grep
--color ssh


But there is no connection to the remote host. If I run autossh from
the command line with the same options then I see this:

autossh -M0 -f -i "/root/.ssh/id_rsa" -o "ServerAliveInterval 30"
-o "ServerAliveCountMax 3" -L "143:localhost:143" -N
"***@216.185.71.17"&


ps -auxw | grep ssh
. . .
root 53110 0.0 0.0 8332 1700 - IsJ 10:56 0:00.00
autossh: parent of 53777 (1) (autossh)
root 53777 0.0 0.1 24580 4380 - SJ 10:56 0:00.03
/usr/bin/ssh -i /root/.ssh/id_rsa -o ServerAliveInterval 30 -o Serv
. . .


The rc.d script is very basic and contains this:


source /etc/rc.subr

name="autossh"
rcvar=autossh_enable

load_rc_config $name

: ${autossh_enable:="NO"}
: ${autossh_pidfile:="/var/run/autossh.pid"}
: ${autossh_procname:="/usr/local/bin/autossh"}

start_cmd=${name}_start
stop_cmd=${name}_stop

pidfile=${autossh_pidfile}
procname=${autossh_procname}

autossh_start() {
AUTOSSH_PIDFILE=${autossh_pidfile} ${autossh_procname} ${autossh_flags}
AUTOSSH_DEBUG=7
AUTOSSH_LOGLEVEL=7
AUTOSSH_LOGFILE="/var/log/autossh.log"
}
autossh_stop() {
kill -9 "$(cat ${AUTOSSH_PIDFILE})";
rm -f "${AUTOSSH_PIDFILE}"
}
run_rc_command "$1"

But this does not work as I expect either. fROM THE CLI 'service
autossh start' runs autossh but autossh does not establish an ssh
connection to the target. The pid autossh claims to be the parent of
does not exist when I search for it using ps. Despite the debugging
and logging settings nothing appears in the autossh logfile. There is
nothing in /var/log/auth.log on the target host to indicate that an
ssh connection is even attempted.

This is more of an annoyance than anything else but I am mystified
that something as basic as this just will not run as I expect. Why
does autossh work as expected when started from the command line but
not otherwise??
--
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James B. Byrne mailto:***@Harte-Lyne.ca
Harte & Lyne Limited http://www.harte-lyne.ca
9 Brockley Drive vox: [phone]
Hamilton, Ontario fax: [phone]
Canada L8E 3C3

[Dave Cottlehuber]

On Thu, 14 Jun 2018, at 17:27, James B. Byrne via freebsd-questions wrote:> I cannot seem to configure autossh to work from anything other than

Post by James B. Byrne via freebsd-questions
the command line, which defeats the purpose. I would like it to
autossh -M0 -f -i /root/.ssh/id_ed25519 -L 143:localhost:143
But there is no evidence that this even gets executed. In any case it> is not running after a restart and no error messages are logged.
I created a primitive rd.d script which runs but which does not
establish a link between the systems. ps reports that autossh is
running and that it is the parent of a process pid. But that pid does> not exist and there is nothing logged anywhere that I can find to show> that it ever did.
autossh_enable="YES" # enable autossh
autossh_flags='-M0 -f \
-i "/root/.ssh/id_rsa" \
-o "ServerAliveInterval 30" \
-o "ServerAliveCountMax 3" \
-L "143:localhost:143" \
-N \
ps -auxw | grep ssh
root 2971 0.0 0.0 8332 1640 - SsJ 10:52 0:00.00
autossh: parent of 33977 (8) (autossh)
root 13736 0.0 0.1 57812 4856 - SsJ 10:52 0:00.00
/usr/sbin/sshd
root 34983 0.0 0.0 14828 1804 1 S+J 10:52 0:00.00 grep
--color ssh
autossh -M0 -f -i "/root/.ssh/id_rsa" -o "ServerAliveInterval 30"> -o "ServerAliveCountMax 3" -L "143:localhost:143" -N
ps -auxw | grep ssh
. . .
root 53110 0.0 0.0 8332 1700 - IsJ 10:56 0:00.00
autossh: parent of 53777 (1) (autossh)
root 53777 0.0 0.1 24580 4380 - SJ 10:56 0:00.03
/usr/bin/ssh -i /root/.ssh/id_rsa -o ServerAliveInterval 30 -o Serv
. . .
source /etc/rc.subr
name="autossh"
rcvar=autossh_enable
load_rc_config $name
: ${autossh_enable:="NO"}
: ${autossh_pidfile:="/var/run/autossh.pid"}
: ${autossh_procname:="/usr/local/bin/autossh"}
start_cmd=${name}_start
stop_cmd=${name}_stop
pidfile=${autossh_pidfile}
procname=${autossh_procname}
autossh_start() {
AUTOSSH_PIDFILE=${autossh_pidfile} ${autossh_procname}
${autossh_flags}> AUTOSSH_DEBUG=7
AUTOSSH_LOGLEVEL=7
AUTOSSH_LOGFILE="/var/log/autossh.log"
}
autossh_stop() {
kill -9 "$(cat ${AUTOSSH_PIDFILE})";
rm -f "${AUTOSSH_PIDFILE}"
}
run_rc_command "$1"
But this does not work as I expect either. fROM THE CLI 'service
autossh start' runs autossh but autossh does not establish an ssh
connection to the target. The pid autossh claims to be the parent of
does not exist when I search for it using ps. Despite the debugging
and logging settings nothing appears in the autossh logfile. There is> nothing in /var/log/auth.log on the target host to indicate that an
ssh connection is even attempted.
This is more of an annoyance than anything else but I am mystified
that something as basic as this just will not run as I expect. Why
does autossh work as expected when started from the command line but

I highly recommend spiped https://www.freshports.org/sysutils/spiped/
and leave autossh in the dust where it belongs. It has an rc.d script
and is robust against failure.
A+
Dave

[Steve O'Hara-Smith]

On Thu, 14 Jun 2018 11:27:19 -0400

Post by James B. Byrne via freebsd-questions
I cannot seem to configure autossh to work from anything other than
the command line, which defeats the purpose. I would like it to
automatically start when the system boots but I have been unsuccessful
autossh -M0 -f -i /root/.ssh/id_ed25519 -L 143:localhost:143

Nooooo don't do that rc.conf gets sourced all over the place.

Put it in /etc/rc.local or in some user's crontab with @reboot
instead. I use the latter to maintain a set of tunnels for incoming
connections to my LAN <mumble>PITA ISP filters</mumble>.