ssh fails with "Server refused to allocate pty"
851662Mar 1 2012 — edited Mar 2 2012Hi Folks,
I'm getting an error when attempting to open a putty session (or ssh from another box) that states "Server refused to allocate pty". I've googled the error and seen the solutions that talk about running MAKEDEV for pty and tty. All of which have not solved my problem. I've got a case open with Oracle, but as usual, they're taking their sweet time in looking at it.
Fortunately, I had a session open with the server with the problem manifested. I'm running Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.5 (2.6.18-194.el5). This is a production server, so I'm reluctant to reboot as it will take some coordination and then I still don't know what caused the problem, how to fix it or if it will come back again.
In /var/log/secure, I'm seeing "error: openpty: No such file or directory" when attempting to open the session. I've checked /dev/pts and it's mounted. /dev/ptmx is present.
Does anyone have any ideas or run into this before?
Thanks for any suggestions
Edited by: garym on Mar 1, 2012 11:06 AM