# Trellis ssh connection refused on Apple M1/Lima **URL:** https://discourse.roots.io/t/trellis-ssh-connection-refused-on-apple-m1-lima/30050 **Category:** trellis **Tags:** trellis, ssh **Created:** 2025-11-19T04:29:48Z **Posts:** 5 ## Post 1 by @pandabrand — 2025-11-19T04:29:48Z Anyone have a clue to how to get to the bottom of trellis starting but not failing at ssh with ``` trellis % trellis ssh development Running command => ssh admin@pleinairarchive.test ssh: connect to host pleinairarchive.test port 22: Connection refused Error running ssh: exit status 255 ``` This is a pretty fresh install of trellis. I don’t have the firewall on, no VPN is running. These seemed to be the problems of the latest issues with trellis all the others are years old. Not sure where to start with this one. --- ## Post 2 by @pandabrand — 2025-11-19T04:34:33Z How is trellis finding/deriving the IP that it updates in my `/etc/hosts` file? Is that one it makes up or is it looking at a IP address within my system? --- ## Post 3 by @pandabrand — 2025-11-19T18:03:15Z Running `limactl shell pleinairarchive.com` I am able to ssh into the server but `trellis ssh developement` fails. lima is using `frederickwell@lima-pleinairarchive-com` as the username and server while trellis is attempting `admin@pleinairarchive.com` for ssh? --- ## Post 4 by @andronocean — 2025-11-20T00:41:12Z I’m not sure if this is a change with the Lima VMs or just the way the `dev.yml` playbook has always worked. The docs here [SSH Key Management in Trellis | Trellis Docs | Roots](https://roots.io/trellis/docs/ssh-keys/) note that Trellis on development uses one’s local username for all operations, so I suspect it’s the latter. **The Lima-aware shell command is `trellis vm shell`.** I believe it wraps `limactl shell `. The same error happens with the `trellis log` command (_this is very annoying!_). That tries to use the `web` user, not `admin`: ``` ❯ trellis logs -n 50 development Running command => ssh web@example.test tail -n 50 -f /srv/www/example.com/logs/*[^gz]? web@example.test: Permission denied (publickey). ``` If I SSH in via lima (`trellis vm shell`) and run `cat /etc/passwd`, I don’t even _see_ an `admin` or `web` user: ``` root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/usr/sbin/nologin bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/usr/sbin/nologin sys:x:3:3:sys:/dev:/usr/sbin/nologin sync:x:4:65534:sync:/bin:/bin/sync games:x:5:60:games:/usr/games:/usr/sbin/nologin man:x:6:12:man:/var/cache/man:/usr/sbin/nologin lp:x:7:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/usr/sbin/nologin mail:x:8:8:mail:/var/mail:/usr/sbin/nologin news:x:9:9:news:/var/spool/news:/usr/sbin/nologin uucp:x:10:10:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/usr/sbin/nologin proxy:x:13:13:proxy:/bin:/usr/sbin/nologin www-data:x:33:33:www-data:/var/www:/usr/sbin/nologin backup:x:34:34:backup:/var/backups:/usr/sbin/nologin list:x:38:38:Mailing List Manager:/var/list:/usr/sbin/nologin irc:x:39:39:ircd:/run/ircd:/usr/sbin/nologin _apt:x:42:65534::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin nobody:x:65534:65534:nobody:/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin systemd-network:x:998:998:systemd Network Management:/:/usr/sbin/nologin systemd-timesync:x:996:996:systemd Time Synchronization:/:/usr/sbin/nologin dhcpcd:x:100:65534:DHCP Client Daemon,,,:/usr/lib/dhcpcd:/bin/false messagebus:x:101:101::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin syslog:x:102:102::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin systemd-resolve:x:991:991:systemd Resolver:/:/usr/sbin/nologin uuidd:x:103:103::/run/uuidd:/usr/sbin/nologin tss:x:104:104:TPM software stack,,,:/var/lib/tpm:/bin/false sshd:x:105:65534::/run/sshd:/usr/sbin/nologin pollinate:x:106:1::/var/cache/pollinate:/bin/false tcpdump:x:107:108::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin landscape:x:108:109::/var/lib/landscape:/usr/sbin/nologin fwupd-refresh:x:990:990:Firmware update daemon:/var/lib/fwupd:/usr/sbin/nologin polkitd:x:989:989:User for polkitd:/:/usr/sbin/nologin andron:x:501:1000:Andron Ocean:/home/andron.linux:/bin/bash ntpsec:x:109:112::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin mysql:x:110:113:MariaDB Server,,,:/nonexistent:/bin/false memcache:x:111:114:Memcached,,,:/nonexistent:/bin/false nginx:x:999:988:nginx user:/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin ``` I haven’t dug into why they’re not added in development by `group_vars/all/users.yml`… but they’re evidently not, so any SSH config you added for them will be ignored. It would be nice if the other shell commands could be made to work (particularly for logs). However, I haven’t run into any issues relying on `trellis vm shell`. I can get the logs by running `ssh andron@lima-example-com tail -n 50 -f '/srv/www/example.com/logs/*[^gz]?'` (substituting appropriately). --- ## Post 5 by @Tetrahedrax — 2025-11-20T09:17:48Z It’s failing for me too. But as pointed out by andronocean, `trellis vm shell` works just fine.