OpenSSH Server

This role configures the OpenSSH daemon. It:

  • By default configures the SSH daemon with the normal OS defaults.

  • Works across a variety of +UN*X+ distributions

  • Can be configured by dict or simple variables

  • Supports Match sets

  • Supports all +sshd_config+ options. Templates are programmatically generated. (see +meta/make_option_list+)

  • Tests the +sshd_config+ before reloading sshd.

WARNING Misconfiguration of this role can lock you out of your server! Please test your configuration and its interaction with your users configuration before using in production!

WARNING Digital Ocean allows root with passwords via SSH on Debian and Ubuntu. This is not the default assigned by this module - it will set +PermitRootLogin without-password+ which will allow access via SSH key but not via simple password. If you need this functionality, be sure to set +sshd_PermitRootLogin yes+ for those hosts.

Requirements

Tested on:

  • Ubuntu precise, trusty, xenial, bionic, focal

  • Debian wheezy, jessie, stretch, buster

  • FreeBSD 10.1

  • EL 6, 7, 8 derived distributions

  • Fedora 31, 32, 33

  • OpenBSD 6.0

  • AIX 7.1, 7.2

It will likely work on other flavours and more direct support via suitable vars/ files is welcome.

Role variables

Unconfigured, this role will provide a +sshd_config+ that matches the OS default, minus the comments and in a different order.

  • +sshd_enable+

If set to false, the role will be completely disabled. Defaults to true.

  • +sshd_skip_defaults+

If set to true, don’t apply default values. This means that you must have a complete set of configuration defaults via either the +sshd+ dict, or +sshd_Key+ variables. Defaults to false.

  • +sshd_manage_service+

If set to false, the service/daemon won’t be managed at all, i.e. will not try to enable on boot or start or reload the service. Defaults to true unless: Running inside a docker container (it is assumed ansible is used during build phase) or AIX (Ansible +service+ module does not currently support +enabled+ for AIX)

  • +sshd_allow_reload+

If set to false, a reload of sshd wont happen on change. This can help with troubleshooting. You’ll need to manually reload sshd if you want to apply the changed configuration. Defaults to the same value as +sshd_manage_service+. (Except on AIX, where +sshd_manage_service+ is default false, but +sshd_allow_reload+ is default true)

  • +sshd_install_service+

If set to true, the role will install service files for the ssh service. Defaults to false.

The templates for the service files to be used are pointed to by the variables

  • +sshd_service_template_service+ (default: +templates/sshd.service.j2+)

  • +sshd_service_template_at_service+ (default: +templates/sshd@.service.j2+)

  • +sshd_service_template_socket+ (default: +templates/sshd.socket.j2+)

Using these variables, you can use your own custom templates. With the above default templates, the name of the installed ssh service will be provided by the +sshd_service+ variable.

  • +sshd+

A dict containing configuration. e.g.

sshd:
  Compression: delayed
  ListenAddress:
    - 0.0.0.0
  • +sshd_...+

Simple variables can be used rather than a dict. Simple values override dict values. e.g.:

sshd_Compression: off

In all cases, booleans are correctly rendered as yes and no in sshd configuration. Lists can be used for multiline configuration items. e.g.

sshd_ListenAddress:
  - 0.0.0.0
  - '::'

Renders as:

ListenAddress 0.0.0.0
ListenAddress ::
  • +sshd_match+, +sshd_match_1+ through +sshd_match_9+

A list of dicts or just a dict for a Match section. Note, that these variables do not override match blocks as defined in the +sshd+ dict. All of the sources will be reflected in the resulting configuration file.

  • +sshd_backup+

When set to false, the original +sshd_config+ file is not backed up. Default is true.

  • +sshd_sysconfig+

On RHEL-based systems, sysconfig is used for configuring more details of sshd service. If set to true, this role will manage also the +/etc/sysconfig/sshd+ configuration file based on the following configuration. Default is false.

  • +sshd_sysconfig_override_crypto_policy+

In RHEL8-based systems, this can be used to override system-wide crypto policy by setting to true. Defaults to false.

  • +sshd_sysconfig_use_strong_rng+

In RHEL-based systems, this can be used to force sshd to reseed openssl random number generator with the given amount of bytes as an argument. The default is 0, which disables this functionality. It is not recommended to turn this on if the system does not have hardware random number generator.

  • +sshd_config_file+

The path where the openssh configuration produced by this role should be saved. This is useful mostly when generating configuration snippets to Include.

Secondary role variables

These variables are used by the role internals and can be used to override the defaults that correspond to each supported platform.

  • +sshd_packages+

Use this variable to override the default list of packages to install.

  • +sshd_config_owner+, +sshd_config_group+, +sshd_config_mode+

Use these variables to set the ownership and permissions for the openssh config file that this role produces.

  • +sshd_binary+

The path to the openssh executable

  • +sshd_service+

The name of the openssh service. By default, this variable contains the name of the ssh service that the target platform uses. But it can also be used to set the name of the custom ssh service when the +sshd_install_service+ variable is used.

  • +sshd_verify_hostkeys+

By default (auto), this list contains all the host keys that are present in the produced configuration file. The paths are checked for presence and generated if missing. Additionally, permissions and file owners are set to sane defaults. This is useful if the role is used in deployment stage to make sure the service is able to start on the first attempt. To disable this check, set this to empty list.

  • +sshd_hostkey_owner+, +sshd_hostkey_group+, +sshd_hostkey_mode+

Use these variables to set the ownership and permissions for the host keys from the above list.

  • +sshd_sftp_server+

Default path to the sftp server binary.

Dependencies

None

Example Playbook

DANGER! This example is to show the range of configuration this role provides. Running it will likely break your SSH access to the server!

---
- hosts: all
  vars:
    sshd_skip_defaults: true
    sshd:
      Compression: true
      ListenAddress:
        - "0.0.0.0"
        - "::"
      GSSAPIAuthentication: no
      Match:
        - Condition: "Group user"
          GSSAPIAuthentication: yes
    sshd_UsePrivilegeSeparation: no
    sshd_match:
        - Condition: "Group xusers"
          X11Forwarding: yes
  roles:
    - role: willshersystems.sshd

Results in:

# Ansible managed: ...
Compression yes
GSSAPIAuthentication no
UsePrivilegeSeparation no
Match Group user
  GSSAPIAuthentication yes
Match Group xusers
  X11Forwarding yes

Since Ansible 2.4, the role can be invoked using +include_role+ keyword, for example:

---
- hosts: all
  become: true
  tasks:
  - name: "Configure sshd"
    include_role:
      name: willshersystems.sshd
    vars:
      sshd_skip_defaults: true
      sshd:
        Compression: true
        ListenAddress:
          - "0.0.0.0"
          - "::"
        GSSAPIAuthentication: no
        Match:
          - Condition: "Group user"
            GSSAPIAuthentication: yes
      sshd_UsePrivilegeSeparation: no
      sshd_match:
          - Condition: "Group xusers"
            X11Forwarding: yes

More example playbooks can be found in +examples/+ directory.

Template Generation

The +sshd_config.j2+ template is programatically generated by the scripts in meta. New options should be added to the +options_body+ or +options_match+.

To regenerate the template, from within the meta/ directory run: +./make_option_list >../templates/sshd_config.j2+

License

LGPLv3

Author

Matt Willsher matt@willsher.systems

© 2014,2015 Willsher Systems Ltd.