Ssh: Connect To Host "" Port 22: Connection Refused, Solution

On a quiet evening, I decided to connect to my remote server using SSH, but everything went awry due to the ISP.

Having said that, fellow Earthmate, are you experiencing problems establishing a connection via SSH? You see something like: "ssh: connect to host 'mygorgeoushost.com' port 22: Connection refused"? Keep reading, because my solution might work for your case.

# First Attempt

IMPORTANT: Can you connect to your remote server using the browser? For example, in my Lightsail account, under the menu item 'Instances -> Connect,' there is a button:

That allows me to establish a connection with my server.

If not, go to '# Third Attempt'.

If so, please connect to your server and execute the following commands on the remote machine(My apologies to Windows users):

Check if openssh-server is installed: 

dpkg -L openssh-server | grep bin/

It should display the binary; if not, please install it with: sudo apt install -y openssh-server

Check the status of ssh with:

sudo service ssh status

If it is not currently running, you can start it with:

 sudo service ssh start

Verify whether port 22 is blocked by iptables

sudo iptables -L

You should observe something similar to this:

If it's not accepting, run this command:

 sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport ssh -j ACCEPT

Finally, try to connect with SSH from the local machine (your PC):

ssh -vvv -i path/to/key.pem your_user@your_ip_address

# Second Attempt

If it didn't work, try changing the SSH port number from 22 to 2222 by editing the configuration file, on the remote server:

sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config 

Now restart it and check if it is listening on port 2222:

sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart
sudo netstat -tupan | grep sshd

Remember to add the new rule to your firewall settings. For example, in my Lightsail instance, I created a custom rule for port 2222:

On your local device run the command:

ssh -p 2222 -vvv -i path/to/key.pem your_user@your_ip_address

Now it should work. You welcome :)

Explanation: It's necessary to change the default SSH port number from 22 to 2222 because your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is blocking the port.

# Third Attempt

Change your internet connection until the normal command works on the local device, i.e:

ssh -vvv -i path/to/key.pem your_user@your_ip_address

Keep in mind that if you change two connection and the problem persists, it might be time to explore alternative solutions rather than retrying the same approach.

sudo apt-get purge openssh-server 
sudo apt-get install openssh-server