56KLabz — Technical Documentation & Setup Manual

01. System Prerequisites

NovaDash communicates directly with target servers via native OpenSSH protocol (Port 22 or custom ports). No proprietary middleman servers or agent daemons are required on your target nodes.

Supported Operating Systems

• Linux Distributions: Ubuntu (18.04+), Debian (10+), RHEL / Rocky / AlmaLinux (8+), Fedora, Arch Linux, Alpine Linux, Gentoo.
• Windows Operating Systems: Windows Server 2019, 2022, 2025, Windows 10/11 (with OpenSSH Server capability enabled).
• UNIX & BSD: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, macOS (10.15+).

Required OpenSSH Daemon Configuration

Verify that your target machine's OpenSSH configuration (/etc/ssh/sshd_config) satisfies the following minimum directives:

/etc/ssh/sshd_config — Production Directives

# Enforce secure public key authentication PubkeyAuthentication yes AuthorizedKeysFile .ssh/authorized_keys # Optional: Enable password auth (Key authentication recommended) PasswordAuthentication yes # Default OpenSSH Port Port 22

After updating sshd_config, restart the SSH daemon to apply changes:

Terminal — Reload SSH Daemon

root@server:~# systemctl restart sshd root@server:~# systemctl status sshd --no-pager

02. Authentication & Key Management

56KLabz software supports both standard password authentication and military-grade RSA / Ed25519 keypair authentication.

Step 1: Generate Keypair (Ed25519 / RSA 4096)

Open a terminal on your client machine and execute one of the following key generation commands:

Terminal — Keypair Generation

# Option A: Ed25519 (Recommended — High Performance & Security) $ ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "admin@56klabz" # Option B: RSA 4096-bit (Legacy Systems Compatibility) $ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "admin@56klabz"

Step 2: Install Public Key onto Remote Server

Copy your generated public key (~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub) to the target server's authorized keys list:

Terminal — Key Installation

# Automatic public key installation via ssh-copy-id $ ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub [email protected]

Step 3: Enforce Strict POSIX File Permissions

OpenSSH will silently reject authentication if permissions on .ssh or authorized_keys are too permissive. Run these commands on the target server:

Terminal — POSIX Permission Enforcement

user@server:~$ chmod 700 ~/.ssh user@server:~$ chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys user@server:~$ chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 user@server:~$ chown -R $USER:$USER ~/.ssh

03. Troubleshooting & Error Reference

Quick reference matrix for diagnosing and resolving common SSH network connection errors.

Error Code	Root Cause	Resolution Procedure
Connection Refused	SSH daemon is stopped or port 22 is blocked by host firewall.	Verify daemon status: `systemctl status sshd`. Ensure UFW allows SSH: `ufw allow 22/tcp`.
Connection Timed Out	Host IP unreachable, network route missing, or WAN firewall blocking.	Verify IP with `ping <IP>`. If using Tailscale or WireGuard, confirm VPN status is active.
Permission Denied (publickey)	Public key not present in `authorized_keys` or file permissions incorrect.	Execute POSIX permission fix: `chmod 700 ~/.ssh && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys`.
Host Key Verification Failed	Target server host key changed or IP address was reassigned.	Clear stale host key entry: `ssh-keygen -R <IP_ADDRESS>` and reconnect.

Live Debugging Logs

To inspect real-time connection attempts on the target server, stream OpenSSH systemd logs:

Terminal — Real-Time SSH Diagnostics

root@server:~# journalctl -u ssh -f -n 50

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