Troubleshooting — VM Ops Manager

Connection

Connection Refused

The server is refusing at the network level — not auth yet. Check in order:

# 1. Is the host reachable at all
ping <host>

# 2. Is the SSH port actually open
nc -vz <host> 22

Common causes: wrong port (many hosts move off 22), a firewall or security group blocking your IP, or sshd not running.

Connection Hangs, Then Times Out

Packets go out with nothing coming back — usually a firewall that drops instead of rejects. If you’re on a VPN, check that first.

Host Key Mismatch

The app stops and shows both fingerprints. Don’t dismiss it on reflex.

A host key changes for two very different reasons: the server was reinstalled (normal), or someone is sitting in the middle of your connection (not normal). Confirm through a separate channel — the provider’s console, a colleague who just reinstalled the box — before choosing Forget host key and reconnecting to trust the new one.

Authentication

Wrong Password or Rejected Key

For an SSH key: did you paste the private key, not the .pub file? If it has a passphrase, did you enter it?
Is the matching public key actually in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys for the right account on the server?
Check file permissions on the server side — the most commonly missed cause:
```
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
```
Does the server even allow password login? Many installs default to PasswordAuthentication no.

Server-side logs tell you exactly why:

sudo journalctl -u sshd -n 50

Monitoring

Enabled but No Data Yet

Is the vault locked? Polling needs credentials; a locked vault stops every task — check the status bar.
Not its turn yet. Tasks start within about 15 seconds, and the first sample appears after the first successful poll. Press Poll now to skip the wait.
Is a monitoring credential actually selected? This is a separate field from the VM’s default credential.

Missing CPU Percent or Network Rate

Both are derived between two polls. The first poll has nothing to compare against, so these two fields are empty until the second one lands.

Marked Unreachable, but Manual SSH Still Works

A poll is dropped if it doesn’t answer within 20 seconds. A heavily loaded machine can exceed that while an interactive session still feels fine. Check load, and raise the poll interval if the host is just naturally slow.

Vault

Asked for the Password Every Time the App Opens

The OS keychain isn’t available. On Linux, that means no Secret Service (GNOME Keyring, KWallet) is running and unlocked. It’s also expected if you pressed Lock vault last time.

Forgot the Master Password

Not recoverable, by design. See Password Vault → Forgot Master Password.

Password Change Interrupted

Changing the master password runs inside a transaction. If it’s interrupted, the transaction rolls back and the vault stays on its old state — unlock with the old password and try again.

Still Stuck?

Include these when you email support — they decide whether the reply takes five minutes or five days:

app version and OS,
what you did and what happened,
the error message, verbatim,
the server’s Linux distribution, if the issue is on that side.

Do not include private keys, passwords, or authorized_keys contents. No part of support needs them.