Hi Wen,

> > I can't duplicate with my MacOS X.4 box here.. try the following:
> >
> > ssh -v [log in to unmask]
> >
> > which shell are you using on the mac when doing htis?
> >
> 
> Hello, Stephen,
> 
> I am using csh but if "finger myaccountnameonmac" it gives "Shell:/ 
> bin/bash"

From memory finger reads the shell from the /etc/passwd file.

> On the SL 4 machine, the login name is the same as the one on Mac,  
> but the username is sightly different (wxxx yxxx on Mac OS X 
> compared  to Wxxx Yxxx on SL 4 Linux)
> 
> If "finger myaccountnameonSL4" on SL 4 Linux machine, it gives  
> "Shell:/bin/csh".

Case always matters. If you're trying to login using:

[log in to unmask]

it is not the same as:

[log in to unmask]

or even:

[log in to unmask]

They are all different usernames.

> Here below is what I get after running "ssh -v  
> [log in to unmask]"
> 
> Thanks a lot.
> 
> Wen
> 
> -------
>   ssh -v [log in to unmask]
> OpenSSH_3.8.1p1, OpenSSL 0.9.7b 10 Apr 2003
> debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh_config
> debug1: Connecting to 192.168.2.3 [192.168.2.3] port 22.
> debug1: Connection established.
> debug1: identity file /Users/wenfei/.ssh/identity type -1
> debug1: identity file /Users/wenfei/.ssh/id_rsa type -1
> debug1: identity file /Users/wenfei/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
> debug1: Remote protocol version 1.99, remote software version  
> OpenSSH_3.9p1
> debug1: match: OpenSSH_3.9p1 pat OpenSSH*
> debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
> debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_3.8.1p1
> debug1: An invalid name was supplied
> Cannot determine realm for numeric host address
> 
> debug1: An invalid name was supplied
> A parameter was malformed
> Validation error
> 
> debug1: An invalid name was supplied
> Cannot determine realm for numeric host address
> 
> debug1: An invalid name was supplied
> A parameter was malformed
> Validation error
> 
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
> debug1: kex: server->client aes128-cbc hmac-md5 none
> debug1: kex: client->server aes128-cbc hmac-md5 none
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST(1024<1024<8192) sent
> debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT sent
> debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY
> debug1: Host '192.168.2.3' is known and matches the RSA host key.
> debug1: Found key in /Users/wenfei/.ssh/known_hosts:1
> debug1: ssh_rsa_verify: signature correct
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
> debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with- 
> mic,password
> debug1: Next authentication method: gssapi-with-mic
> debug1: An invalid name was supplied
> Cannot determine realm for numeric host address
> debug1: An invalid name was supplied
> Cannot determine realm for numeric host address
> 
> debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
> debug1: Trying private key: /Users/wenfei/.ssh/identity
> debug1: Trying private key: /Users/wenfei/.ssh/id_rsa
> debug1: Trying private key: /Users/wenfei/.ssh/id_dsa
> debug1: Next authentication method: password
> [log in to unmask] password:
> Connection closed by 192.168.x.x
------- End of Original Message -------

This shows you're getting the password prompt, but likely you're not using the
correct username. Above it shows "[log in to unmask]" but as you said above,
this is not the same as [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]

CaPs MaTteRs.

Michael.