Backup error failed to create a new ssh channel

In PhotoBackup for iOS on an iPhone, after clicking the button "Backup Camera Roll", the app counts all the photos on my phone (~1300 photos and it takes about 3sec), but after the count is complete I get the following message:

Backup Error
Failed to create a new ssh channel

I've adjusted ClientAliveInterval and ClientAliveCountMax on my ssh server to no avail.

Is there a workaround for this?  Will this require a fix in the PhotoBackup app?

Thank you

Comments

  • edited December 2017
    Update:
    I changed the following config item in my ssh server's sshd_config file:

    MaxSessions 2

    ...and MAYBE this seemed to fix the problem.  I no longer received the "failed to create a new ssh channel" error, but I encountered a different bug:

    I removed all files on my server and then initiated a backup from PhotoBackup, but it simply reports "No new photos or videos".  This is odd since all photos were removed from the destination server, so I expected the rsync in PhotoBackup to start copying all photos from my phone to the server.  As a follow-on test, I took one new photo and then PhotoBackup copied ONLY that single photograph, even though the server had zero files...I expected it to do a full sync based on the rsync algorithm, but it seems like PhotoBackup is maintaining a local list of files that have been copied and then using that local list rather than the native rsync algorithms?

    ..and then I changed my server sshd_config file parameter MaxSessions back to 1 (one).  NOW, PhotoBackup (correctly) started copying all ~1300 files! 

    Maybe I am chasing something else?  I suppose it would still be good to know the root cause of "failed to create a new ssh channel" since it now seems like MaxSessions is MAYBE, but not 100% certainly related?





  • More info...
    It now seems that the message "failed to create a new backup channel" happens at the end of every transfer, even after the transfer is successful.  As far as I can tell, this message may not be caused by an error, but rather it seems to be appearing after closing a successful transfer?

    I transferred all ~1300 files successfully (and confirmed this by reviewing the files on the server) and then the error message appeared (even though all files were successfully transferred).  Subsequent clicks to "Backup Camera Roll" also seem to behave as expected but produce the message, anyway (that is, no images are transferred because the server files are in sync with my phone but I still see the error message pop up).  Additionally, when removing files from the server and then clicking "Backup Camera Roll", those (just deleted) files are successfully transferred from phone to server but the error message still appears.  Finally, when taking additional pictures and then clicking "Backup Camera Roll", again the files are transferred to the server properly but again the error message appears.

    So it seems like the error message "failed to create a new backup channel" is actually not due to an error but it is being triggered by some other non-error event?


  • edited December 2017
    More data points

    This (error message) occurs with both key authentication and password authentication.
    This (error message) occurs when ssh server has UsePAM set to yes or no.
  • Right, PhotoBackup needs additional ssh connections for downloading and uploading the .photobackup file, so the MaxSessions should be at least 3.  This .photobackup file stores the information about previously indexed photos, and it is always safe to delete this file to force PhotoBackup to index all photos in case it reports "No new photos and videos".
  • OK...good information...increasing MaxSessions to 3 has seemed to fix it.  Thank you for your timely response!
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