UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Version: Oracle Enterprise Linux 6.3
Running on VMWare Workstation


When I login to my Linux VM from putty, the third line prompting for password comes only after few seconds.

Code:

login as: root
Access denied
root@192.168.0.235's password: ---> It takes around 5 seconds to get this prompt

I managed to fix this issue after several trial and error experiments.
I have to do both Step1 and Step2 mentioned below to fix this issue. Doing either one of Step1 and Step2 won't fix the issue

Step1.
In

Code:

/etc/ssh/sshd_config file

Comment the line

Code:

GSSAPIAuthentication yes

and
Remove the comment for the line

Code:

 GSSAPIAuthentication no

sshd_config file should look like below

Code:

grep GSSAPI /etc/ssh/sshd_config
# GSSAPI options
GSSAPIAuthentication no
#GSSAPIAuthentication yes
#GSSAPICleanupCredentials yes
GSSAPICleanupCredentials yes
#GSSAPIStrictAcceptorCheck yes
#GSSAPIKeyExchange no

Step2. In /etc/ssh/sshd_config file
I commented the line

Code:

UseDNS yes

and then
uncommented

Code:

UseDNS no

and did a restart using

Code:

/etc/init.d/sshd restart

Soon, I'll have to use DNS functionality for this VM. So, I am worried that the above change ("UseDNS no") will prevent the VM from using the DNS service.
Is there any other workaround to make the login quick?

It is fine to set UseDNS to no. UseDNS is only necessary if you use hostname-based authentication (which is very weak authentication)