User could not be found on the system:: No error information
How to fix 'User could not be found on the system: No error information' error while using PAM LDAP?
Overview: This article discusses troubleshooting related to user identification issues within systems configured with Ezeelogin and pam_ldap, highlighting the impact of the nscd service status.
Error while SSH'ing into gateway server:
root@desktop ~]# ssh username@gateway-server
User not found. Contact administrator.
- This happens when you have configured Ezeelogin with pam_ldap.
- This happens because service nscd is not running and restarting it would fix the issue.
- Also, it is recommended that the positive time-to-live be reduced to a minute or two.
Check ezsh.log of gateway user to get more error information:
root@gateway ~]# tail /home/{username}/ezsh.log
example: tail /home/alex/ezsh.log
New session started from NA:NA to NA:NA on Mon Oct 6 12:22:17 2025
User could not be found on the system: No error information
Steps to fix the issue:
Step 1: Check if nscd service is installed and running.
root@gateway ~]# apt install nscd -y #Debain-based OS
root@gateway ~]# yum install nscd -y #RHEL-based OS
root@gateway ~]# systemctl start nscd
root@gateway ~]# systemctl status nscd
Step 2: Edit the nscd.conf file and make the following changes.
root@gateway ~]# vim /etc/nscd.conf
enable-cache passed yes
positive-time-to-live passwd 60
root@gateway ~]# systemctl restart nscd
Step 3: Try to SSH to gateway server as the same user and the issue will be resolved.