I have a server where I believe I have disabled root login via ssh. I think it is done correctly, as I cannot login with root myself via ssh, but I would’ve thought that it would be reflected in /var/log/auth.log. Instead, it shows up as failed password entry. Is this intended?...
It’s a mixed bag. Personally I wouldn’t use a non-standard port.
Consider that port numbers under 1024 are Privileged Ports. You would either have to make sure that no other privileged service is running on the port you want to use for SSH when using another privileged port or you need to make sure that no unprivileged program tries to use the same port as your SSH service when using a non-privileged. Overall it adds a bit of overhead and possible headaches for barely any gain.
Fail2ban should work with a different port without any further configuration but it might not.
What @StarkZarn said is correct. Just one more thing: Did you reload/restart the sshd service after changing the configuration? If so you should be good.
You would need to specify the new port when using ssh (using the -p$PORT option). Just keep in mind that security through obscurity is not considered secure in itself. You could instead consider a service like fail2ban that automatically blocks connections from certain sources depending on your set parameters.
Have I successfully blocked ssh logins to root?
I have a server where I believe I have disabled root login via ssh. I think it is done correctly, as I cannot login with root myself via ssh, but I would’ve thought that it would be reflected in /var/log/auth.log. Instead, it shows up as failed password entry. Is this intended?...