Cloud-init writes virtual machine's host keys as ec2

Applies to: ✔️ Linux VMs

Original KB number:   4561944

Summary

This article describes an issue in which Cloud-init writes virtual machine's host keys as ec2. It provides a workaround.

Symptoms

Cloud-init intermittently writes SSH Host keys to console as 'ec2'. Azure doesn't use ec2 instances.

Cause

Cloud-init uses the SSH module to call the write-ssh-key-fingerprints helper script in the final stage. The helper logged these values setting the program name to 'ec2'. The name of the cloud-init project was 'ec2-init' before changing to a platform-agnostic name. Some code paths still include the old name.

Workaround

Ignore 'ec2' logs during troubleshooting. You'll find more information in the Bug description article.