~$ ssh -vvv -p 55556 localhost OpenSSH_5.8p1 Debian-7ubuntu1, OpenSSL 1.0.0e 6 Sep 2011 debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config debug1: Applying options for * debug2: ssh_connect: needpriv 0 debug1: Connecting to localhost [127.0.0.1] port 55556. debug1: connect to address 127.0.0.1 port 55556: Connection refused ssh: connect to host localhost port 55556: Connection refused