[Info-vax] SSH/SCP sessions hanging for 7 minutes while reading from "/dev/random"

[sphowes]

I am hoping someone may be able to help resolve an issue while opening an SSH or SCP session on an OpenVMS 7.3-2 cluster.

When a session is initiated to or from the server, the connection will hang for ~7 minutes before finally opening the connection and asking for a password.

While running an 'ssh -D 99' I can see that all of the delay time is being spent while trying to read from "/dev/random".  Each iteration of "Starting read from /dev/random" is taking a minute to timeout and then returning with "Opening /dev/random failed" and then it tries again for a total of 7 total tries.

At the end of this section the SSH/SCP connection opens fine.

Does anyone know what it is actually trying to open when it references "/dev/random"?   Is there any way to make a configuration change to work around this?   Or limit the number of times it loops the read or reduce the 60 sec read timeout?

This is the SSH debug output that took ~7 minutes to complete:
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:429: Starting to collect noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:270: Starting read from /dev/random.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:292: Opening /dev/random failed.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:424: Already acquiring noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:429: Starting to collect noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:270: Starting read from /dev/random.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:292: Opening /dev/random failed.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:424: Already acquiring noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:429: Starting to collect noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:270: Starting read from /dev/random.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:292: Opening /dev/random failed.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:424: Already acquiring noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:429: Starting to collect noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:270: Starting read from /dev/random.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:292: Opening /dev/random failed.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:424: Already acquiring noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:429: Starting to collect noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:270: Starting read from /dev/random.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:292: Opening /dev/random failed.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:424: Already acquiring noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:429: Starting to collect noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:270: Starting read from /dev/random.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:292: Opening /dev/random failed.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:424: Already acquiring noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:429: Starting to collect noise.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:270: Starting read from /dev/random.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:292: Opening /dev/random failed.
debug: GenRand/GENRAND.C:424: Already acquiring noise.

Thank you in advance for any insight you can provide.

-Seth