By default, user profiles longer than eight (8) characters cannot connect to IBM i via Secure Shell (SSH). This limitation affects tools such as Zend Studio, which will show a message similar to “Failed to connect sshd on “<some ip address>.” Beginning with IBM i release 6.1, however, IBM provided a means of removing this limitation, so that user profiles longer than 8 characters could connect. Releases 6.1 and 7.1 require a PTF and a configuration change; release 7.2 and higher require only the configuration change.
For details, see Zend Support specialist Rod Flohr’s article about how to remove the 8-character limit on user profiles when connecting via SSH.