Sometimes it's hard to know why ssh server refuses to use your .ssh/authorized_keys file.
Remember that with some ssh servers (running in strict mode) your ssh configuration folder and files mustn't be accessible to anyone but you:
$HOME/.ssh must have mode -rwx------ (0700) $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys must have mode -rw------- (0600)
How to test ssh server or account configuration? If you're trying to see what ssh server is doing with your keys just execute it in following way:
/usr/sbin/sshd -Ddddde -p 8823 -oListenAddress=localhost
- -D
- means "don't detach"
- -e
- means output all log and debug messages to satderr instead of system log
- -ddd
- means execute in debug mode level 3
