Cannot add keys from keys.gnupg.net

Question

I am trying to run this command:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 1C4CBDCDCD2EFD2A

But I get an error:

Executing: /tmp/apt-key-gpghome.jrw4s0ijoc/gpg.1.sh --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 1C4CBDCDCD2EFD2A
gpg: keyserver receive failed: Connection refused

Could you help me? I am running on Debian 9, GPG version is 2.1.18 and libgcrypt version is 1.7.6-beta.

Answer 1

keys.gnupg.net is an alias for the SKS keyserver pool, a number of PGP keyservers run by organisations and volunteers (like me):

$ host keys.gnupg.net
keys.gnupg.net is an alias for pool.sks-keyservers.net.
pool.sks-keyservers.net has address 78.157.209.9
pool.sks-keyservers.net has address 45.33.82.183
pool.sks-keyservers.net has address 176.9.31.215
pool.sks-keyservers.net has address 217.92.13.131
...

Your request will have gone to one of the servers from the pool (possibly randomly).

My guess is that you got unlucky and hit a server which was down (or blocking your IP, or whatever) and hadn't yet been removed from the pool.

My first suggestion is to just try again - that command succeeded for me just now.