Setting up a SSH connection

[dctaylorit]

I’m pretty new to SSH and haven’t really setup a connection before and was hoping to find some

guides. I was searching online but nothing really gave me what I was looking for.

What I’m trying to do is setup an SSH connection using putty as the client to a ESX host(ESX 3.5).

I plan on using it in conjunction with plink so that I can use it to power off the ESX box in the

event of power failure. I don’t want to type the password in the plink connection for security reasons,

I’d want to have it setup to authenticate with certificates. I’m not exactly sure how to setup the Linux

box to use a certificate for it.

If you’d like I can list the steps I have taken so far but I’m not entirely sure how well it is setup and

would prefer a guide on from start to finish or if someone could pointme in a the direction of a good

how to I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

Joe

[letoatrads]

Not much to really do - your ESX host already has a certificate on it, the first time you connect to it it will be stored with your putty client. If you connect to the same hostname/ip in the future and the cert being proffered doesn't match what you have stored locally you will get a warning.

The big caveat with SSH and ESX is you cannot use SSH with the root account out of the box ( and it isn't a good idea anyway). You need to login to the console and create a nonroot account, I use admin, and create a password.

To do this on the ESX console to create an account called admin do this -

#useradd admin

#passwd admin

Input a password and confirm.

Now you can connect to the ESX host using the admin account, once logged in, you can use the command

#su -

Input the root password

And you will be dropped to root.

Anything else I can help you with?

[Gerrit_Lehr · Accepted solution]

Maybe this thread helps you:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/147186?tstart=0

also this document on how to configure SSH with certificates might help:

http://www.howtoforge.com/setting-up-an-ssh-certificate-for-ubuntu-from-a-mac

Kind Regards,

Gerrit Lehr

If you found this or other information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful".

[weinstein5]

Using the VI Client connecting to your ESX hosts will also allow you to create users -

[mike_laspina]

Hi,

There is a related link at the end of the page from the link Sinac posted which is exactly what you are trying to do.

http://www.howtoforge.com/ssh_key_based_logins_putty

[itm_nakul]

Hi,

if you want to logon as root directly over ssh,

you have to edit

the file: /etc/sshd/sshd_config

Change the line

PermitRootLogin no

to

PermitRootLogin yes

then save and restart the sshd daemon with

/etc/init.d/sshd restart

All the best........

regards///

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Please note that opening up Direct superuser access in ESX will lower your overall security stance and should be avoided.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

CIO Virtualization Blog: http://www.cio.com/blog/index/topic/168354

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

[itm_nakul]

Hi Edward,

Thanks for suggestion..

Can you please tell me how to overcome this issue which is opening up the Direct Superuser access in ESX server...

I want to execute those commands remotly which is executed by root login only....

please solve my issue........

waiting for your response.........

Thanks.......