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VMware Server 2.x: Enable the SSH daemon and configure identity key authentication according to the underlying VM host OS
ESX/ESXi 3.5 & 4.0: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003677
- Connect to the console of the ESX/ESXi host
- Press ALT-F1 - you should see a black screen with the VMware product name at the top
- Type the word unsupported and press Enter (you won't see the letters appear as you type them)
- You should see a password prompt, type in the root password and press Enter
- Edit the file: vi /etc/inetd.conf
- Uncomment the first line beginning with #ssh by deleting the # character
- Save the file - press Esc and then :wq
- Kill the inetd process
- Determine the PID of the inetd process: ps | grep inetd
You should see a line that looks like: 5065 5065 busybox inetd - Kill the process (enter the PID from the output of the previous command): kill -HUP 5065
Beginning with ESXi 4.1, SSH can be enabled using the vSphere Client:
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- Create an SSH key pair on the management node (or use a key you previously created):
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ssh-keygen -t rsa -f /etc/vcl/vcl.key -N '' -b 1024 -C 'VCL root account' |
- Log into the ESX host via SSH (password authentication should work) and create the directory:
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ssh -o Batchmode=no vcl-esxi01 'mkdir /.ssh' |
- Copy the public key to the ESXi host:
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scp -o Batchmode=no /etc/vcl/vclwinxp_blade.key.pub root@vclvcl-esxi01:/.ssh/authorized_keys |
- Test connecting making an SSH connection using the key:
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ssh -i /etc/vcl/vcl.key root@vclvcl-esxi01 |
IMPORTANT: Under ESXi, the authorized_keys file is erased when the ESXi VM host is rebooted. Complete the following steps to make the authorized_keys file persistent:
- Create a compressed tarball file containing the /.ssh directory:
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tar -C / -czf "/ bootbank/vcl.tgz " "/ .ssh" |
- Edit the /bootbank/boot.cfg file and append ' --- vcl.tgz' to modules line as shown in the following example:
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kernel=b.z kernelopt= modules=k.z — s.z — c.z — oem.tgz — license.tgz — m.z — state.tgz — vcl.tgz build=4.1.0-260247 updated=2 bootstate=0 |
VM host profile parameters:
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