Page History

...

• You need to log in as root and to enable PermitRootLogin by editing /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

  Paneltip
  title	vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

  Panel
  PermitRootLogin yes

• Then, you should restart sshd:

  Paneltip
  $ /etc/init.d/sshd restart

How to configure ESX/ESXi to use SSH identity key authentication:

...

• Create an SSH key pair on the management node node (or use a key you previously created):

  Paneltip
  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:

  Paneltip
  ssh -o Batchmode=no vcl-esxi01 <ESXi host> 'mkdir /.ssh'

• Copy the public key to the ESXi host:

  Paneltip
  scp -o Batchmode=no /etc/vcl/vcl.key.pub vcl-esxi01<ESXi host>:/.ssh/authorized_keys

• Test making an SSH connection using the key:

  Paneltip
  ssh -i /etc/vcl/vcl.key vcl-esxi01<ESXi host>

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:  

  Panel
  Tip
  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:

  Panel
  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

...