SSH on VMWare ESX 3.5

I use ssh all the time as it can really help when checking settings or getting to one of the ESX Servers from my office without having to walk over to the datacenter (across campus).

By default SSH access for the root user is disabled. Which also means SCP access is not available.

Here's the quick run down:

1. Login to the ESX Console as root
2. Type # vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config from the cmd prompt
3. Scroll down the file until you see: PermitRootLogin: no
4. Scroll over to the start of the no, hit delete 3 times.
5. Hit :i to enter into insert mode, then type yes
6. Hit esc to get out of insert mode, then type :wq and hit enter to save the changes.
7. Type # grep ‘PermitRootLogin’ /etc/ssh/sshd_config to verify the change was made.

Once your file is save you just need to restart the ssh service. To do this type # service sshd restart and the command prompt.

Your best to put a firewall rule on the service console port of your ESX server only allowing access from a few management workstations. I use putty and winSCP to ssh into my ESX Servers. Putty to get to the console and winSCP to transfer ISO images to my NFS share on the NAS.