Customise SSH Settings for increased security

What is SSH?

Secure Shell (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that connects, via a secure channel over an insecure network, a server and a client (running SSH server and SSH client programs, respectively). The protocol specification distinguishes between two major versions that are referred to as SSH-1 and SSH-2.

By default is SSH not enabled, so if you want to connect to an ESXi host using a SSH client (like Putty), you must first enable SSH.

Options for customising SSH

Via the ESXi Host

  • Host > Configuration > Security Profile > Properties > Remote Tech Support

SSH1

  • Click Options and choose the Startup Policy

SSH2

Via the DCUI

  • Log into the host console directly
  • Press F2
  • Enter Username and Password
  • Select Troubleshooting Options
  • Select Modify Tech Support Timeout

SSH3

Via the Firewall

  • Host > Configuration > Firewall
  • By choosing the “Only allow connections from the following networks”, you can limit traffic to the ESXI host using SSH.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.