SSH management interface

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The appliance offers an SSH management interface that provides remote access to the command line (CLI) management interface by using an SSH session.

The SSH management interface provides access to the Command-line interface (CLI).

All administrative users with access to the local management interface can also access the SSH management interface.

In addition to the in-built admin user, this access includes all administrative users in:
  1. The local management interface user registry.

    See Managing users and groups.

  2. A configured remote LDAP user registry.

    See Configuring management authentication.

A customizable access banner can be presented on the local management interface login page. Use the Login Screen Header and Login Screen Message properties on the Administrator Settings page to set the access banner content.

Password-based authentication

Password-based authentication is enabled by default and can be disabled by setting SSH Password Authentication to false in the Administrator Settings, see Configuring administrator settings.

SSH key authentication

Administrative users can also authenticate to the SSH management interface with SSH keys rather than passwords.

The process for managing SSH keys differs depending on the type of user.
Managing SSH keys for local management interface users
  1. While authenticated to the local management interface, click the User button in the page header.
  2. Select Manage SSH Keys.
    The Manage SSH Keys dialog is displayed. This dialog can be used to add or remove SSH keys.
    To add an SSH Key
    1. On the Manage SSH Keys dialog, click Add. The Add SSH Key dialog is displayed.
    2. Enter a name for identifying the SSH Key in the Name field, and enter the SSH public key content into the SSH Key field.
    3. Click Add to add the key.
    4. Deploy the pending changes.
    The SSH Key can now be used to authenticate to the SSH management interface.
    To remove an SSH key
    1. On the Manage SSH Keys dialog, select the SSH Key to remove.
    2. Click Delete. A confirmation dialog is displayed confirming the name of the SSH Key to be deleted.
    3. Click OK.
    4. Deploy the pending changes.
Managing SSH keys for the in-built admin user
SSH Keys for the in-built admin user can be managed by using the same process as other local management interface users.
In addition, The Administrator SSH Keys parameter on the Administrator Settings page can be used to display the Manage SSH Keys dialog for the in-built admin user.
  1. Go to the Administrator Settings page.
  2. Locate and select the Administrator SSH Keys parameter.
  3. Click Edit, the Manage SSH Keys dialog is displayed. Refer to the procedures To add an SSH key and To remove an SSH key for usage of the Manage SSH Keys dialog.
Managing SSH Keys for external LDAP user registry users
For administrative users that are stored on an external LDAP user registry, the keys cannot be managed from the local management interface. SSH Key data is stored and managed manually on the user registry.

The Management Authentication page provides a field that can be used to specify the name of an attribute that contains SSH Keys. See Configuring management authentication.