How to enable root access and activate SSH access in ESX 4.0

November 16, 2009
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By default, when you install ESX 4.0, the root access is disable. To enable it, you can follow bellow step.

1. Press ALT+F1 to access the console and login as root

2. vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

3. Look for PermitRootLogin and change it to yes
#LoginGraceTime 2m
PermitRootLogin yes
#StrictModes yes
#MaxAuthTries 6

4. Restart the sshd service
# service sshd restart

If you want to ssh to another server in esx, by default it being block. You will get port 22: connection refused error so, execute below command as root to open firewall ports.

# esxcfg-firewall -e sshServer
# esxcfg-firewall -e sshClient

Good Luck!

ESX
 |  Tags: , itconsultant