By default, an admin user on the NSX Malware Prevention service virtual machine (SVM) does not have an SSH access to the SVM. The VMware vCenter administrator must activate SSH access to the SVM.
SSH access to the admin user of the SVM is key-based (public-private key pair). A public key is needed when you are deploying the service on an ESXi host cluster, and a private key is needed when you want to start an SSH session to the SVM.
Important: Store the private key securely. Loss of the private key can lead to a loss of SSH access to the
NSX Malware Prevention SVM.
Prerequisites
- The public key of the NSX Malware Prevention SVM must be specified during service deployment and the key must adhere to a specific format. For information about the public key format, see Prerequisites for Deploying the NSX Distributed Malware Prevention Service.
- VMware vCenter administrator must activate SSH access to the NSX Malware Prevention SVM by completing these steps:
- Log in to vSphere Client.
- Go to Hosts and Clusters and navigate to the cluster.
- Select the VM (service virtual machine), and then click Launch Web Console.
- Log in to the SVM as a root user, and run the following command to start the SSH service:
/etc/init.d/ssh start
Note: On the first login, you are prompted to reset the default password of the root user. The default password is vmware.
Now, you can log in to the SVM as an admin user and use the SVM private key to start an SSH session.
Procedure
What to do next
After the debugging or troubleshooting tasks on the SVM are done, the VMware vCenter administrator must preferably deactivate SSH access to the NSX Malware Prevention SVM.