Q: I have a Cisco switch in my network, which I can access by hooking up a console cable directly to the device. I like to access the switch remotely using SSH. How can I enable ssh on my Cisco 3750 Catalyst Switch?
A: By default, when you configure a Cisco device, you have to use the console cable and connect directly to the system to access it. Follow the steps mentioned below, which will enable SSH access to your Cisco devices. Once you enable SSH, you can access it remotely using PuTTY or any other SSH client.

Generate Ssh Key Cisco 2960 Mac

Aug 25, 2016 crypto key generate rsa Example: Switch (config)# crypto key generate rsa Enables the SSH server for local and remote authentication on the Switch and generates an RSA key pair. Generating an RSA key pair for the Switch automatically enables SSH. We recommend that a minimum modulus size of 1024 bits. Cisco 2960-X Switch Series Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS Release 15.0(2)EX OL-29640-01 1.SCPrequiresthatauthentication,authorization,andaccounting(AAA)authorizationbeconfiguredso.

1. Setup Management IP

First, make sure you have performed basic network configurations on your switch. For example, assign default gateway, assign management ip-address, etc. If this is already done, skip to the next step.

In the following example, the management ip address is set as 192.168.101.2 in the 101 VLAN. The default gateway points to the firewall, which is 192.168.101.1

2. Set hostname and domain-name

Next, make sure the switch has a hostname and domain-name set properly.

3. Generate the RSA Keys

The switch or router should have RSA keys that it will use during the SSH process. So, generate these using crypto command as shown below.

Also, if you are running on an older Cisco IOS image, it is highly recommended that you upgrade to latest Cisco IOS.

4. Setup the Line VTY configurations

Setup the following line vty configuration parameters, where input transport is set to SSH. Set the login to local, and password to 7.

If you have not set the console line yet, set it to the following values.

5. Create the username password

If you don’t have an username created already, do it as shown below.

Note: If you don’t have the enable password setup properly, do it now.

Make sure the password-encryption service is turned-on, which will encrypt the password, and when you do “sh run”, you’ll seee only the encrypted password and not clear-text password.

5. Verify SSH access

From the switch, if you do ‘sh ip ssh’, it will confirm that the SSH is enabled on this cisco device.

After the above configurations, login from a remote machine to verify that you can ssh to this cisco switch.

In this example, 192.168.101.2 is the management ip-address of the switch.

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