Cisco Systems 2950, 2955 Configuring the Switch for Secure Shell

8-33

Catalyst 2950 and Catalyst 2955 Switch Software Configuration Guide

OL-10101-02

Chapter 8 Configuring Switch-Based Authentication

Configuring the Switch for Secure Shell

Configuring the Switch for Secure Shell

This section describes how to configure the Secure Shell (SSH) feature. SSH is a cryptographic security

feature that is subject to export restrictions. To use this feature, the cryptographic (encrypted) software

image must be installed on your switch. You must obtain authorization to use this feature and to

download the cryptographic software files from cisco.com. For more information, see the release notes

for this release.

This section contains this information:

• Understanding SSH, page 8-33

• Configuring SSH, page 8-34

• Displaying the SSH Configuration and Status, page 8-37

For SSH configuration examples, see the “SSH Configuration Examples” section in the “Configuring

Secure Shell” chapter of the Cisco IOS Security Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS Release 12.2, at this

URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps1835/products_configuration_guide_chapter0918

6a00800ca7d5.html

Note For complete syntax and usage information for the commands used in this section, see the command

reference for this release and the Cisco IOS Commands Master List, Release 12.2 at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps1835/products_command_summary09186a008020b3

d8.html.

SSH is a protocol that provides a secure, remote connection to a device. SSH provides more security for

remote connections than Telnet does by providing strong encryption when a device is authenticated. This

software release supports SSH version 1 (SSHv1) and SSH version 2 (SSHv2).

This section consists of these topics:

• SSH Servers, Integrated Clients, and Supported Versions, page 8-33

• Limitations, page 8-34

The SSH feature has an SSH server and an SSH integrated client, which are applications that run on the

switch. You can use an SSH client to connect to a switch running the SSH server. The SSH server works

with the SSH client supported in this release and with non-Cisco SSH clients. The SSH client also works

with the SSH server supported in this release and with non-Cisco SSH servers.

The switch supports an SSHv1 or an SSHv2 server.

The switch supports an SSHv1 client.

SSH supports the Data Encryption Standard (DES) encryption algorithm, the Triple DES (3DES)

encryption algorithm, and password-based user authentication.

SSH also supports these user authentication methods: