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Cisco ME 3400 Ethernet Access Switch Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter 7 Configuring Switch-Based Authentication
Configuring the Switch for Secure Shell
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:
• TACACS+ (for more information, see the “Controlling Switch Access with TACACS+” section on
page 7-9)
• RADIUS (for more information, see the “Controlling Switch Access with RADIUS” section on
page 7-17)
• Local authentication and authorization (for more information, see the “Configuring the Switch for
Local Authentication and Authorization” section on page 7-36)
Note This software release does not support IP Security (IPSec).

Limitations

These limitations apply to SSH:
• The switch supports Rivest, Shamir, and Adelman (RSA) authentication.
• SSH supports only the execution-shell application.
• The SSH server and the SSH client are supported only on DES (56-bit) and 3DES (168-bit) data
encryption software.
• The switch does not support the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) symmetric encryption
algorithm.
Configuring SSH
This section has this configuration information:
• Configuration Guidelines, page 7-38
• Setting Up the Switch to Run SSH, page 7-39 (required)
• Configuring the SSH Server, page 7-40 (required only if you are configuring the switch as an SSH
server)
Configuration Guidelines
Follow these guidelines when configuring the switch as an SSH server or SSH client:
• An RSA key pair generated by a SSHv1 server can be used by an SSHv2 server, and the reverse.
• If you get CLI error messages after entering the crypto key generate rsa global configuration
command, an RSA key pair has not been generated. Reconfigure the hostname and domain, and then
enter the crypto key generate rsa command. For more information, see the “Setting Up the Switch
to Run SSH” section on page 7-39.
• When generating the RSA key pair, the message No host name specified might appear. If it does,
you must configure a hostname by using the hostname global configuration command.