Problem:
By default, SSH access is disabled on ESX and ESXi hosts. If you require SSH access for any reason you will need to do the following on the host via the console.
Solution:
Websites for reference – http://www.vladan.fr/how-to-activate-ssh-in-esxi/
Requirements:
You have to have direct access to console
1.) While you are at the console hit ALT + F1
2.) Type in ” unsupported ” and hit Enter
3.) Go ahead and type the root password
4.) Edit the /etc/inetd.conf file by typing “vi /etc/inetd.conf” without the quotes.
5.) Uncomment the line where you can see “#ssh” (line 32). Remove the “#” mark at the beginning. Press insert first and use the backspace to remove it.
6.) Then press ESC and type in :wq! to save the file and exit vi.
7.) Then run the command /sbin/services.sh restart a
8.) Restart the server.
Remarque: In case that this don’t work. It means that when you type ” unsupported ” nothing happens, you’ll have to follow this:
1.) Open the VI client, click onto the ESXi server you want to manage and go to Configuration TAB
2.) Advanced Settings
3.) Uncheck the VMkernel.boot.techSupportMode
4.) Reboot the ESXi Server. Before restarting the host, you should shut down virtual machines on that host
**You can use Putty to access the server via SSH.
Tip – with some applications like WinSCP, the default encryption cipher used is AES. If you change that to Blowfish you will likely see significantly faster transfers.
Update for ESXi 3.5 Update 2 – With Update 2 the service.sh command no longer restarts the inetd process which enables SSH access. You can either restart your host or run ps | grep inetd to determine the process ID for the inetd process. The output of the command will be something like 1299 1299 busybox inetd, and the process ID is 1299. Then run kill -HUP <process_id> (kill -HUP 1299 in this example) and you’ll then be able to access the host via SSH.
You can also download an oem.tgz file at http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php which will enable SSH (and FTP). Copy the file to a datastore with the VI client and then to bootbank with the command cp /vmfs/volumes/<datastore>/oem.tgz /bootbank/oem.tgz and then reboot.
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