AMX NXA-ENET24 Instruction Manual page 83

1. Generate a Host Key Pair – On the SSH Host Key Settings page, create a host public/private
key pair.
2. Provide Host Public Key to Clients – Many SSH client programs automatically import the host
public key during the initial connection setup with the switch. Otherwise, you need to
manually create a known hosts file on the management station and place the host public key in
it. An entry for a public key in the known hosts file would appear similar to the following
example:
10.1.0.54 1024 35 15684995401867669259333946775054617325313674890836547254
15020245593199868544358361651999923329781766065830956 10825913212890233
76546801726272571413428762941301196195566782 59566410486957427888146206
5194174677298486546861571773939016477935594230357741309802273708779454524083971752646358058176716709
574804776117
3. Import Client's Public Key to the Switch – Use the copy tftp public-key command (page 233)
to copy a file containing the public key for all the SSH client's granted management access to
the switch. (Note that these clients must be configured locally on the switch via the User
Accounts page as described on page 60.) The clients are subsequently authenticated using
these keys. The current firmware only accepts public key files based on standard UNIX format
as shown in the following example for an RSA Version 1 key:
1024 35 1341081685609893921040944920155425347631641921872958921143173880
0555361616310517759408386863110929123222682851925437460310093718772119969631781366277414168985132049
1172048303392543241016379975923714490119380060902539484084827178194372288402533115952134861022902978
982721353267131629432532818915045306393916643 steve@192.168.1.19
4. Set the Optional Parameters – On the SSH Settings page, configure the optional parameters,
including the authentication timeout, the number of retries, and the server key size.
5. Enable SSH Service – On the SSH Settings page, enable the SSH server on the switch.
6. Challenge-Response Authentication – When an SSH client attempts to contact the switch, the
SSH server uses the host key pair to negotiate a session key and encryption method. Only
clients that have a private key corresponding to the public keys stored on the switch can access.
The following exchanges take place during this process:
a. The client sends its public key to the switch.
b. The switch compares the client's public key to those stored in memory.
c. If a match is found, the switch uses the public key to encrypt a random sequence of bytes,
and sends this string to the client.
d. The client uses its private key to decrypt the bytes, and sends the decrypted bytes back to
the switch.
NXA-ENET Software Management Guide
Configuring the Switch
67