The Secure Shell (SSH) protocol is used for secure communication between the Central Management System appliance and the appliances it manages. When the Central Management System appliance initiates the connection, it logs in as a remote "admin" user on the managed appliance. When the managed appliance initiates the connection, it logs in as a remote "admin" user on the Central Management System appliance. SSH user authentication verifies the identity of the remote user attempting the connection.
SSH host authentication verifies the identity of the Central Management System appliance to the managed appliance and verifies the identity of the managed appliance to the Central Management System appliance.
Note
The topics in this section describe how to configure SSH authentication for a client-initiated connection (where a managed appliance administrator sends a request for management to the Central Management System appliance, and a Central Management System administrator accepts or rejects the request). For information about a server-initiated connection (where the Central Management System administrator adds an appliance directly from the Central Management System Web UI or CLI), see the Central Management System Administration Guide.
Note
The topics in this section describe how to configure SSH authentication for a server-initiated connection (where the Central Management System administrator adds an appliance directly from the Central Management System Web UI or CLI). For information about a client-initiated connection (where a managed appliance administrator sends a request for management to the Central Management System appliance, and a Central Management System administrator accepts or rejects the request), see the System Administration Guide or Administration Guide for the managed appliance.