Enabling and obtaining SSH access to the SonicWall / Aventail appliance

SSH is a set of standards and protocols for establishing a secure connection between two computers.  In the case of the appliance, SSH is used for secure command line interface access and for transferring files using Secure Copy (SCP).

Sometimes, it may become necessary to enable and obtain SSH (Secure Shell) access to the SonicWall / Aventail appliance to perform maintenance or configurations on the command-line interface (CLI).  This article will step you through how to enable SSH access, recommend a couple of SSH clients and explain what login details are required in the SSH client.

Obtaining the SSH client

SonicWall recommends two Windows SSH clients - SecureCRT, available at http://www.vandyke.com/products/securecrt/ (Shareware, free trial available) and PuTTY, available at http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ (Freeware).  Other platforms such as Mac OS X and Linux have a built in SSH client that can be accessed via the command line.

Enabling SSH on the appliance

1. Log into AMC.
2. Click Services under System Configuration.
3. Click Configure under SSH.
4. Click the Enable SSH checkbox.
5. Add a new range of hosts that will have access to the appliance.  Be careful to add only the address ranges that are trusted and should have access to the appliance.
6. Click Save.
7. Apply pending configuration changes.

Connecting to the appliance

1. Launch your SSH client.
2. Configure the client to connect to either to the internal or external IP address of the appliance.
3. If a username box is present in your client, enter the username root.
4. Click the connect (or equivalent) button.
5. For the password, enter in the same password that is used for the admin account in AMC.