This tutorial will show you how to enable SSH terminal access on your Cisco IOS device.

The first few commands may already be set on your router, if this is the case you may skip them.

  • Set a hostname on your router using the hostname command: ‘hostname Edge’
  • Set a domain name on your router using the following command: ‘ip domain-name Example.com’
  • Set a username on your router using the following command: ‘username administrator privilege level 15 password 0 1234’

Once you have finished the previous commands you will then need to do the following:

  • Generate a RSA key that will be used as a public key for the SSH connection by running the following: ‘crypto key generate rsa general-keys modulus 1024’
  • You will then need to add the command ‘login local’ on the line interface you want SSH setup on.  In this example we will use line vty 0 4.
    • line vty 0 4
    • login local
  • Finally we will need to enable SSH on the IOS device running the following: ‘ip ssh version 2’

Once you run that command it is recommended that you try to SSH into the IOS device before the telnet session closes to make sure it is working properly.  Once you verified that it is working you may then save the configuration.

Here is a copy and paste version for you to use:

hostname Edge
ip domain-name Example.com
user administrator privilege 15 password 0 1234
!
crypto key generate rsa general-keys modulus 7
!
line vty 0 4
login local
!
ip ssh version 2