VMWare ESX4i comes with a built-in (but hidden) shell console that is extremely useful to move around vm files and hard disks. Accessing it is easy:
- Press ALT-F1 to switch terminal to the unsupported console.
- Type “unsupported” (there will be no feedback on the screen), press enter.
- It will ask for “Password:” so type in your root password, press enter.
You’re now in the shell. It’s quite limited (mostly BusyBox tools), but very useful nonetheless.
Then, you can enable SSH so that you can access this shell remotely:
- Type: vi /etc/inetd.conf
- Use the down arrow to reach the first like that starts with #ssh
- Type the letter i to enable editing.
- Use the right arrow to move the cursor to the letter s
- Press backspace to erase the # symbol.
- Press escape to exit editing mode.
- Type :wq to write the file and quit.
Now this is the part that other posts on the web about this subject did not include, so I’m adding it in case it helps out anyone.
To enable the SSH server immediately, without rebooting, and without restarting all the services (thus disconnecting all open consoles):
- Type ps | grep inetd and note the first number
- Type kill -HUP (number)
Example:
~ # ps | grep inetd 5080 5080 busybox inetd ~ # kill -HUP 5080
All about server…
[...]Activating permanent SSH server in ESX4i | Laurent's blog[...]…
I think what you published made a bunch of sense. But, think about this, suppose you typed a catchier title? I am not saying your information is not solid., however what if you added something to maybe grab a person’s attention? I mean Activating permanent SSH server in ESX4i | Laurent& is a little plain. You might look at Yahoo’s home page and watch how they create post headlines to get viewers to open the links. You might add a video or a picture or two to get readers interested about what you’ve written. Just my opinion, it would bring your website a little livelier.