Starting the command-line interface

Access the CMM command-line interface from a client system through a Telnet, Secure Shell (SSH), or serial connection.

You can access the command-line interface through an Ethernet connection by establishing a Telnet session with the IP address of the CMM or by establishing a Secure Shell (SSH) session. You can also access the command-line interface by using a serial connection. You can establish up to 20 separate Telnet, serial, or SSH sessions to the Flex SystemCMM, giving you the ability to have 20 active command-line interface sessions at the same time.

Although a remote network administrator can access the CMM command-line interface through Telnet, this method does not provide a secure connection. As a secure alternative to using Telnet to access the command-line interface, use a serial or SSH connection. SSH ensures that all data that is sent over the network is encrypted and secure. You cannot access the CMM CLI through Telnet while using the Secure chassis security policy setting.

The following SSH clients are available. Although some SSH clients have been tested, support or nonsupport of any particular SSH client is not implied.

The following table shows the types of encryption algorithms that are supported, depending on the client software version that is being used.

Algorithm SSH version 2.0 clients
Public key exchange Diffie-Hellman-group 1-sha-1
Host key type DSA - 2048-bit
Bulk cipher algorithms 3-des-cbc or blowfish-cbc
MAC algorithms Hmac-sha1

The following topics describe how to connect your system to the CMM to perform initial configuration of the Flex System Enterprise Chassis. The CMM has the following default settings.

Note: By default, the CMM does not have a fixed static IPv6 IP address. For initial access to the CMM in an IPv6 environment, you can use the IPv4 IP address or the IPv6 link-local address. See IPv6 addressing for initial connection for information about determining IPv6 addressing for initial connection.

For IPv4, the system that you are connecting to the CMM must be configured to operate on the same subnet as the Flex SystemCMM. If the IP address of the CMM is outside of your local domain, you must change the Internet Protocol properties on the system that you are connecting.

Note: The available password options depend on the password options that are configured for the Flex System Enterprise Chassis.