SMC Networks 8708L2, Management Manual

Page: 139 / 606

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3-87
Generating the Host Key Pair
A host public/private key pair is used to provide secure communications
between an SSH client and the switch. After generating this key pair, you
must provide the host public key to SSH clients and import the client’s
public key to the switch as described in the preceding section (Command
Usage).
Field Attributes
• Public-Key of Host-Key – The public key for the host.
- RSA (Version 1): The first field indicates the size of the host key
(e.g., 1024), the second field is the encoded public exponent (e.g.,
65537), and the last string is the encoded modulus.
- DSA (Version 2): The first field indicates that the encryption
method used by SSH is based on the Digital Signature Standard
(DSS). The last string is the encoded modulus.
• Host-Key Type – The key type used to generate the host key pair (i.e.,
public and private keys). (Range: RSA (Version 1), DSA (Version 2),
Both: Default: Both)
The SSH server uses RSA or DSA for key exchange when the client
first establishes a connection with the switch, and then negotiates with
the client to select either DES (56-bit) or 3DES (168-bit) for data
encryption.
• Save Host-Key from Memory to Flash – Saves the host key from
RAM (i.e., volatile memory to flash memory). Otherwise, the host key
pair is stored to RAM by default. Note that you must select this item
prior to generating the host-key pair.
• Generate – This button is used to generate the host key pair. Note that
you must first generate the host key pair before you can enable the SSH
server on the SSH Server Settings page.
• Clear – This button clears the host key from both volatile memory
(RAM) and non-volatile memory (Flash).