Hone

Lessons · Network switches · checking you can still get in

The console cannot prove remote access

You are typing down a serial cable. It would work if every network setting on the box were wrong, which is exactly why it proves nothing about SSH.

Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

What it is for

A hostname and a domain name arrive with the configuration. The key does not, because a key is not configuration -- and lines that need one are refused as the file replays.

How to think about it

Generate the key, give the box its address and its way out, then open a session from where support actually sits. Not from the closet.

Worked example

enable
In.
configure terminal
Configuring.
hostname CLOSET-3
A key is named after the box, so the box needs its name first.
ip domain-name hone.local
And its domain, for the same reason.
crypto key generate rsa
The step that is not in any backup.
interface vlan 1
The management interface.
ip address 10.20.4.7 255.255.255.0
An address to be reached on.
exit
Out.
ip default-gateway 10.20.4.1
And a way out of its own subnet, which is what support needs.
end
Done.
show ip interface brief
Vlan1 is up with an address. That is as far as the console can take you.

Your turn

Generate the key pair SSH needs.

crypto key generate

The trap

Proving SSH from a laptop in the same closet. A neighbour on the same subnet reaches the switch without a gateway at all.

Practise checking you can still get in on HoneA question on it now, a coding challenge where there is one, and it is remembered for review. Free, no email needed.