Connecting to consoles and CLI using an SSH client

Note: This article provides basic, practical examples for various common SSH clients – for more general information on configuring and accessing the Opengear console server via SSH, refer to this article.

SSH provides a convenient and secure means to access the command line of the Opengear device itself, and its connected serial console ports.

A few popular clients covered by this article:

• PuTTY – a freeware implementation for Windows
• SecureCRT – a commercial implementation with a free trial for Windows, Mac and Linux
• OpenSSH command line client (the ssh command) – an open source implementation typically included with MacOS and Linux distributions

PuTTY for Windows

• Download, optionally install, and run the PuTTY executable
• Set Connection Type to SSH
• Set Host Name (or IP address) to the Opengear device's IP address
• Set Port to 22

• Click Open
• To connect to the CLI of the Opengear itself:
• Login as root or a users or admin group user, e.g.:
• login as: root
• Password: default
• Disconnect by running: exit
• To connect to a console:
• Login by adding :serial to your username, e.g.:
• login as: root:serial
• Password: default
• Type a console port number and hit <enter>
• For a complete list of console access conventions including direct access using crafted username and Ports, refer to this article
• Disconnect with the following escape sequence: <enter>~.

SecureCRT for Mac

• Download, install and run SecureCRT
• Set Protocol to SSH2
• Set Hostname to the Opengear device's IP address
• Set Port to 22

• To connect to the CLI of the Opengear itself:
• Set Username to root or a users or admin group user
• Click Connect
• When prompted, enter your user's Password
• Disconnect by running: exit
• To connect to a console:
• Add :serial to your Username, e.g. root:serial
• Click Connect
• When prompted, enter your user's Password
• Type a console port number and hit <enter>
• For a complete list of console access conventions including direct access using crafted username and Ports, refer to this article
• Disconnect with the following escape sequence: <enter>~.

OpenSSH for Linux

• Open a terminal window
• To connect to the CLI of the Opengear itself:
• Run:

ssh -l root 192.168.0.1

• .. where root is a users or admin group user (or root), and 192.168.0.1 is the IP address or hostname or your Opengear device
• When prompted, enter your user's Password
• Disconnect by running: exit
• To connect to a console:
• Run:

ssh -l root:serial 192.168.0.1

• .. where root is a users or admin group user (or root), and 192.168.0.1 is the IP address or hostname of your Opengear device
• When prompted, enter your user's Password

 1: Router          4: PDU             6: ISR            8: Switch        
33: Front, Upper   34: Front, Lower   

Connect to port > 1

• Type a console port number and hit <enter>
• For a complete list of console access conventions including direct access using crafted username and TCP ports, refer to this article
• Disconnect with the following escape sequence: <enter>~.