Cannot start a stopped SSH Service on an ESX host

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When trying to start the SSH server on an ESX host using the Start and Stop manually > Start option you receive this error message from vCenter:

Call 'HostServiceSystem.Start' for object 'serviceSystem-9' on vCenter Server 'servername' failed

Environment

VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESX 4.1.x

Resolution

This issue occurs if the SSH service fails to start on the host due to incorrect SSH configuration.

To resolve this issue:

1. Log into the host using KVM or direct to the console, using root privileges.
2. Enter the following command at the command prompt:
   
   service sshd start
   
   
3. If the result of this command is Failed, this could be due to changes in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file.
4. Verify if the PermitRootLogin is set to yes and check if the line after PermitRootLogin is set to
   
   #Strict yes
   
5. If this line is not commented, Comment this line by adding a # before the text. Also check the other lines and see if there are any other lines with error in the logs; correct these values and restart the SSH deamon by running the command:
   
   service sshd start
   
   
6. If the service is starts successfully, return to vCenter > Security Profiles > click Refresh to change the status from Stopped to Running.
   
   
   

Additional Information

ESX ホスト上で停止した SSH サービスを開始できない
无法在 ESX 主机上启动已停止的 SSH 服务