SSH login denied for newly created local user

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

• Your Security team wants to monitor the appliance VM via SSH.
• You create a new local user account on the appliance VM, but SSH connection failed with access denied.
• You can log in with the new local user account from the console.
• Why is SSH connection denied for a new local user account and how can you resolve this? 

Environment

VMware Aria Operations 8.x

Cause

The new user account was not added to the wheel group or explicitly allowed SSH access in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file.

Resolution

Option 1

• Add the new user account to the wheel group on the appliance.
  
  • See Create a Local Administrative Account for Secure Shell

Option 2

• Add the user to the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to allow access
  
  
  • See Restrict Secure Shell Access
    
    Note: Defining AllowUsers in /etc/ssh/sshd_config will supersede the AllowGroup setting