Unable to login to putty session of the VCF Usage Meter appliance with root credentials, login fails with "Access Denied" error

Products

• VMware Usage Meter

Issue/Introduction

• "Access denied" error while login to SSH of the VCF Usage Mater with root credentials.

• Same root credentials work for direct VCF Usage Meter VAMI UI <https://UM-IPaddress:5480> and the VMs Web Console CLI in vCenter

Environment

• VCF Usage Meter 9.x

• Usage Meter 4.x

Cause

• By default, you cannot login as root using SSH.

Resolution

The recommended method to SSH to a Usage Meter appliance is to first log in as "usagemeter" account and then switch the user as "root" using "su root" command . Refer to VCF Usage Meter User Accounts for more information.

In order to permit the root user login, follow the below steps:

1. Log in to the VCF Usage Meter appliance's CLI console from vCenter using the VM Web Console.

2. Open the SSH configuration file using the command:

   • vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

3. Locate the line containing PermitRootLogin no and change it to:

   • PermitRootLogin yes

4. Save the file and restart the SSH service using:

   • service sshd restart

5. Retry SSH login using the root credentials.