Setting an SSH Default User

Configure the SSH Default User on an Existing Device

To configure the SSH Default User on an existing device:

1. In Director view, select the Administration tab in the top menu bar.
2. Select Appliances in the left menu bar. 
3. Click the  Configure SSH Default User icon in the SSH Default User column for the device.
   
   
4. The SSH Default User popup window displays. 
5. To select an existing user as the SSH default user:
   1. In the SSH Default User field, select the user's username.
      
      
   2. In the Password field, enter a password for the user. 
   3. Click OK.
6. To create a new user as the SSH default user:
   1. In the SSH Default User field, select + Add New.
      
      
   2. In the Add System User popup window, enter information for the following fields:
      
      
       

      Field	Description
      Username (Required)	Enter the username.
      Login (Required)	This field is selected automatically and not editable.
      Role (Required)	This field is selected automatically and not editable.
      Password (Required)	Enter a password for the user.
      Confirm Password (Required)	Confirm the password.
      SSH Public Key	Enter the SSH details, and then click the  Add icon. You can configure multiple SSH public keys for a user. Name (Required) Content (Required)

   3. Click Ok.
7. To verify the default user:
   1. In Director view, select the Configuration tab in the top menu bar.
   2. Select Devices > Devices in the left menu bar.
   3. Select a device in the main pane. The view changes to Appliance view.
   4. Select the Configuration tab in the top menu bar.
   5. Select Others > System > Appliance User Management > System Users. The default user is marked with the  default SSH user icon.
      
      
   6. To set another user as the SSH default user, select the user and click the  Set as Default SSH User icon.
      
      

Configure the SSH Default User on a New Device

You can add a default user for a new device using the device workflow. After you deploy the device workflow, the user is updated on the device during ZTP after the device is onboarded.

To configure an SSH default user on a new device:

1. In Director view, select the Workflows tab in the top menu bar.
2. Select Devices > Devices in the left menu bar.
3. Select a device in the main pane.
4. Click step 1, Basic. In the SSH Default User section, enter the username and password for the SSH user.and  
   
   
5. Click Step 5, Review, and then click Deploy to deploy the device workflow. For more information, see Configure Basic Features. 

Delete the Default Administrator User

Versa Director has a default Administrator user in the ProviderDataCenterSystemAdmin role. Versa Networks recommends that you delete this user, named Administrator, and create a different user for security reasons. Before you can delete the default Administrator user, you must first create another user with the same role. To create a new user, see step 6 in the Configure the SSH Default User on an Existing Device section above.

To delete the default Administrator user:

1. In Director view, select the Administration tab in the top menu bar.
2. Select Director User Management > Provider > Users. Select the Administrator user and click the  Delete icon.
   
   

Configure the SSH Default User on Director

You can disable the default SSH admin and Administrator users after creating a new user on the Director node. 

For new deployments:

As part of the startup script, user gets the following prompt to create an SSH user, after which the default user (admin and Administrator) login is disabled.

admin@versa-director:/opt/versa/vnms/scripts$./vnms-startup.sh
------------------------------------------------------------
Please set the default ssh user and password
------------------------------------------------------------
Enter username: ssh_user1
Enter password:
------------------------------------------------------------

For existing deployments: 

• Users can run the startup script to set, delete, or re-enable the SSH default user on Director:

admin@versa-director:/opt/versa/vnms/scripts$ sudo ./setDefaultSshUser.sh -h

    Script for setting up Default ssh user for Versa Director.
 
    1) --set-default-ssh-user:
        To set default ssh user and disable admin and Administrator login
 
    2) --delete-ssh-user:
        Deletes an ssh user
        
    3) --reset-to-default-director-user:
        re-enable login for admin ssh user

• To set an SSH default user and disable admin and Administrator login on the Director, issue the --set-default-ssh-user command.

admin@versa-director: /opt/versa/vnms/scripts$./sudo./SetDefaultSshUser.sh --set-default-ssh-user

For example:

admin@versa-director:.../vnms/scripts$ sudo ./setDefaultSshUser.sh --set-default-ssh-user 
Please enter the default SSH username
username: user1  
Please enter the password for default SSH user
password: 
Successfully updated user1 as default ssh user
Disabled admin and Administrator ssh login

• To delete any other SSH user other than admin and Administrator user, issue the --delete-ssh-user command. By default, admin and Administrator users are disabled after resetting the new user as the SSH default user.

admin@versa-director: /opt/versa/vnms/scripts$./sudo./SetDefaultSshUser.sh --delete-ssh-user

For example:

admin@versa-director:.../vnms/scripts$ sudo ./setDefaultSshUser.sh --delete-ssh-user
Please enter the ssh user to delete 
Enter username: user1
User 'user1' has been deleted.

• To reset default SSH Director user back to admin,  issue the --reset-to-default-director-user command. It is recommended to have a different user as the SSH user.

admin@versa-director: /opt/versa/vnms/scripts$./sudo./SetDefaultSshUser.sh --reset-to-default-director-user

For example:

admin@versa-director:.../vnms/scripts$ sudo ./setDefaultSshUser.sh --reset-to-default-director-user
Enabled admin ssh user login.

Supported Software Information

Releases 22.1.4 (Service Release dated 2025-02-08) and later support all content described in this article.

Additional Information

Configure AAA
Configure Basic Features