Configuring Secure Shell (SSH) On Cisco Devices with SDM - Part 3
Configuring Secure Shell (SSH) On Cisco Devices with SDM - Part 3 of 3
Secure Shell (SSH) offers more security than Telnet in that SSH encrypts all communications while Telnet sends all communication in plaintext. Cisco recommends that you use SSH instead of Telnet for accessing your Cisco devices. Configuration of SSH is pretty straight forward but requires a newer IOS version (that supports DES and/or 3DES). It's also important to realize that SSH uses a username/password combination so you will not be able to use the VTY line password. You'll need to either configure a local username database, or use a technology like TACACS+.
Enabling SSH with Cisco SDM is easy enough, but you will need to know the basics of configuring SSH on the CLI as there is no true 'one button' solution for implementing SSH via the SDM. You may need to complete the configuration in multiple steps depending on your existing router configuration and your desired SSH implementation.
While SDM will allow you to implement basic SSH functionality, you lose the ability to set optional SSH characteristics (most importantly the SSH version) when using the SDM exclusively.