Accessing a storage system using a Remote Shell connection

Remote Shell with trusted remote hosts supported

The storage system supports a Remote Shell with trusted remote hosts. Trusted remote hosts are hosts listed in /etc/hosts.equiv on the root volume.

Use of rsh command with user names and passwords

Under some circumstances, you might need to supply a user name and a password when using the rsh protocol to run a command on the storage system. The following table describes the circumstances under which a user name and password are required.

If you are logged in ...	Then...
As root on a UNIX host that is listed in the storage system's /etc/hosts.equiv file	You do not need to supply a user name or a password.
As a user other than root on a UNIX host that is listed in the storage system's /etc/hosts.equiv file	You need to supply a user name and a password. The user name can be root or the name of an administrative user that has been defined on the storage system.
Note To issue commands from a Remote Shell on a PC, you must always supply a user name for the PC in the storage system's /etc/hosts.equiv file. For more information, see the na_hosts.equiv(5) man page.

Maximum number of rsh sessions allowed

You can have up to 24 concurrent rsh sessions running on a storage system, and you can have up to 4 concurrent rsh sessions running on each vFiler unit.

Format for rsh commands with user name and password

The format for rsh commands that include a user name and, optionally, a password is as follows:

rsh -l username [:password] host_command

Example

The following example illustrates an rsh command entered with a user name and a password:

rsh -l root:figby cifs shares

Attention
Passing a password in this manner is a security risk, especially for UNIX clients. On many UNIX clients, this command can be visible to other users on the storage system who run the ps program at the same time the command is executed.
On any client, the password is visible in plaintext over the network. Any program that is capturing network traffic when the password is sent will record the password. To avoid exposing the password, log in as root on a client listed in the storage system's /etc/hosts.equiv file and issue the command.

If you want to take advantage of role-based user authentication, use SSH. For more information, see Setting up public key-based authentication.

Commands not accepted from rsh

You cannot execute the following commands by using the rsh command:

arp

orouted

ping

routed

savecore

setup

traceroute

Accessing a storage system from a UNIX client by using an rsh command

To access a storage system from a UNIX client by using the rsh command, complete the following step.

Step	Action
1	Enter the `rsh` command, replacing command and arguments with the desired command and arguments: rsh filername command arguments Example rsh filer12 sysstat 1

Accessing a storage system from a Windows client by using a Remote Shell application

To access a storage system from a Windows client by using a Remote Shell application, complete the following steps.

Step	Action
1	Run the Remote Shell application on the CIFS client.
2	Enter the client in the /etc/hosts.equiv file.
3	Enter the `rsh` command, replacing command and arguments with the desired command and arguments: rsh filername command arguments Example rsh filer12 sysstat 1

Step

Action

Run the Remote Shell application on the CIFS client.

Enter the client in the /etc/hosts.equiv file.

Enter the rsh command, replacing command and arguments with the desired command and arguments:

rsh filername command arguments

Example

rsh filer12 sysstat 1

Resetting options to default values from rsh

If you want to reset options to their default values from rsh, you must precede the quotation characters (") with the escape character, which is the backslash (\). For example, if you want to reset the CIFS home directory path from a Windows host using a console session, you would enter the following command:

c:\> toaster options cifs.home_dir ""

However, from an rsh session, you must enter the following command:

c:\> rsh toaster options cifs.home_dir \"\"