Enable SSH password authentication on Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux instances used to host NS8 (including the pre-built images available for download) are often configured to allow SSH access only via an SSH key pair.

To allow password-based SSH login for non-privileged users (which can be created as documented in the pre-built images section of the installation manual), run the following commands:

echo -e 'PasswordAuthentication yes' > /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/00-custom.conf
systemctl restart sshd

To also allow root to log in via SSH with a password, run:

echo -e 'PasswordAuthentication yes\nPermitRootLogin yes' > /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/00-custom.conf
systemctl restart sshd

warning

Carefully evaluate whether to allow root SSH password access. This choice significantly weakens the security of the system, exposing it to potential security issues — especially if the instance is hosted on a cloud provider.