VMware: Error when uploading files to vCenter Server Appliance using WinSCP

Last week I tried to download some logfiles with WinSCP from the customer vCenter 6.0 appliance but I couldn’t, I received this error message:
  

Host is not communicating for more than 15 seconds. If the problem repeats, try turning off 'Optimize connection buffer size'. 

Solution

When you copy files using WinSCP, part of the operation happens on the target Linux system. The default Appliance Shell cannot be the remote partner of WinSCP. You must enable the Bash shell on the appliance, as follows:

1. Initiate an SSH connection to the vCenter Server Appliance.
2. Provide the root user user name and password when prompted.
3. Run this command to enable the Bash shell:
    
   shell.set --enable True
    
4. Run this command to access the Bash shell:
    
   shell
   
5. In the Bash shell, run this command to change the default shell to Bash:
   
   chsh -s /bin/bash root
    
6. Use WinSCP to upload the certificate files to the vCenter Server Appliance.
7. To return to the Appliance Shell, run this command:
   
   chsh -s /bin/appliancesh root

More information: VMware

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Sander

Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant / Technical Project Lead at Unica ICT Solutions. Sander has 15+ years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization, security and modern worksplace.

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