Install ssh server on CentOS 8 / RHEL 8

The SSH server might already be installed on your RHEL 8 / CentOS 8 system. If you need to install ssh, you can check the status of your SSH server using the systemctl status sshd command. We will then install the openssh-server package below by using the dnf command.

In this tutorial you will learn:

• How to install SSH server onRHEL 8 / CentOS 8.
• How to open SSH firewall port 22 on RHEL 8 / CentOS 8.
• How to enable SSH to start after reboot on RHEL 8 / CentOS 8.

Software Requirements and Conventions Used

Software Requirements and Linux Command Line Conventions

Category	Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used
System	RHEL 8 / CentOS 8
Software	OpenSSH_7.8p1, OpenSSL 1.1.1 FIPS
Other	Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command.
Conventions	# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command $ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

How to Install ssh server on RHEL 8 / CentOS 8 step by step instructions

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1. Install the SSH server package openssh by using the dnf command:

   # dnf install openssh-server
   

2. Now start sshd daemon and enable sshd to start after reboot:

   # systemctl start sshd
   # systemctl enable sshd
   

3. Confirm that the sshd daemon is up and running:

   # systemctl status sshd
   

4. Open the SSH port 22 to allow incoming traffic:

   # firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=ssh
   # firewall-cmd --reload
   

5. Optionally, locate the SSH server man config file /etc/ssh/sshd_config and perform custom configuration.

   Every time you make any change to the /etc/ssh/sshd_config configuration file reload the sshd service to apply changes:

    # systemctl reload sshd