We want to logon to access the NSX-T as root via Putty, when we try to logon we are presented with a Access Denied error.

To resolve this issue we perform the following procedure:

Access the NSX-T manager console via vCenter and logon with your root credentials.

vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Press “I” to access INSERT Mode

Change PermitRootLogin to yes

Change StrictModes to no 

Press the ESC key to exit the INSERT Mode

Type in the following to save the changes to the config file :wq!

You should now have returned to the root prompt.

Restart the SSH services to load the changes we just created:

/etc/init.d/ssh restart

You are now able to access the NSX-T manger with root credentials via PUTTY, WINSCP …. etc.