XS 6.1 comes with MOTD… Now turn it on for Shell Users

XenServer 6.1 is now released to web and I recently upgraded my Lab from XS 6.0.2 to 6.1 and was quite a smooth ride. Post upgrade, I recently found my XenServer Console enabled with “Message of the Day”. I was quite happy as I used to do it manually for my earlier XS versions; although un-supported.

The problem with MOTD  is that you can only see MOTD messages when you connect from XenServer Console, but not from SSH logins and I found a way to enable it.

By default, if a MOTD is configured in /etc/motd, it will be displayed for Telnet logins but not for SSH logins.

To enable the MOTD to be displayed for SSH logins too, do the following:

Logon to the Console as root.

Make a backup copy for the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file:

cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.backup

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file, uncomment it and change the following line # 98:

#PrintMotd no

to:

PrintMotd yes

Then restart SSHD with the command /etc/init.d/sshd restart. Now you will be able to see the MOTD when connecting using SSH Clients as well.

P.S. Changes to Dom0 is un-supported and advice to use at your own risk…