Specifications

Installing Alternative Viewers and Difference Viewers
Ridgeline provides a view feature, for viewing configuration files, and a Diff feature that allows you to
compare configuration files using a difference viewer. A difference viewer compares and highlights the
differences between two files. The Diff feature does not work with a standard text editor.
Ridgeline provides a default viewer and differences viewer, but you can chose to install and enable a
different ones.
You can use any viewer or difference viewer that is installed on the system where your Ridgeline client
is running. Click Tools > Difference Viewer Settings to disable the default viewer or differences viewer
and set the location of the alternative viewer.
For Windows:
•
WinMerge.exe; downloadable from http://winmerge.sourceforge.net
•
Araxis Merge; 30 day free trial evaluation downloadable from www.araxis.com
For Linux:
sdiff (in /usr/bin/sdiff) is assumed as the default Diff viewer.
Enabling SSH for Secure Communications
By default, the Ridgeline server communicates to the devices it manages using unencrypted access,
and unencrypted file transfers. In addition, the communications between the Ridgeline server and its
clients are also unencrypted by default.
•
By installing an SSH enabling key, you can use SSH2 instead of Telnet to communicate to the
devices Ridgeline manages, and securely upload and download configuration files to and from your
Extreme Networks devices.
•
By installing an SSH2 server co-resident with the Ridgeline server, and by installing SSH2 clients on
the systems where your Ridgeline clients reside, you can use SSH2 to encrypt the communications
between the Ridgeline server and Ridgeline clients. For details about setting up secure client-server
communications, see the Appendix in the Ridgeline 4.0 Reference Guide.
There are three requirements for enabling Ridgeline to use SSH2 to communicate with the devices it
manages:
•
The Ridgeline SSH enabling key must be installed. Due to export restrictions, you must obtain this
module from Extreme Networks. It is not included with the Ridgeline software distribution.
•
Your switches must be running versions of ExtremeWare or ExtremeXOS that support SSH, and
SSH must be enabled on those devices. Due to export restrictions, a special license is required.
To request versions of ExtremeWare or ExtremeXOS that support SSH, contact Extreme Networks
Technical Support.
•
SSH must be enabled in Ridgeline for the devices to which you want to communicate using SSH.
Note
If the SSH enabling key is not installed in the Ridgeline directory, you cannot configure
SSH in Ridgeline. The relevant fields are unavailable.
Installing the Ridgeline 4.0 Server
Ridgeline Installation and Upgrade Guide 39