Generating Cisco "type 5" keys (MD5 hashes) using openssl

If you have service password-encryption set in a Cisco config, it will convert clear-text passwords that you give it (for "enable secret" lines, "username ..." lines, and so forth) to MD5 hashes in the saved config, so that the clear-text passwords aren't visible.

If you'd rather generate the MD5 hashes yourself, so that you never write a clear-text password into a config file that you're creating or editing, it turns out that you can use the openssl command (which is available for most UNIX, Linux, and Mac systems) to do so. For full details and instructions, see our http://www.netomata.com/wiki/cisco_tips#md5_hashes wiki page.