Cisco UCS
supports two methods to authenticate user logins:
Local to
Cisco UCS Manager
Remote through one of the following protocols:
LDAP
RADIUS
TACACS+
Note
You can only use one authentication method. For example, if you select
LDAP as your authentication provider, you cannot use RADIUS or TACACS+
for authentication.
However, if the user account in the remote authentication provider does not have at least one Cisco UCS role, Cisco UCS Manager checks the local database to determine whether an account with the same name exists in the local database.
Remote Authentication Providers
If a system is configured for one of the supported remote
authentication services, you must create a provider for that service to ensure
that
Cisco UCS Manager
can communicate with it. In addition, you need to be aware of the following
guidelines that impact user authorization:
User Accounts in Remote Authentication Services
You can create user accounts in
Cisco UCS Manager
or in the remote authentication server.
The temporary sessions for users who log in through remote
authentication services can be viewed through Cisco UCS Manager GUI or Cisco UCS Manager CLI.
User Roles in Remote Authentication Services
If you create user accounts in the remote authentication server, you
must ensure that the accounts include the roles those users require for working
in
Cisco UCS Manager
and that the names of those roles match the names used in
Cisco UCS Manager.
If an account does not have the required roles, the user is granted only
read-only privileges.
User Attribute for LDAP
If a Cisco UCS instance uses LDAP as the remote authentication provider, you can do one of the following:
Map an existing attribute to the user roles and locale for the Cisco UCS instance.
Create a CiscoAVPair or other unique attribute in the LDAP service and map that attribute to the user roles and locale for the Cisco UCS instance.
You must configure the LDAP provider in Cisco UCS Manager with the attribute that holds the user roles and locales. When a user logs in, Cisco UCS Manager
checks for the value of this attribute when it queries the remote
authentication service and validates the user.
If you create a CiscoAVPair attribute for the Cisco UCS instance, use the following definition for the OID:
If a Cisco UCS instance uses either RADIUS or TACACS+ as the remote authentication provider, you must create a cisco-av-pair attribute in the remote authentication service and map that attribute to the user roles and locale for the Cisco UCS instance. When a user logs in, Cisco UCS Manager
checks for the value of this attribute when it queries the remote
authentication service and validates the user.
Note
You cannot use any other attribute in RADIUS or TACAC+ for the Cisco UCS roles. You must create the attribute required for that specific remote authentication service.
Creating a Remote Authentication Provider
Creating an LDAP Provider
Before You Begin
Perform the following configuration in the LDAP
server:
Configure users with the attribute that holds the user role and locale information for Cisco UCS Manager. You can use an existing LDAP attribute that is mapped to the Cisco UCS user roles and locales or create a custom attribute, such as the CiscoAVPair attribute, which has an attribute ID of 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.287247.1.
For a cluster configuration, add the management port IP addresses
for both fabric interconnects. This configuration ensures that remote users can
continue to log in if the first fabric interconnect fails and the system fails
over to the second fabric interconnect. All log-in requests are sourced from
these IP addresses, not the virtual IP address used by
Cisco UCS Manager.
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope security
Enters security mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /security #
scope ldap
Enters security LDAP mode.
Step 3
UCS-A /security/ldap #
set attributeattribute
Restricts database searches to records that contain the specified
attribute.
Step 4
UCS-A /security/ldap #
set basedndistinguished-name
Restricts database searches to records that contain the specified
distinguished name.
Step 5
UCS-A /security/ldap #
set filterfilter
Restricts database searches to records that contain the specified
filter.
Step 6
UCS-A /security/ldap #
set timeoutseconds
(Optional)
Sets the time interval the system waits for a response from the
LDAP server before noting the server as down.
Step 7
UCS-A /security/ldap #
create serverserver-name
Creates an LDAP server instance and enters security LDAP server
mode
Step 8
UCS-A /security/ldap/server #
set ssl{yes|no}
Enables or disables the use of SSL when communicating with the
LDAP server.
Step 9
UCS-A /security/ldap/server #
set key
(Optional)
Sets the LDAP server key. To set the key value, press Return after
typing the
set key command and enter the key value at the
prompt.
Step 10
UCS-A /security/ldap/server #
set portport-num
Specifies the port used to communicate with the LDAP server.
Step 11
UCS-A /security/ldap/server #
set binddnbind-dist-name
Specifies the distinguished name for the LDAP database superuser
account.
Step 12
UCS-A /security/ldap/server #
commit-buffer
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example sets the LDAP attribute to CiscoAvPair, the base
distinguished name to "DC=nuova-sam-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com", the filter to
sAMAccountName=$userid, the timeout interval to 5 seconds, creates a server
instance named 10.193.169.246, disables SSL, sets the key, sets the
authentication port to 389, sets the root distinguished name to
"cn=Administrator,cn=Users,DC=nuova-sam-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com", and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security
UCS-A /security # scope ldap
UCS-A /security/ldap # set attribute CiscoAvPair
UCS-A /security/ldap* # set basedn "DC=cisco-ucsm-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com"
UCS-A /security/ldap* # set filter sAMAccountName=$userid
UCS-A /security/ldap* # set timeout 5
UCS-A /security/ldap* # create server 10.193.169.246
UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set ssl no
UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set key
Enter the key:
Confirm the key:
UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set port 389
UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set binddn "cn=Administrator,cn=Users,DC=cisco-ucsm-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com"
UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /security/ldap/server #
Creating a RADIUS Provider
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope security
Enters security mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /security #
scope radius
Enters security RADIUS mode.
Step 3
UCS-A /security/radius #
set retriesretry-num
(Optional)
Sets the number of times to retry communicating with the RADIUS
server before noting the server as down.
Step 4
UCS-A /security/radius #
set timeoutseconds
(Optional)
Sets the time interval the system waits for a response from the
RADIUS server before noting the server as down.
Step 5
UCS-A /security/radius #
create serverserver-name
Creates a RADIUS server instance and enters security RADIUS server
mode
Step 6
UCS-A /security/radius/server #
set authportauthport-num
Specifies the port used to communicate with the RADIUS server.
Step 7
UCS-A /security/radius/server #
set key
(Optional)
Sets the RADIUS server key. To set the key value, press Return
after typing the
set key command and enter the key value at the
prompt.
Step 8
UCS-A /security/radius/server #
commit-buffer
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example sets the RADIUS retries to 4, the timeout
interval to 30 seconds, creates a server instance named radiusserv7, sets the
authentication port to 5858, sets the key to radiuskey321, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security
UCS-A /security # scope radius
UCS-A /security/radius # set retries 4
UCS-A /security/radius* # set timeout 30
UCS-A /security/radius* # create server radiusserv7
UCS-A /security/radius/server* # set authport 5858
UCS-A /security/radius/server* # set key
Enter the key: radiuskey321
Confirm the key: radiuskey321
UCS-A /security/radius/server* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /security/radius/server #
Creating a TACACS+ Provider
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope security
Enters security mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /security #
scope tacacs
Enters security TACACS+ mode.
Step 3
UCS-A /security/tacacs #
set timeoutseconds
(Optional)
Sets the time interval the system waits for a response from the
TACACS+ server before noting the server as down.
Step 4
UCS-A /security/tacacs #
create serverserver-name
Creates an TACACS+ server instance and enters security TACACS+
server mode
Step 5
UCS-A /security/tacacs/server #
set key
(Optional)
Sets the TACACS+ server key. To set the key value, press Return
after typing the
set key command and enter the key value at the
prompt.
Step 6
UCS-A /security/tacacs/server #
set portport-num
Specifies the port used to communicate with the TACACS+ server.
Step 7
UCS-A /security/tacacs/server #
commit-buffer
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example sets the TACACS+ timeout interval to 45 seconds,
creates a server instance named tacacsserv680, sets the key to tacacskey321,
sets the authentication port to 5859, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security
UCS-A /security # scope tacacs
UCS-A /security/tacacs # set timeout 45
UCS-A /security/tacacs* # create server tacacsserv680
UCS-A /security/tacacs/server* # set key
Enter the key: tacacskey321
Confirm the key: tacacskey321
UCS-A /security/tacacs/server* # set port 5859
UCS-A /security/tacacs/server* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /security/tacacs/server #
Selecting a Primary Authentication Service
Selecting the Console Authentication Service
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A# scope security
Enters security mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /security # set authentication consoleauth-type
Specifies the console authentication, where the auth-type argument is one of the following keywords:
ldap—Specifies LDAP authentication
local—Specifies local authentication
none—Allows local users to logon without specifying a password
radius—Specifies RADIUS authentication
tacacs—Specifies TACACS+ authentication
The following example sets the console to use local authentication:
UCS-A# scope security
UCS-A /security # set authentication console local
Selecting the Default Authentication Service
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A# scope security
Enters security mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /security # set authentication defaultauth-type
Specifies the default authentication, where the auth-type argument is one of the following keywords:
ldap—Specifies LDAP authentication
local—Specifies local authentication
none—Allows local users to logon without specifying a password
radius—Specifies RADIUS authentication
tacacs—Specifies TACACS+ authentication
The following example sets the default authentication to LDAP:
UCS-A# scope security
UCS-A /security # set authentication default ldap