Accessing the Appliance

This chapter contains the following sections:

Web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI)

You can administer the appliance using both the web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) and Command Line Interface (CLI). The GUI contains most of the functionality you need to configure and monitor the system. However, not all CLI commands are available in the GUI; some features are only available through the CLI.

Browser Requirements

To access the web-based UI, your browser must support and be enabled to accept JavaScript and cookies, and it must be able to render HTML pages containing Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

Browser

Operating System

Internet Explorer 11.0

Microsoft Windows 7

Safari 7.0 and later

Mac OS X

Firefox 39.0 and later

Microsoft Windows 7, Mac OS X

Chrome 44.0 and later

Microsoft Windows 7, Mac OS X

Do not use multiple browser windows or tabs simultaneously to make changes to the appliance. Do not use concurrent GUI and CLI sessions. Doing so will cause unexpected behavior and is not supported.

You may need to configure your browser’s pop-up blocking settings in order to use the web interface because some buttons or links in the interface will cause additional windows to open.

Accessing the GUI

To access the GUI on a brand new system, access the following URL:

http://192.168.42.42/

When the login page is displayed, log in to the system using the default username and passphrase.

Related Topics

Factory Default Username and Passphrase

  • Username: admin
  • Passphrase: ironport

On brand new (not upgraded from previous releases of AsyncOS) systems, you will automatically be redirected to the System Setup Wizard.

During the initial system setup, you choose IP addresses for interfaces and whether to run HTTP and/or HTTPS services for those interfaces. When HTTP and/or HTTPS services have been enabled for an interface, you can use any supporting browser to view the GUI by entering the IP address or hostname of the IP interface as a URL in the location field (“address bar”) of the browser.

For example:

http://192.168.1.1 or

https://192.168.1.1 or

http://mail3.example.com or

https://mail3.example.com


Note
If HTTPS has been enabled for an interface (and HTTP requests are not being redirected to the secure service), remember to access the GUI using the “ https:// ” prefix.
Related Topics

Centralized Management

If you have created a cluster, you can browse machines in the cluster, create, delete, copy, and move settings among clusters, groups, and machines (that is, perform the equivalent of the clustermode and clusterset commands) from within the GUI.

For more information, see Administering a Cluster from the GUI.

Enhanced User Experience using How-Tos Widget

The How-Tos is a contextual widget that provides in-app assistance to users in the form of walkthroughs to accomplish complex tasks on your appliance. To view a list of walkthroughs supported in this release, see Lis of Walkthroughs.

You can access the walkthroughs by clicking the How-Tos widget on the web interface of your appliance. By default, the How-Tos widget is enabled on your appliance. The contents of the How-Tos widget are cloud-updateable.

For each walkthrough, there are recommended settings for specific configurable values categorized as follows:

  • Conservative Settings - Cautious, configuration of not excessive limits

  • Moderate Settings - Average, configuration within reasonable limits

  • Aggressive Settings- Forceful, configuration of assertive limits


Note

  • The current set of walkthroughs is limited to the following users: admin, cloud-admin, and operator.

  • If you are using Internet Explorer version 11 to access the web interface of your appliance, you may not be able to view the How-Tos widget. Go to System Administration > General Settings page on your web interface and enable the Override IE Compatibility Mode option to view the How-Tos widget.

Disabling How-Tos Widget on the Appliance

Use the adminaccessconfig > how-tos sub command in the CLI if you want to disable the How-Tos widget on your appliance.

Example: Disabling How-Tos widget on the Appliance
mail.example.com> adminaccessconfig

Choose the operation you want to perform:

- BANNER - Configure login message (banner) for appliance administrator login.
- WELCOME - Configure welcome message (post login message) for appliance administrator login.
- IPACCESS - Configure IP-based access for appliance administrative interface.
- CSRF - Configure web UI Cross-Site Request Forgeries protection.
- XSS - Configure Cross-Site Scripting Attack protection.
- HOSTHEADER - Configure option to use host header in HTTP requests.
- TIMEOUT - Configure GUI and CLI session inactivity timeout.
- MAXHTTPHEADERFIELDSIZE - Configure maximum HTTP header Field size.
- HOW-TOS - Configure How-Tos feature.

[]> how-tos
How-Tos consists of a list of generic walkthroughs to assist the users in completing 
a particular task (for example, "enabling and configuring a service engine on the appliance").

Would you like to enable How-Tos? [Y]> no

Changing Configuration Settings

Configuration Changes

You can make configuration changes while email operations proceed normally.

Commit or Abandoning Changes

You must explicitly save most configuration changes.

When changes are pending a commit, the Commit Changes button turns orange.

To clear or commit these changes, click Commit Changes.

Command Line Interface (CLI)

The Command Line Interface is accessible via SSH on IP interfaces that have been configured with these services enabled, or via terminal emulation software on the serial port. By factory default, SSH is configured on the Management port. Use the interfaceconfig command to disable these services.

For more information about CLI commands and conventions, see the CLI Reference Guide for AsyncOS for Cisco Email Security Appliances.


Note
The factory default username and passphrase for accessing CLI is same as that of the web interface. See Factory Default Username and Passphrase.