- Preface
- Overview of Cisco Unified Computing System
- Overview of Cisco UCS Manager
- Overview of Cisco UCS Manager CLI
- Configuring the Fabric Interconnects
- Configuring Ports and Port Channels
- Configuring Communication Services
- Configuring Authentication
- Configuring Organizations
- Configuring Role-Based Access Control
- Configuring DNS Servers
- Configuring System-Related Policies
- Managing Licenses
- Managing Virtual Interfaces
- Registering Cisco UCS Domains with Cisco UCS Central
- VLANs
- Configuring LAN Pin Groups
- Configuring MAC Pools
- Configuring Quality of Service
- Configuring Network-Related Policies
- Configuring Upstream Disjoint Layer-2 Networks
- Configuring Named VSANs
- Configuring SAN Pin Groups
- Configuring WWN Pools
- Configuring Storage-Related Policies
- Configuring Fibre Channel Zoning
- Configuring Server-Related Pools
- Setting the Management IP Address
- Configuring Server-Related Policies
- Configuring Server Boot
- Deferring Deployment of Service Profile Updates
- Service Profiles
- Configuring Storage Profiles
- Managing Power in Cisco UCS
- Managing Time Zones
- Managing the Chassis
- Managing Blade Servers
- Managing Rack-Mount Servers
- CIMC Session Management
- Managing the I/O Modules
- Backing Up and Restoring the Configuration
- Recovering a Lost Password
- Authentication Services
- Guidelines and Recommendations for Remote Authentication Providers
- User Attributes in Remote Authentication Providers
- Two Factor Authentication
- LDAP Group Rule
- Nested LDAP Groups
- Configuring LDAP Providers
- Configuring RADIUS Providers
- Configuring TACACS+ Providers
- Configuring Multiple Authentication Systems
- Configuring Multiple Authentication Systems
- Selecting a Primary Authentication Service
Configuring Authentication
This chapter includes the following sections:
- Authentication Services
- Guidelines and Recommendations for Remote Authentication Providers
- User Attributes in Remote Authentication Providers
- Two Factor Authentication
- LDAP Group Rule
- Nested LDAP Groups
- Configuring LDAP Providers
- Configuring RADIUS Providers
- Configuring TACACS+ Providers
- Configuring Multiple Authentication Systems
- Configuring Multiple Authentication Systems
- Selecting a Primary Authentication Service
Authentication Services
Cisco UCS supports two methods to authenticate user logins:
Guidelines and Recommendations for 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
User accounts can exist locally 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. Depending on the role policy, a user may not be allowed to log in or will be granted only read-only privileges.
User Attributes in Remote Authentication Providers
For RADIUS and TACACS+ configurations, you must configure a user attribute for Cisco UCS in each remote authentication provider through which users log in to Cisco UCS Manager. This user attribute holds the roles and locales assigned to each user.
![]() Note | This step is not required for LDAP configurations that use LDAP Group Mapping to assign roles and locales. |
When a user logs in, Cisco UCS Manager does the following:
- Queries the remote authentication service.
- Validates the user.
- If the user is validated, checks for the roles and locales assigned to that user.
Sample OID for LDAP User Attribute
The following is a sample OID for a custom CiscoAVPair attribute:
CN=CiscoAVPair,CN=Schema, CN=Configuration,CN=X objectClass: top objectClass: attributeSchema cn: CiscoAVPair distinguishedName: CN=CiscoAVPair,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,CN=X instanceType: 0x4 uSNCreated: 26318654 attributeID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.287247.1 attributeSyntax: 2.5.5.12 isSingleValued: TRUE showInAdvancedViewOnly: TRUE adminDisplayName: CiscoAVPair adminDescription: UCS User Authorization Field oMSyntax: 64 lDAPDisplayName: CiscoAVPair name: CiscoAVPair objectCategory: CN=Attribute-Schema,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,CN=X
Two Factor Authentication
Cisco UCS Manager supports user login actions with a combination of a user name and a password. Users may set passwords that are easy for them to remember, but which may be weak enough to be exploited by malware, spyware, or computer viruses. Users who access the system remotely from unsecured networks, or are using an unsecured service, can have their passwords compromised by snooping software. Phishing attacks are viruses that may trick users into revealing their passwords.
A way to strengthen user authentication is to require a second factor in addition to a username and password. Two-factor authentication requires two of three authentication factors. It employs a combination of something a user knows, for example, a password or a PIN, and something a user has, for example, a certificate or token. Two-factor authentication is only supported for remote users, and does not support IPMI.
Cisco UCS Manager provides two-factor authentication by employing authentication applications that maintain token servers to generate one-time tokens for users during the login process. Passwords are stored in the AAA server, so when users log in, they have to enter their user name, then enter a token and password combination in the password field. Requests are sent to the token server to retrieve a vendor specific attribute. Cisco UCS Manager expects the token server to be integrated with the AAA server so it forwards the request to the AAA server. The password and token are validated at the same time by the AAA server. Users need to enter the token and password sequence in the same order as it is configured in the AAA server.
This feature is supported by associating RADIUS or TACACS+ provider groups with designated authentication domains and enabling two-factor authentication for those domains.
![]() Note | Two-factor authentication is not supported when the authentication realm is set to LDAP, local, or none. |
Web Session Refresh and Web Session Timeout Period
The web session timeout period controls the maximum length of time a session is maintained, regardless of activity. The web session timeout period is also set to a higher default value when you configure two-factor authentication. When the web session refresh period expires, the Cisco UCS Manager GUI client automatically generates a prompt for the user to enter a new token and password combination.
The web session refresh period controls how long a user's web session remains valid. When two-factor authentication is configured, users have to enter a token and password combination and log in at the expiration of every web session refresh period. To avoid frequent session timeouts that would require users to regenerate and re-enter a token and password many times, the web session refresh period is set to a higher initial default value when you enable two-factor authentication. This allows remote users to maintain active sessions for longer periods of time. If the web session refresh expires due to inactivity, users will be prompted to generate a new token and log in again.
LDAP Group Rule
The LDAP group rule is used to determine whether Cisco UCS should use LDAP groups when assigning user roles and locales to a remote user.
Nested LDAP Groups
![]() Note | Nested LDAP search support is supported only for Microsoft Active Directory servers. The supported versions are Microsoft Windows 2003 SP3, Microsoft Windows 2008 R2, and Microsoft Windows 2012. |
Using the LDAP nesting feature, you can add an LDAP group as a member of another group and nest groups to consolidate member accounts and reduce the replication of traffic.
Be default, user rights are inherited when you nest an LDAP group within another group. For example, if you make Group_1 a member of Group_2, the users in Group_1 will have the same permissions as the members of Group_2. You can then search users that are members of Group_1 by choosing only Group_2 in the LDAP group map, instead of having to seach Group_1 and Group_2 separately.
Configuring LDAP Providers
Configuring Properties for LDAP Providers
The properties that you configure in this task are the default settings for all provider connections of this type defined in Cisco UCS Manager. If an individual provider includes a setting for any of these properties, Cisco UCS uses that setting and ignores the default setting.
If you are using Active Directory as your LDAP server, create a user account in the Active Directory server to bind with Cisco UCS. This account should be given a non-expiring password.
The following example sets the LDAP attribute to CiscoAvPair, the base distinguished name to "DC=cisco-ucsm-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com", the filter to sAMAccountName=$userid, and the timeout interval to 5 seconds, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope ldap UCS-A /security/ldap # set attribute CiscoAvPair UCS-A /security/ldap* # set basedn "DC=cisco-ucsm-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com" UCS-A /security/ldap* # set filter sAMAccountName=$userid UCS-A /security/ldap* # set timeout 5 UCS-A /security/ldap* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/ldap #
![]() Note | User login will fail if the userdn for an LDAP user exceeds 255 characters. |
Create an LDAP provider.
Creating an LDAP Provider
Cisco UCS Manager supports a maximum of 16 LDAP providers.
If you are using Active Directory as your LDAP server, create a user account in the Active Directory server to bind with Cisco UCS. This account should be given a non-expiring password.
-
In the LDAP server, perform one of the following configurations:
- Configure LDAP groups. LDAP groups contain user role and locale information.
- Configure users with the attribute that holds the user role and locale information for Cisco UCS Manager. You can choose whether to extend the LDAP schema for this attribute. If you do not want to extend the schema, use an existing LDAP attribute to hold the Cisco UCS user roles and locales. If you prefer to extend the schema, create a custom attribute, such as the CiscoAVPair attribute. The Cisco LDAP implementation requires a unicode type attribute. If you choose to create the CiscoAVPair custom attribute, use the following attribute ID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.287247.1
- For a cluster configuration, add the management port IPv4 or IPv6 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 login requests are sourced from these IP addresses, not the virtual IPv4 or IPv6 address used by Cisco UCS Manager.
- If you want to use secure communications, create a trusted point containing the certificate of the root certificate authority (CA) of the LDAP server in Cisco UCS Manager.
The following example creates an LDAP server instance named 10.193.169.246, configures the binddn, password, order, port, SSL settings, vendor attribute, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope ldap UCS-A /security/ldap* # create server 10.193.169.246 UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set binddn "cn=Administrator,cn=Users,DC=cisco-ucsm-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com" UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set password Enter the password: Confirm the password: UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set order 2 UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set port 389 UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set ssl yes UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set timeout 30 UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set vendor ms-ad UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/ldap/server #
The following example creates an LDAP server instance named 12:31:71:1231:45b1:0011:011:900, configures the binddn, password, order, port, SSL settings, vendor attribute, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope ldap UCS-A /security/ldap* # create server 12:31:71:1231:45b1:0011:011:900 UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set binddn "cn=Administrator,cn=Users,DC=cisco-ucsm-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com" UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set password Enter the password: Confirm the password: UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set order 1 UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set port 389 UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set ssl yes UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set timeout 45 UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set vendor ms-ad UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/ldap/server #
For implementations involving a single LDAP database, select LDAP as the authentication service.
For implementations involving multiple LDAP databases, configure an LDAP provider group.
Changing the LDAP Group Rule for an LDAP Provider
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 # scope server ldap-provider |
Enters security LDAP provider mode. | ||
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/ldap/server # scope ldap-group-rule |
Enters LDAP group rule mode. | ||
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule # set authorization {enable | disable} |
Specifies whether Cisco UCS searches LDAP groups when assigning user roles and locales to a remote user.
| ||
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule # set member-of-attribute attr-name |
The attribute Cisco UCS uses to determine group membership in the LDAP database. The supported string length is 63 characters. The default string is memberOf. | ||
Step 7 | UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule # set traversal {non-recursive | recursive} |
Specifies whether Cisco UCS takes the settings for a group member's parent group, if necessary. This can be: | ||
Step 8 | UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule # set use-primary-group {yes | no} |
Configures the primary group as an LDAP group map in Cisco UCS domain for membership validation. You can enable Cisco UCS Manager to download and verify the user primary group membership. | ||
Step 9 | UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example sets the LDAP group rule to enable authorization, sets the member of attribute to memberOf, sets the traversal to non-recursive, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope ldap UCS-A /security/ldap # scope server ldapprovider UCS-A /security/ldap/server # scope ldap-group-rule UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule # set authorization enable UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule* # set member-of-attribute memberOf UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule* # set traversal non-recursive UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule* # set use-primary-group yes UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/ldap/server/ldap-group-rule #
Deleting an LDAP Provider
Command or Action | Purpose |
---|
The following example deletes the LDAP server called ldap1 and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope ldap UCS-A /security/ldap # delete server ldap1 UCS-A /security/ldap* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/ldap #
LDAP Group Mapping
For organizations that already use LDAP groups to restrict access to LDAP databases, group membership information can be used by UCSM to assign a role or locale to an LDAP user during login. This eliminates the need to define role or locale information in the LDAP user object when Cisco UCS Manager is deployed.
When a user logs in to Cisco UCS Manager, information about the user's role and locale are pulled from the LDAP group map. If the role and locale criteria match the information in the policy, access is granted.
Role and locale definitions are configured locally in Cisco UCS Manager and do not update automatically based on changes to an LDAP directory. When deleting or renaming LDAP groups in an LDAP directory, it is important that you update Cisco UCS Manager with the change.
![]() Note | Cisco UCS Manager includes many out-of-the-box user roles but does not include any locales. Mapping an LDAP provider group to a locale requires that you create a custom locale. |
Creating an LDAP Group Map
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 # create ldap-group group-dn |
Creates an LDAP group map for the specified DN. The maximum number of characters for group-dn is 240.
| ||
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/ldap/ldap-group # create locale locale-name |
Maps the LDAP group to the specified locale. | ||
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/ldap/ldap-group # create role role-name |
Maps the LDAP group to the specified role. | ||
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/ldap/ldap-group # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example maps the LDAP group mapped to a DN, sets the locale to pacific, sets the role to admin, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope ldap UCS-A /security/ldap # create ldap-group cn=security,cn=users,dc=lab,dc=com UCS-A /security/ldap/ldap-group* # create locale pacific UCS-A /security/ldap/ldap-group* # create role admin UCS-A /security/ldap/ldap-group* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/ldap/ldap-group #
Set the LDAP group rule.
Deleting an LDAP Group Map
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 # delete ldap-group group-dn |
Deletes the LDAP group map for the specified DN. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/ldap # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example deletes an LDAP group map and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope ldap UCS-A /security/ldap # delete ldap-group cn=security,cn=users,dc=lab,dc=com UCS-A /security/ldap* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/ldap #
Configuring RADIUS Providers
Configuring Properties for RADIUS Providers
The properties that you configure in this task are the default settings for all provider connections of this type defined in Cisco UCS Manager. If an individual provider includes a setting for any of these properties, Cisco UCS uses that setting and ignores the default setting.
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 retries retry-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 timeout seconds | (Optional)
Sets the time interval that the system waits for a response from the RADIUS server before noting the server as down. |
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/radius # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example sets the RADIUS retries to 4, sets the timeout interval to 30 seconds, 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* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/radius #
Create a RADIUS provider.
Creating a RADIUS Provider
Cisco UCS Manager supports a maximum of 16 RADIUS providers.
Perform the following configuration in the RADIUS server:
- Configure users with the attribute that holds the user role and locale information for Cisco UCS Manager. You can choose whether to extend the RADIUS schema for this attribute. If you do not want to extend the schema, use an existing RADIUS attribute to hold the Cisco UCS user roles and locales. If you prefer to extend the schema, create a custom attribute, such as the cisco-avpair attribute. The vendor ID for the Cisco RADIUS implementation is 009 and the vendor ID for the attribute is 001. The following syntax example shows how to specify multiples user roles and locales if you choose to create the cisco-avpair attribute: shell:roles="admin,aaa" shell:locales="L1,abc". Use a comma "," as the delimiter to separate multiple values.
- For a cluster configuration, add the management port IPv4 or IPv6 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 login requests are sourced from these IP addresses, not the virtual IP address used by Cisco UCS Manager.
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 # create server server-name |
Creates a RADIUS server instance and enters security RADIUS server mode | ||
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/radius/server # set authport authport-num | (Optional)
Specifies the port used to communicate with the RADIUS server. | ||
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/radius/server # set key |
Sets the RADIUS server key. To set the key value, press Enter after typing the set key command and enter the key value at the prompt. | ||
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/radius/server # set order order-num | (Optional)
Specifies when in the order this server will be tried. | ||
Step 7 | UCS-A /security/radius/server # set retries retry-num | (Optional)
Sets the number of times to retry communicating with the RADIUS server before noting the server as down. | ||
Step 8 | UCS-A /security/radius/server # set timeout seconds | (Optional)
Sets the time interval that the system waits for a response from the RADIUS server before noting the server as down.
| ||
Step 9 | UCS-A /security/radius/server # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example creates a server instance named radiusserv7, sets the authentication port to 5858, sets the key to radiuskey321, sets the order to 2, sets the retries to 4, sets the timeout to 30, enables two-factor authentication, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope radius 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* # set order 2 UCS-A /security/radius/server* # set retries 4 UCS-A /security/radius/server* # set timeout 30 UCS-A /security/radius/server* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/radius/server #
For implementations involving a single RADIUS database, select RADIUS as the primary authentication service.
For implementations involving multiple RADIUS databases, configure a RADIUS provider group.
Deleting a RADIUS Provider
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 # delete server serv-name |
Deletes the specified server. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/radius # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example deletes the RADIUS server called radius1 and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope radius UCS-A /security/radius # delete server radius1 UCS-A /security/radius* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/radius #
Configuring TACACS+ Providers
Configuring Properties for TACACS+ Providers
The properties that you configure in this task are the default settings for all provider connections of this type defined in Cisco UCS Manager. If an individual provider includes a setting for any of these properties, Cisco UCS uses that setting and ignores the default setting.
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 timeout seconds | (Optional)
Sets the time interval that the system waits for a response from the TACACS+ server before noting the server as down. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/tacacs # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example sets the TACACS+ timeout interval to 45 seconds and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope tacacs UCS-A /security/tacacs # set timeout 45 UCS-A /security/tacacs* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/tacacs #
Create a TACACS+ provider.
Creating a TACACS+ Provider
Cisco UCS Manager supports a maximum of 16 TACACS+ providers.
Perform the following configuration in the TACACS+ server:
- Create the cisco-av-pair attribute. You cannot use an existing TACACS+ attribute. The cisco-av-pair name is the string that provides the attribute ID for the TACACS+ provider. The following syntax example shows how to specify multiples user roles and locales when you create the cisco-av-pair attribute: cisco-av-pair=shell:roles="admin aaa" shell:locales*"L1 abc". Using an asterisk (*) in the cisco-av-pair attribute syntax flags the locale as optional, preventing authentication failures for other Cisco devices that use the same authorization profile. Use a space as the delimiter to separate multiple values.
- For a cluster configuration, add the management port IPv4 or IPv6 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 login requests are sourced from these IP addresses, not the virtual IP address used by Cisco UCS Manager.
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 # create server server-name |
Creates an TACACS+ server instance and enters security TACACS+ server mode | ||
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/tacacs/server # set key | (Optional)
Sets the TACACS+ server key. To set the key value, press Enter after typing the set key command and enter the key value at the prompt. | ||
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/tacacs/server # set order order-num | (Optional)
Specifies when in the order this server will be tried. | ||
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/tacacs/server # set timeoutseconds | (Optional) Sets the time interval that the system waits for a response from the TACACS+ server before noting the server as down.
| ||
Step 7 | UCS-A /security/tacacs/server # set port port-num |
Specifies the port used to communicate with the TACACS+ server. | ||
Step 8 | UCS-A /security/tacacs/server # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example creates a server instance named tacacsserv680, sets the key to tacacskey321 and confirms the key, sets the order to 4, sets the authentication port to 5859, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope tacacs 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 order 4 UCS-A /security/tacacs/server* # set port 5859 UCS-A /security/tacacs/server* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/tacacs/server #
For implementations involving a single TACACS+ database, select TACACS+ as the primary authentication service.
For implementations involving multiple TACACS+ databases, configure a TACACS+ provider group.
Deleting a TACACS+ Provider
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 # delete server serv-name |
Deletes the specified server. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/tacacs # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example deletes the TACACS server called tacacs1 and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope tacacs UCS-A /security/tacacs # delete server TACACS1 UCS-A /security/tacacs* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/tacacs #
Configuring Multiple Authentication Systems
Multiple Authentication Systems
You can configure Cisco UCS to use multiple authentication systems by configuring the following features:
Once provider groups and authentication domains have been configured in Cisco UCS Manager, the following syntax can be used to log in to the system using Cisco UCS Manager CLI: ucs: auth-domain \ user-name .
When multiple authentication domains and native authentication are configured with a remote authentication service, use one of the following syntax examples to log in with SSH, Telnet or Putty.
![]() Note | SSH log in is case-sensitive. |
From a Linux terminal using SSH:
-
ssh
ucs-auth-domain\\username@{UCSM-ip-address|UCMS-ipv6-address}
ssh ucs-example\\jsmith@192.0.20.11
ssh ucs-example\\jsmith@2001::1
-
ssh -l
ucs-auth-domain\\username {UCSM-ip-address| UCSM-ipv6-address|
UCSM-host-name}
ssh -l ucs-example\\jsmith 192.0.20.11
ssh -l ucs-example\\jsmith 2001::1
-
ssh {UCSM-ip-address |
UCSM-ipv6-address |
UCSM-host-name}
-l
ucs-auth-domain\\username
ssh 192.0.20.11 -l ucs-example\\jsmith
ssh 2001::1 -l ucs-example\\jsmith
-
ssh
ucs-auth-domain\\username@{UCSM-ip-address|UCSM-ipv6-address}
ssh ucs-ldap23\\jsmith@192.0.20.11
ssh ucs-ldap23\\jsmith@2001::1
From a Linux terminal using Telnet:
-
telnet
ucs-UCSM-host-name ucs-auth-domain\username
telnet ucs-qa-10 login: ucs-ldap23\blradmin
-
telnet
ucs-{UCSM-ip-address|UCSM-ipv6-address}ucs-auth-domain\username
telnet 10.106.19.12 2052 ucs-qa-10-A login: ucs-ldap23\blradmin
From a Putty client:
Configuring Multiple Authentication Systems
Provider Groups
A provider group is a set of providers that are used by Cisco UCS during the authentication process. Cisco UCS Manager allows you to create a maximum of 16 provider groups, with a maximum of eight providers allowed per group.
During authentication, all the providers within a provider group are tried in order. If all of the configured servers are unavailable or unreachable, Cisco UCS Manager automatically falls back to the local authentication method using the local username and password.
Creating an LDAP Provider Group
![]() Note | Authenticating with a single LDAP database does not require you to set up an LDAP provider group. |
Create one or more LDAP providers.
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 # create auth-server-group auth-server-group-name |
Creates an LDAP provider group and enters authentication server group security LDAP mode. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/ldap/auth-server-group # create server-ref ldap-provider-name |
Adds the specified LDAP provider to the LDAP provider group and enters server reference authentication server group security LDAP mode. |
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/ldap/auth-server-group/server-ref # set order order-num |
Specifies the order in which Cisco UCS uses this provider to authenticate users. Valid values include no-value and 0-16, with the lowest value indicating the highest priority. Setting the order to no-value is equivalent to giving that server reference the highest priority. |
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/ldap/auth-server-group/server-ref # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example creates an LDAP provider group called ldapgroup, adds two previously configured providers called ldap1 and ldap2 to the provider group, sets the order, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope ldap UCS-A /security/ldap # create auth-server-group ldapgroup UCS-A /security/ldap/auth-server-group* # create server-ref ldap1 UCS-A /security/ldap/auth-server-group/server-ref* # set order 1 UCS-A /security/ldap/auth-server-group/server-ref* # up UCS-A /security/ldap/auth-server-group* # create server-ref ldap2 UCS-A /security/ldap/auth-server-group/server-ref* # set order 2 UCS-A /security/ldap/auth-server-group/server-ref* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/ldap/auth-server-group/server-ref #
Configure an authentication domain or select a default authentication service.
Deleting an LDAP Provider Group
Remove the provider group from an authentication configuration.
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 # delete auth-server-group auth-server-group-name |
Deletes the LDAP provider group. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/ldap # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example deletes an LDAP provider group called ldapgroup and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope ldap UCS-A /security/ldap # delete auth-server-group ldapgroup UCS-A /security/ldap* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/ldap #
Creating a RADIUS Provider Group
![]() Note | Authenticating with a single RADIUS database does not require you to set up a RADIUS provider group. |
Create one or more RADIUS providers.
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 # create auth-server-group auth-server-group-name |
Creates a RADIUS provider group and enters authentication server group security RADIUS mode. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/RADIUS/auth-server-group # create server-ref radius-provider-name |
Adds the specified RADIUS provider to the RADIUS provider group and enters server reference authentication server group security RADIUS mode. |
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/radius/auth-server-group/server-ref # set order order-num |
Specifies the order in which Cisco UCS uses this provider to authenticate users. Valid values include no-value and 0-16, with the lowest value indicating the highest priority. Setting the order to no-value is equivalent to giving that server reference the highest priority. |
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/radius/auth-server-group/server-ref # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example creates a RADIUS provider group called radiusgroup, adds two previously configured providers called radius1 and radius2 to the provider group, sets the order, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope radius UCS-A /security/radius # create auth-server-group radiusgroup UCS-A /security/radius/auth-server-group* # create server-ref radius1 UCS-A /security/radius/auth-server-group/server-ref* # set order 1 UCS-A /security/radius/auth-server-group/server-ref* # up UCS-A /security/radius/auth-server-group* # create server-ref radius2 UCS-A /security/radius/auth-server-group/server-ref* # set order 2 UCS-A /security/radius/auth-server-group/server-ref* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/radius/auth-server-group/server-ref #
Configure an authentication domain or select a default authentication service.
Deleting a RADIUS Provider Group
Remove the provider group from an authentication configuration.
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 # delete auth-server-group auth-server-group-name |
Deletes the RADIUS provider group. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/radius # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example deletes a RADIUS provider group called radiusgroup and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope radius UCS-A /security/radius # delete auth-server-group radiusgroup UCS-A /security/radius* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/radius #
Creating a TACACS Provider Group
![]() Note | Authenticating with a single TACACS+ database does not require you to set up a TACACS+ provider group. |
Create a TACACS provider.
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 # create auth-server-group auth-server-group-name |
Creates a TACACS provider group and enters authentication server group security TACACS mode. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/tacacs/auth-server-group # create server-ref tacacs-provider-name |
Adds the specified TACACS provider to the TACACS provider group and enters server reference authentication server group security TACACS mode. |
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/tacacs/auth-server-group/server-ref # set order order-num |
Specifies the order in which Cisco UCS uses this provider to authenticate users. Valid values include no-value and 0-16, with the lowest value indicating the highest priority. Setting the order to no-value is equivalent to giving that server reference the highest priority. |
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/tacacs/auth-server-group/server-ref # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example creates a TACACS provider group called tacacsgroup, adds two previously configured providers called tacacs1 and tacacs2 to the provider group, sets the order, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope tacacs UCS-A /security/tacacs # create auth-server-group tacacsgroup UCS-A /security/tacacs/auth-server-group* # create server-ref tacacs1 UCS-A /security/tacacs/auth-server-group/server-ref* # set order 1 UCS-A /security/tacacs/auth-server-group/server-ref* # up UCS-A /security/tacacs/auth-server-group* # create server-ref tacacs2 UCS-A /security/tacacs/auth-server-group/server-ref* # set order 2 UCS-A /security/tacacs/auth-server-group/server-ref* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/tacacs/auth-server-group/server-ref #
Configure an authentication domain or select a default authentication service.
Deleting a TACACS Provider Group
Remove the provider group from an authentication configuration.
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 # delete auth-server-group auth-server-group-name |
Deletes the TACACS provider group. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/tacacs # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example deletes a TACACS provider group called tacacsgroup and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope tacacs UCS-A /security/tacacs # delete auth-server-group tacacsgroup UCS-A /security/tacacs* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/tacacs #
Authentication Domains
Authentication domains are used by Cisco UCS Manager to leverage multiple authentication systems. Each authentication domain is specified and configured during login. If no authentication domain is specified, the default authentication service configuration is used.
You can create up to eight authentication domains. Each authentication domain is associated with a provider group and realm in Cisco UCS Manager. If no provider group is specified, all servers within the realm are used.
Creating an Authentication Domain
Command or Action | Purpose | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Step 1 | UCS-A# scope security |
Enters security mode. | ||
Step 2 | UCS-A /security # create auth-domain domain-name |
Creates an authentication domain and enters authentication domain mode.
| ||
Step 3 | UCS-A /security/auth-domain # set refresh-period seconds | (Optional)
When a web client connects to Cisco UCS Manager, the client needs to send refresh requests to Cisco UCS Manager to keep the web session active. This option specifies the maximum amount of time allowed between refresh requests for a user in this domain. If this time limit is exceeded, Cisco UCS Manager considers the web session to be inactive, but it does not terminate the session. Specify an integer between 60 and 172800. The default is 600 seconds.
| ||
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/auth-domain # set session-timeout seconds | (Optional)
The maximum amount of time that can elapse after the last refresh request before Cisco UCS Manager considers a web session to have ended. If this time limit is exceeded, Cisco UCS Manager automatically terminates the web session. Specify an integer between 60 and 172800. The default is 7200 seconds.
| ||
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/auth-domain # create default-auth | (Optional)
Creates a default authentication for the authentication domain. | ||
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/auth-domain/default-auth # set auth-server-group auth-serv-group-name | (Optional)
Sets the provider group for the authentication domain. | ||
Step 7 | UCS-A /security/auth-domain/default-auth # set realm {ldap | local | radius | tacacs} |
Sets the realm for the authentication domain. | ||
Step 8 | UCS-A /security/auth-domain/default-auth # set use-2-factor yes | (Optional) Sets the authentication method to two-factor authentication for the realm.
| ||
Step 9 | UCS-A /security/auth-domain/default-auth # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # create auth-domain domain1 UCS-A /security/auth-domain* # set refresh-period 3600 UCS-A /security/auth-domain* # set session-timeout 14400 UCS-A /security/auth-domain* # create default-auth UCS-A /security/auth-domain/auth-domain* # set auth-server-group radius1 UCS-A /security/auth-domain/auth-domain* # set realm radius UCS-A /security/auth-domain/auth-domain* # set user-2-factor yes UCS-A /security/auth-domain/auth-domain* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/auth-domain/auth-domain #
Selecting a Primary Authentication Service
Selecting the Console Authentication Service
If the system uses a remote authentication service, create a provider for that authentication service. If the system uses only local authentication through Cisco UCS, you do not need to create a provider first.
Command or Action | Purpose | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Step 1 | UCS-A# scope security |
Enters security mode. | ||
Step 2 | UCS-A /security # scope console-auth |
Enters console authorization security mode. | ||
Step 3 | UCS-A /security/console-auth # set realm auth-type |
Specifies the console authentication, where the auth-type argument is one of the following keywords: | ||
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/console-auth # set auth-server-group auth-serv-group-name | (Optional)
The associated provider group, if any. | ||
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/default-auth # set use-2-factor yes | (Optional) Sets the authentication method to two-factor authentication for the realm.
| ||
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/console-auth # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example sets the authentication realm to TACACS+, sets the console authentication provider group to provider1, enables two-factor authentication, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope console-auth UCS-A /security/console-auth # set realm tacacs UCS-A /security/console-auth # set auth-server-group provider1 UCS-A /security/console-auth* # set use-2-factor yes UCS-A /security/console-auth* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/console-auth #
Selecting the Default Authentication Service
Command or Action | Purpose | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Step 1 | UCS-A# scope security |
Enters security mode. | ||
Step 2 | UCS-A /security # scope default-auth |
Enters default authorization security mode. | ||
Step 3 | UCS-A /security/default-auth # set realm auth-type |
Specifies the default authentication, where auth-type is one of the following keywords: | ||
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/default-auth # set auth-server-group auth-serv-group-name | (Optional)
The associated provider group, if any. | ||
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/default-auth # set refresh-period seconds | (Optional)
When a web client connects to Cisco UCS Manager, the client needs to send refresh requests to Cisco UCS Manager to keep the web session active. This option specifies the maximum amount of time allowed between refresh requests for a user in this domain. If this time limit is exceeded, Cisco UCS Manager considers the web session to be inactive, but it does not terminate the session. Specify an integer between 60 and 172800. The default is 600 seconds. | ||
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/default-auth # set session-timeout seconds | (Optional)
The maximum amount of time that can elapse after the last refresh request before Cisco UCS Manager considers a web session to have ended. If this time limit is exceeded, Cisco UCS Manager automatically terminates the web session. Specify an integer between 60 and 172800. The default is 7200 seconds.
| ||
Step 7 | UCS-A /security/default-auth # set use-2-factor yes | (Optional) Sets the authentication method to two-factor authentication for the realm.
| ||
Step 8 | UCS-A /security/default-auth # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
The following example sets the default authentication to RADIUS, the default authentication provider group to provider1, enables two-factor authentications, sets the refresh period to 7200 seconds (2 hours), the session timeout period to 28800 seconds (8 hours), and enables two-factor authentication. It then commits the transaction.
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope default-auth UCS-A /security/default-auth # set realm radius UCS-A /security/default-auth* # set auth-server-group provider1 UCS-A /security/default-auth* # set use-2-factor yes UCS-A /security/default-auth* # set refresh-period 7200 UCS-A /security/default-auth* # set session-timeout 28800 UCS-A /security/default-auth* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/default-auth #
Role Policy for Remote Users
By default, if user roles are not configured in Cisco UCS Manager read-only access is granted to all users logging in to Cisco UCS Manager from a remote server using the LDAP, RADIUS, or TACACS protocols. For security reasons, it might be desirable to restrict access to those users matching an established user role in Cisco UCS Manager.
- assign-default-role
-
Does not restrict user access to Cisco UCS Manager based on user roles. Read-only access is granted to all users unless other user roles have been defined in Cisco UCS Manager.
This is the default behavior.
- no-login
-
Restricts user access to Cisco UCS Manager based on user roles. If user roles have not been assigned for the remote authentication system, access is denied.
Configuring the Role Policy for Remote Users
Command or Action | Purpose | |
---|---|---|
Step 1 | UCS-A# scope security |
Enters security mode. |
Step 2 | UCS-A /security # set remote-user default-role {assign-default-role | no-login} |
Specifies whether user access to Cisco UCS Manager is restricted based on user roles. |
Step 3 | UCS-A /security # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction to the system configuration. |
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # set remote-user default-role assign-default-role UCS-A /security* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security #