5 0 0:Configuring Database-Based Authentication

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Revision as of 07:38, 8 April 2021 by Sta (talk | contribs) (Minor correction (ACLs info).)
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Any form of reproduction of the contents or parts of this manual is allowed only with the express written permission from SEP AG. When compiling and designing user documentation SEP AG uses great diligence and attempts to deliver accurate and correct information. However, SEP AG cannot issue a guarantee for the contents of this manual.

Docs latest icon.png Welcome to the latest SEP sesam documentation version 4.4.3 Grolar/4.4.3 Beefalo V2. For previous documentation version(s), check Documentation archive.


Overview

SEP sesam provides different authentication methods that are mutually exclusive: policy-based authentication and database-based authentication which can be combined with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or/and Active Directory. Only one (policy-based or database-based authentication) can be active at any time. By default, policy-based authentication is active.

Activating database-based authentication has to be done via GUI to set the administrator password. Once SEP sesam GUI Server and Client are restarted, the administrator is able to configure default user access rights that are based on predefined user type. These are:

  • Admin: The only user role with full control over the SEP sesam.
  • Operator: Can monitor the whole environment.
  • Restore: Only allowed to start restores.

You can further configure authorization based on user roles, introduced in Grolar.

Note that the displayed GUI components depend on the user type. For details on GUI elements, see SEP sesam GUI.

Prerequisite

  • Make sure that the reverse DNS resolution (from IP address to host name) is set up correctly. If the name resolution for the selected host is not correct, the connection to the GUI server fails. For details, see How to check DNS configuration.

Activating database-based authentication in GUI

  1. In the GUI, from the menu bar select Configuration ‐> Permission Management.
  2. Click Activate Authentication. Set up the password for the Administrator user; note that this is the only way to set the administrator's password.
  3. Authentication activate Beefalo V2.jpg
  4. After activating the authentication mode and confirming your action, SEP sesam GUI will restart automatically. You have to restart SEP sesam Client manually for the changes to take effect.
  5. Authentication restart Beefalo V2.jpg
  6. In v. ≤ 4.4.3 Grolar, you have to enable LDAP or/and Active Directory to authenticate users against an external LDAP directory. From v. 4.4.3 Beefalo, LDAP/AD authentication is enabled by default. For details on how to configure LDAP/AD authentication, see Configuring LDAP/AD Authentication.
  7. Log in as an administrator (in v. ≥ Jaglion as a superuser) to configure the users and add them to relevant group. By default, the following user types are available: Admin, Operator, Restore.
  8. You can create your own subgroups (e.g., SUB_ADMIN) to grant users more specific roles. Under the Groups tab, click Create New to configure a new subgroup. The Sub Group window opens.
  9. Specify a group name and from the drop-down list select the relevant role to be applied to the whole group: Administrator, Operator or Restore (in v. ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo).
  10. Authentication sub group Beefalo V2.jpg
    Information sign.png Note
    If you want to combine LDAP/AD, you have to use the external groups. Add the group from LDAP/AD and select Based on group option to map to this particular SEP sesam group; see Configuring the LDAP authentication in the GUI.
  11. Under the Users tab, click Create New to configure a new user. The Create User window opens.
  12. Specify a name (e.g., mustermann), password and assign a user to the relevant group, for example, RESTORE.
  13. Authentication create user Beefalo V2.jpg
  14. A user can be a member of one or more groups. Under the Groups tab, double-click the relevant group and select or deselect the users to assign them to the respective group or remove them from it.
  15. Permission management groups Beefalo V2.jpg
  16. Now you can configure ACLs (access control lists) to specify which users or groups are granted access to location (group of clients) or a specific client. For details, see Using Access Control Lists.
Information sign.png Note
When activating database-based authentication via GUI, parameter authEnabled is changed to true in the sm.ini file. Setting the flag to false enables policy-based authentication and deactivates database-based authentication.

Resetting user password

To reset the password of another user, you must have Admin privileges. Resetting a password is a two step process: The administrator has to reset a password in the command line by using sm_cmd command and then use the newly generated password to be able to change the password under the Permission Management in GUI.

Resetting password in the command line

4 4 3 Grolar:Administering ACLs from the Command Line/en

Changing password in the GUI

After resetting a user password by using sm_cmd reset user command, you can change the password for the respective user in the Permission Management in GUI by using the automatically generated password from the command output. Note that only an Admin user has enough privileges to use the Permission Management and configure users.

  1. From the menu bar select Configuration ‐> Permission Management. The Permission Management window opens.
  2. Select the user for which you want to reset the password and click Change. In our example, the user is named mustermann.
  3. Permission management Beefalo V2.jpg
  4. In the Change User window, click Change Password.
  5. Change user Beefalo V2.jpg
  6. The Change Password window opens. Enter the password which you have obtained by resetting a password in the command line (in our example bouryper39), specify a new password and click OK.
  7. Change password Beefalo V2.jpg

Deactivating database-based authentication

  1. In the GUI, from the menu bar select Configuration ‐> Permission Management -> tab Activation.
  2. Click Deactivate Authentication.
  3. After deactivating the authentication mode and confirming your action, SEP sesam GUI will restart automatically. You have to restart SEP sesam Client manually for the changes to take effect.
  4. Now policy-based authentication is enabled and the flag authEnabled is set to false in the sm.ini file.