Switch Users Test
To avoid unauthorized access to the target switch, the HP switch by default, defines user privilege levels and command levels. User privilege levels correspond to command levels. When a user at a specific privilege level logs in, the user can only use commands at that level, or lower levels. All commands are categorized into four levels: visit, monitor, system, and manage, and are identified from low to high, respectively by 0 through 3.
Level |
Privilege |
Description |
---|---|---|
0 | Visit |
Involves commands for network diagnosis and accessing an external device. Configuration of commands at this level cannot survive a device restart. Upon device restart, the commands at this level are restored to the default settings. Commands at this level include ping, tracert, telnet and ssh2. |
1 | Monitor |
Involves commands for system maintenance and service fault diagnosis. Commands at this level are not allowed to be saved after being configured. After the switch is restarted, the commands at this level are restored to the default settings. Commands at this level include debugging, terminal, refresh, reset, and send. |
2 | System |
Involves service configuration commands, such as routing configuration commands and commands for configuring services at different network levels. By default, commands at this level include all configuration commands except for those at the manage level. |
3 | Manage |
Involves commands that influence the basic operation of the system and commands for configuring system support modules. By default, commands at this level involve the configuration commands of file system, FTP, TFTP, Xmodem download, user management, level setting, and parameter settings within a system (which are not defined by any protocols or RFCs). |
Often, administrators find it difficult to figure out if legitimate users with required privilege levels are alone entitled to log into the switch. Unauthorized access to the switch may be a potential harm to the target environment in which the switch is deployed. Therefore it is the onus of the administrators to constantly keep track on the number of users who are blocked to access the switch. The Switch Users test helps administrators in this regard!
This test tracks the users who are currently active on the target HP switch and the users who were blocked on the switch. The detailed diagnosis of this test reveals the name of the users along with the privilege vested to each user. This way, administrators can figure out any unauthorized access to the switch before the target environment is invaded by unauthorized users!
Target of the test : A HP Switch
Agent deploying the test : An external agent
Outputs of the test : One set of results for the target HP Switch being monitored.
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
Test Period |
How often should the test be executed. |
Host |
The IP address of the HP switch that is being monitored. |
SNMPPort |
The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; the default is 161. |
SNMPVersion |
By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPVersion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list. |
SNMPCommunity |
The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the switch. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear. |
Username |
This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter. |
Context |
This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box. By default, this parameter is set to none. |
AuthPass |
Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3. |
Confirm Password |
Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here. |
AuthType |
This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:
|
EncryptFlag |
This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option. |
EncryptType |
If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:
|
EncryptPassword |
Specify the encryption password here. |
Confirm Password |
Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here. |
Timeout |
Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds. |
Data Over TCP |
By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No. |
Engine ID |
This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No. |
Detailed Diagnosis |
To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option. The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:
|
Measurements made by the test
Measurement | Description | Measurement Unit | Interpretation |
---|---|---|---|
Active users |
Indicates the number of users who are currently active on the switch. |
Number |
The detailed diagnosis of this measure reveals the name of the users who are active on the switch and the privilege level of each user. |
Blocked users |
Indicates the number of users who were blocked to access the switch. |
Number |
A sudden/gradual increase in the value of this measure may be a potential threat due to unauthorized users trying to access the switch. The detailed diagnosis of this measure reveals the name of the users who were blocked and the privilege level of each user. |