Security

This section describes measures for maintaining the security of the HP XC system.

Administrator Passwords

During system installation, you assigned the following passwords:

Root password
Used to access the superuser account, to perform system administration, and to invoke management tools.
Database administrator password
Used for changes to the configuration and management database.
Console port devices password and user name
Used to communicate with the console ports of the nodes in the system: Integrated Lights Out (iLO), MP (Management Processor), and Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI).
All user names and passwords for all consoles on all nodes must be the same.
Nagios configuration password
Used to access the Nagios system and network monitoring application.
Switch monitor password
Used to access the Quadrics® or InfiniBand® switch monitor.
Administrator password for ProCurve switches
Used for configuration of system administration switches. Ideally, there should be a single password for all ProCurve switches in the system. This password was set when the hardware was prepared before installation.

For information on changing these passwords, see “Changing Administrative Passwords”

Firewall

The HP XC system maintains a firewall to block communication on unused ports. For information about the firewall, see Chapter 12.

Secure Shell (ssh)

Secure Shell (ssh) is the preferred method for accessing the HP XC system. Typically, a user accesses the HP XC system using ssh to get a login shell or to execute commands.

The ssh service also enables file transfer using the scp or sftp commands over the same port as ssh. The typical r* UNIX® commands (rsh, rcp, rlogin) are not on an HP XC system by default because of their inherent insecurity. The ssh command transfers all login and password information in an obscured form instead of in the plain text form used by the r* UNIX telnet and ftp commands.

For security purposes, use the ssh command instead of these other, much less secure alternatives.

To use ssh without password prompting with a user account, you must set up ssh authentication keys. For information on configuring the ssh keys, see “Configuring the ssh Keys for a User”.

Security

Technical documentation

» Table of Contents

» Glossary

» Index

Administrator Passwords

Firewall

Secure Shell (ssh)