Setting the Access Control Configuration

About this task

Restricting remote access to a controller or service platform ensures only trusted hosts can communicate with enabled management services. This ensures only trusted hosts can perform management tasks and provide protection from brute force attacks from hosts attempting to break into the controller or service platform managed network.

Administrators can permit management connections to be established on any IP interface on the controller or service platform (including IP interfaces used to provide captive portal guest access). Administrators can restrict management access by limiting access to a specific host (IP address), subnet, or ACL on the controller or service platform.

Refer to the Access Control screen to allow/deny management access to the network using strategically selected protocols (HTTP, HTTPS, Telnet, SSH or SNMP). Access options can be either enabled or disabled as required. Consider disabling unused interfaces to close unnecessary security holes. The Access Control tab is not meant to function as an ACL (in routers or other firewalls), where you can specify and customize specific IPs to access specific interfaces.

Source hosts - Management access can be restricted to one or more hosts by specifying their IP addresses
Source subnets - Management access can be restricted to one or more subnets
IP ACL - Management access can be based on the policies defined in an IP based ACL

In the following example, a controller has two IP interfaces defined with VLAN10 hosting management and network services and VLAN70 providing guest services. For security the guest network is separated from all trusted VLANs by a firewall.


Interface	Description	IP Address	Management
VLAN10	Services	Yes	Yes
VLAN70	Guest	Yes	No

By default, management services are accessible on both VLAN10 and VLAN70, and that‘s not desirable to an administrator. By restricting access to VLAN10, the controller only accepts management sessions on VLAN10. Management access on VLAN70 is longer available.

Administrators can secure access to a controller or service platform by disabling less secure interfaces. By default, the CLI, SNMP and FTP disable interfaces that do not support encryption or authentication. However, Web management using HTTP is enabled. Insecure management interfaces such as Telnet, HTTP and SNMP should be disabled, and only secure management interfaces, like SSH and HTTPS should be used to access the controller or service platform managed network.

The following table demonstrates how some interfaces provide better security than others:


Access Type	Encrypted	Authenticated	Default State
Telnet	No	Yes	Disabled
SNMPv2	No	No	Enabled
SNMPv3	Yes	Yes	Enabled
HTTP	No	Yes	Disabled
HTTPS	Yes	Yes	Disabled
FTP	No	Yes	Disabled
SSHv2	Yes	Yes	Disabled

To set an access control configuration for the Management Access policy:

Procedure

Select the Access Control tab.

Set the following parameters required for Telnet access:


Enable Telnet	Select the checkbox to enable Telnet device access. Telnet provides a command line interface to a remote host over TCP. Telnet provides no encryption, but it does provide a measure of authentication. Telnet access is disabled by default.
Telnet Port	Set the port on which Telnet connections are made (1 - 65,535). The default port is 23. Change this value using the spinner control next to this field or by entering the port number in the field.

Set the following parameters required for SSH access:


Enable SSHv2	Select the checkbox to enable SSH device access. SSH (Secure Shell) version 2, like Telnet, provides a command line interface to a remote host. SSH transmissions are encrypted and authenticated, increasing the security of transmission. SSH access is disabled by default.
SSHv2 Port	Set the port on which SSH connections are made. The default port is 22. Change this value using the spinner control next to this field or by entering the port number in the field.

Set the following HTTP/HTTPS parameters:


Enable HTTP	Select the check box to enable HTTP device access. HTTP provides limited authentication and no encryption.
Enable HTTPS	Select the check box to enable HTTPS device access. HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is more secure than plain HTTP. HTTPS provides both authentication and data encryption as opposed to just authentication.

Note

If the a RADIUS server is not reachable, HTTPS or SSH management access to the controller or service platform may be denied.

Select the Enable Rest Server option, within the Rest Server field, to facilitate device on-boarding. When selected, the REST server allows vendor-specific users access to the online device registration portal. All requests and responses to and from the on-boarding portal are handled by the REST server through restful Application Programming Interface (API) transactions. The REST server serves the Web pages used to associate a device‘s MAC address with a specific vendor group. This option is enabled by default.

Set the following parameters required for FTP access:


Enable FTP	Select the check box to enable FTP device access. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the standard protocol for transferring files over a TCP/IP network. FTP requires administrators enter a valid username and password authenticated locally on the controller. FTP access is disabled by default.
FTP Username	Specify a username required when logging in to the FTP server. The username cannot exceed 32 characters.
FTP Password	Specify a password required when logging in to the FTP server. Reconfirm the password in the field provided to ensure it has been entered correctly. The password cannot exceed 63 characters.
FTP Root Directory	Provide the complete path to the root directory in the space provided. The default setting has the root directory set to flash:/

Set the following General parameters:


Idle Session Timeout	Specify an inactivity timeout for management connects (in seconds) between 1 - 4,320. The default setting is 12.0
Message of the Day	Enter message of the day text (no longer than 255 characters) displayed at login for clients connecting via Telnet or SSH.

Set the following Access Restrictions parameters:


Filter Type	Select a filter type for access restriction. Options include IP Access List, Source Address or None. To restrict management access to specific hosts, select Source Address as the filter type and provide the allowed addresses within the Source Hosts field.
IP Access List	If the selected filter type is IP Access List, select an access list from the drop-down menu or select the Create button to define a new one. IP based firewalls function like Access Control Lists (ACLs) to filter/mark packets based on the IP from which they arrive, as opposed to filtering packets on layer 2 ports. IP firewalls implement uniquely defined access control policies, so if you do not have an idea of what kind of access to allow or deny, a firewall is of little value, and could provide a false sense of network security.
Source Hosts	If the selected filter type is Source Address, enter an IP Address or IP Addresses for the source hosts. To restrict management access to specific hosts, select Source Address as the filter type and provide the allowed addresses within the Source Hosts field.
Source Subnets	If the selected filter type is Source Address, enter a source subnet or subnets for the source hosts. To restrict management access to specific subnets, select Source Address as the filter type and provide the allowed addresses within the Source Subnets field.
Logging Policy	If the selected filter is Source Address, enter a logging policy for administrative access. Options includes None, Denied Requests or All.

Set the User Lockout Settings. Click Add Row to configure the following role-based user-account lockout and unlock criteria:


Role	Specify the user-role for which account lockout is to be enabled. The options are: device-provisioning-admin helpdesk monitor network-admin security-admin system-admin vendor-admin web-user-admin Note: You can enable account lockout for multiple roles. After specifying the role/roles, set the Lockout Time and Number of Password Attempts. User-account lockout is individually applied to each account within the specified role/roles. For example, consider the ‘monitor‘ role having two users: ‘user1‘ and ‘user2‘. The Number of Password Attempts and Lockout Time is set at ‘5‘ attempts and ‘10‘ minutes respectively. In this scenario, user2 makes 5 consecutive, failed login attempts, and the user2 account is locked out for 10 minutes. However, during this lockout time the user1 account remains active.
Lockout Time	Specify the maximum time for which an account remains locked. Specify a value from 0 to 600 minutes. The value ‘0‘ indicates that the account is permanently locked.
Number of Password Attempts	Specify the maximum number of consecutive, failed attempts allowed before an account is locked. Specify a value from 1 to 100.

Click OK to save the Access Control configuration or click Reset to revert to the last saved configuration.