RSA SecurID Servers for AAA

The following topics explain how to configure RSA SecurID servers used in AAA. The RSA SecureID servers are also known as SDI servers, because SDI is the protocol used to communicate with them. You can use RSA SecurID servers for the authentication of management connections, network access, and VPN user access.

About RSA SecurID Servers

You can use RSA SecurID servers either directly for authentication, or indirectly, as a second factor for authentication. In the latter case, you would configure the relationship to the SecurID server between the SecurID server and your RADIUS server, and configure the ASA to use the RADIUS server.

But, if you want to directly authenticate against the SecurID server, you would create a AAA server group for the SDI protocol, which is the protocol used to communicate with these servers.

When you use SDI, you need only specify the primary SecurID server when you create the AAA server group. The ASA will retrieve the sdiconf.rec file, which lists all of the SecurID server replicas, when it first connects to the server. The ASA can then use these replicas for authentication if the primary server does not respond.

In addition, you must register the ASA as an authentication agent in the RSA Authentication Manager. Authentication attempts will fail until you register the ASA.

Guidelines for RSA SecurID Servers for AAA

  • You can have up to 200 server groups in single mode or 8 server groups per context in multiple mode.

  • Each group can have up to 16 servers in single mode or 8 servers in multiple mode. When a user logs in, the servers are accessed one at a time starting with the first server you specify in the configuration, until a server responds.

Configure RSA SecurID Servers for AAA

The following topics explain how to configure RSA SecurID server groups. You can then use these groups when configuring management access or VPNs.

Configure RSA SecurID AAA Server Groups

If you want to use direct communication with an RSA SecurID server for authentication, you must first create at least one SDI server group and add one or more servers to each group. If you are using the SecurID server in a proxy relationship with a RADIUS server, you do not need to configure an SDI AAA server group on the ASA.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.

Step 2

Click Add in the AAA Server Groups area.

The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears.

Step 3

Enter a name for the group in the Server Group field.

Step 4

Choose the SDI server type from the Protocol drop-down list:

Step 5

Click Depletion or Timed in the Reactivation Mode field.

In Depletion mode, failed servers are reactivated only after all of the servers in the group are inactive. In depletion mode, when a server is deactivated, it remains inactive until all other servers in the group are inactive. When and if this occurs, all servers in the group are reactivated. This approach minimizes the occurrence of connection delays due to failed servers.

In Timed mode, failed servers are reactivated after 30 seconds of down time.

Step 6

If you chose the Depletion reactivation mode, enter a time interval in the Dead Time field.

The dead time is the duration of time, in minutes, that elapses between the disabling of the last server in a group and the subsequent re-enabling of all servers. Deadtime applies only if you configure fallback to the local database; authentication is attempted locally until the deadtime elapses.

Step 7

Specify the maximum number of failed AAA transactions with a AAA server in the group before trying the next server.

This option sets the number of failed AAA transactions before declaring a nonresponsive server to be inactive.

Step 8

Click OK.

Add RSA SecurID Servers to an SDI Server Group

Before you can use an SDI server group, you must add at least one RSA SecurID server to the group.

Servers in an SDI server group use the authentication and server management protocol (ACE) to communicate with the ASA.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.

Step 2

Select the server group to which you want to add a server.

Step 3

Click Add in the Servers in the Selected Group area.

The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears for the server group.

Step 4

Choose the Interface Name through which the authentication server resides.

Step 5

Enter either the name or IP address for the server that you are adding to the group.

Step 6

Specify the timeout value for connection attempts to the server.

Specify the timeout interval (1-300 seconds) for the server; the default is 10 seconds. For each AAA transaction the ASA retries connection attempts (based on the retry interval) until the timeout is reached. If the number of consecutive failed transactions reaches the maximum-failed-attempts limit specified in the AAA server group, the AAA server is deactivated and the ASA starts sending requests to another AAA server if it is configured.

Step 7

Select the retry interval, which is the time the system waits before retrying a connection request. You can select from 1-10 seconds. The default is 10 seconds.

Step 8

Specify the server port. The server port is either the default port number 5500, or the TCP port number used by the ASA to communicate with the RSA SecurID server.

Step 9

Click OK.

Import the SDI Node Secret File

You can manually import the node-secret file that is generated by the RSA Authentication Manager (SecurID) server.

Procedure

Step 1

Export the node secret file from the RSA Authentication Manager server. For details, see the RSA Authentication Manager documentation.

Step 2

Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA SDI.

Step 3

Click Upload, select the unzipped node secret file that was exported from the RSA Authentication Manager, and upload it to the system.

Step 4

Under Import Node Secret for SDI, enter the following information:

  • Server IP—The IP address or fully-qualified hostname of the RSA Authentication Manager server to which the node secret belongs.

  • Password—The password used to protect the file when you exported it.

  • File Name—Click Browse and select the unzipped node secret file that you uploaded.

Monitor RSA SecurID Servers for AAA

You can use the following commands to monitor and clear RSA SecurID-related information. Enter commands from the Tools > Command Line Interface window.

  • Monitoring > Properties > AAA Servers

    This window shows the AAA server statistics.

  • show aaa-server

    Shows the AAA server statistics. Use the clear aaa-server statistics command to clear the server statistics.

  • show running-config aaa-server

    Shows the AAA servers that are configured for the system. Use the clear configure aaa-server command to remove the AAA server configuration.

  • show aaa sdi node-secrets

    Shows which RSA SecurID servers have an imported node secret file. Use the clear aaa sdi node-secret command to remove a node secret file.

History for RSA SecurID Servers for AAA

Feature Name

Platform Releases

Description

SecurID Servers

7.2(1)

Support for SecurID servers for AAA for management authentication. SecurID was supported in previous releases for VPN authentication.

IPv6 addresses for AAA

9.7(1)

You can now use either an IPv4 or IPv6 address for the AAA server.

Increased limits for AAA server groups and servers per group.

9.13(1)

You can configure more AAA server groups. In single context mode, you can configure 200 AAA server groups (the former limit was 100). In multiple context mode, you can configure 8 (the former limit was 4).

In addition, in multiple context mode, you can configure 8 servers per group (the former limit was 4 servers per group). The single context mode per-group limit of 16 remains unchanged.

We modified the AAA screens to accept these new limits.

Manual import of node secret file from the RSA Authentication Manager for SDI AAA server groups.

9.15(1)

You can import the node secret file that you export from the RSA Authentication Manager for use with SDI AAA server groups.

We added the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA SDI.