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This chapter includes the following sections:
Cisco UCS supports two methods to authenticate user logins:
![]() Note |
You can only use one authentication method. For example, if you select LDAP as your authentication provider, you cannot use local, RADIUS, or TACACS+ for authentication. |
If a system is configured for one of the supported remote authentication services, you must create a provider for that service to ensure that Cisco UCS Manager can communicate with it. In addition, you need to be aware of the following guidelines that impact user authorization:
You can create user accounts in Cisco UCS Manager or in the remote authentication server.
The temporary sessions for users who log in through remote authentication services can be viewed through Cisco UCS Manager GUI or Cisco UCS Manager CLI.
If you create user accounts in the remote authentication server, you must ensure that the accounts include the roles those users require for working in Cisco UCS Manager and that the names of those roles match the names used in Cisco UCS Manager. If an account does not have the required roles, the user is granted only read-only privileges.
The following table contains the name of the attribute that contains the value of the roles. Cisco UCS Manager checks for the value of this attribute when it queries the remote authentication service during login.
![]() Note |
You cannot use any other attribute in the remote authentication service for the Cisco UCS roles. You must create the attribute required for that specific remote authentication service. |
Remote Authentication Protocol |
Attribute Name |
---|---|
LDAP |
CiscoAVPair |
RADIUS |
cisco-av-pair |
TACACS+ |
cisco-av-pair |
For LDAP, the following is the full definition for the CiscoAVPair OID:
CN=CiscoAVPair,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,CN=X objectClass: top objectClass: attributeSchema cn: CiscoAVPair distinguishedName: CN=CiscoAVPair,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,CN=X instanceType: 0x4 uSNCreated: 26318654 attributeID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.287247.1 attributeSyntax: 2.5.5.12 isSingleValued: TRUE showInAdvancedViewOnly: TRUE adminDisplayName: CiscoAVPair adminDescription: UCS User Authorization Field oMSyntax: 64 lDAPDisplayName: CiscoAVPair name: CiscoAVPair objectCategory: CN=Attribute-Schema,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,CN=X
Creating a Remote Authentication Provider
Command or Action | Purpose | |
---|---|---|
Step 1 | UCS-A# scope security | Enters security mode. |
Step 2 | UCS-A /security # scope ldap | Enters security LDAP mode. |
Step 3 | UCS-A /security/ldap # set attribute attribute | Restricts database searches to records that contain the specified attribute. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/ldap # set basedn distinguished-name | Restricts database searches to records that contain the specified distinguished name. |
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/ldap # set filter filter | Restricts database searches to records that contain the specified filter. |
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/ldap # set timeout seconds | (Optional) Sets the time interval the system waits for a response from the LDAP server before noting the server as down. |
Step 7 | UCS-A /security/ldap # create server server-name | Creates an LDAP server instance and enters security LDAP server mode |
Step 8 | UCS-A /security/ldap/server # set ssl {yes | no} | Enables or disables the use of SSL when communicating with the LDAP server. |
Step 9 | UCS-A /security/ldap/server # set key | (Optional) Sets the LDAP server key. To set the key value, press Return after typing the set key command and enter the key value at the prompt. |
Step 10 | UCS-A /security/ldap/server # set port port-num | Specifies the port used to communicate with the LDAP server. |
Step 11 | UCS-A /security/ldap/server # set binddn bind-dist-name | Specifies the distinguished name for the LDAP database superuser account. |
The following example sets the LDAP attribute to CiscoAvPair, the base distinguished name to "DC=nuova-sam-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com", the filter to sAMAccountName=$userid, the timeout interval to 5 seconds, creates a server instance named 10.193.169.246, disables SSL, sets the key, sets the authentication port to 389, and sets the root distinguished name to "cn=Administrator,cn=Users,DC=nuova-sam-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com":
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope ldap UCS-A /security/ldap # set attribute CiscoAvPair UCS-A /security/ldap* # set basedn "DC=cisco-ucsm-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com" UCS-A /security/ldap* # set filter sAMAccountName=$userid UCS-A /security/ldap* # set timeout 5 UCS-A /security/ldap* # create server 10.193.169.246 UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set ssl no UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set key Enter the key: Confirm the key: UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set port 389 UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # set binddn "cn=Administrator,cn=Users,DC=cisco-ucsm-aaa3,DC=qalab,DC=com" UCS-A /security/ldap/server* # commit-buffer UCS-A /security/ldap/server #
Command or Action | Purpose | |
---|---|---|
Step 1 | UCS-A# scope security | Enters security mode. |
Step 2 | UCS-A /security # scope radius | Enters security RADIUS mode. |
Step 3 | UCS-A /security/radius # set retries retry-num | (Optional) Sets the number of times to retry communicating with the RADIUS server before noting the server as down. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/radius # set timeout seconds | (Optional) Sets the time interval the system waits for a response from the RADIUS server before noting the server as down. |
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/radius # create server server-name | Creates a RADIUS server instance and enters security RADIUS server mode |
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/radius/server # set authport authport-num | Specifies the port used to communicate with the RADIUS server. |
Step 7 | UCS-A /security/radius/server # set key | (Optional) Sets the RADIUS server key. To set the key value, press Return after typing the set key command and enter the key value at the prompt. |
The following example sets the RADIUS retries to 4, the timeout interval to 30 seconds, creates a server instance named radiusserv7, sets the authentication port to 5858, and sets the key to radiuskey321:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope radius UCS-A /security/radius # set retries 4 UCS-A /security/radius # set timeout 30 UCS-A /security/radius # create server radiusserv7 UCS-A /security/radius/server # set authport 5858 UCS-A /security/radius/server # set key Enter the key: radiuskey321 Confirm the key: radiuskey321
Command or Action | Purpose | |
---|---|---|
Step 1 | UCS-A# scope security | Enters security mode. |
Step 2 | UCS-A /security # scope tacacs | Enters security TACACS+ mode. |
Step 3 | UCS-A /security/tacacs # set timeout seconds | (Optional) Sets the time interval the system waits for a response from the TACACS+ server before noting the server as down. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /security/tacacs # create server server-name | Creates an TACACS+ server instance and enters security TACACS+ server mode |
Step 5 | UCS-A /security/tacacs/server # set key | (Optional) Sets the TACACS+ server key. To set the key value, press Return after typing the set key command and enter the key value at the prompt. |
Step 6 | UCS-A /security/tacacs/server # set port port-num | Specifies the port used to communicate with the TACACS+ server. |
The following example sets the TACACS+ timeout interval to 45 seconds, creates a server instance named tacacsserv680, sets the key to tacacskey321, and the authentication port to 5859:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # scope tacacs UCS-A /security/tacacs # set timeout 45 UCS-A /security/tacacs # create server tacacsserv680 UCS-A /security/tacacs/server # set key Enter the key: tacacskey321 Confirm the key: tacacskey321 UCS-A /security/tacacs/server # set port 5859
Selecting a Primary Authentication Service
Command or Action | Purpose | |
---|---|---|
Step 1 | UCS-A# scope security | Enters security mode. |
Step 2 | UCS-A /security # set authentication console auth-type | Specifies the console authentication, where the auth-type argument is one of the following keywords: |
The following example sets the console to use local authentication:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # set authentication console local
Command or Action | Purpose | |
---|---|---|
Step 1 | UCS-A# scope security | Enters security mode. |
Step 2 | UCS-A /security # set authentication default auth-type | Specifies the default authentication, where the auth-type argument is one of the following keywords: |
The following example sets the default authentication to LDAP:
UCS-A# scope security UCS-A /security # set authentication default ldap