Polycom MGC Administrator, Administrator'S Manual

Page: 270 / 584

Chapter 5 - MCU System Management
5-34
XPEK Silent Mode
To increase MGC unit security and as a hacking preventive measure, the
MCU is now set by default to Silent Mode in order to ignore pings. MCU
behavior is configured in the system configuration file (system.cfg), in the
XPEK section, by defining the flag SILENT_MODE=YES.
For those instances in which an MCU connection needs to be confirmed,
there are several options for enabling pinging:
• Using IP Terminal commands to alter the ping settings temporarily
without having to reset the system.
In the IP Terminal window enter allow_ping YES TIMEOUT
If SILENT_MODE=YES, the command allow_ping YES overrides the
system.cfg settings, allowing the MCU to be pinged. The time-out is
used to define an interval that restricts the time in which the MCU is
exposed to pinging, after which the IP Terminal returns to the default
Silent Mode setting defined in the system.cfg. The time-out is defined in
seconds and it is added to the IP Terminal command. For example, if you
define: allow_ping YES 30 there is a 30 second interval in which the
MCU can be pinged.
This combination of using a time-limited IP Terminal setting is the most
secure method.
•
Changing the default SILENT_MODE flag from YES to NO, which
requires resetting the system.
After changing this flag and resetting the system, the ping status can be
determined using IP Terminal command only, changing the settings from
YES to NO and vice versa. This last option may be easier to use, but is
less secure.
Using IP Terminal commands to alter the ping settings:
In the IP Terminal window enter allow_ping NO .
For details of flag modification in the “system.cfg” see “Edit “system.cfg”” on
page 5-60.