3 – Managing Fabrics
Securing a Fabric
59097-01 A
3-9
0
3.2.4
Device Security
Device security provides for the authorization and authentication of devices that
you attach to a switch. You can configure a switch with a group of devices against
which the switch authorizes new attachments by devices, other switches, or
devices issuing management server commands. Device security is configured
through the use of security sets and groups. A group is a list of device worldwide
names that are authorized to attach to a switch. There are three types of groups:
one for other switches (ISL), another for devices (port), and a third for devices
issuing management server commands (MS). A security set is a set of up to three
groups with no more than one of each group type. The security configuration is
made up of all security sets on the switch.
In addition to authorization, the switch can be configured to require authentication
to validate the identity of the connecting switch, device, or host. Authentication
can be performed locally using the switch security database, or remotely using a
Remote Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server. With a RADIUS server, the
security database for the entire fabric resides on the server. In this way, the
security database can be managed centrally, rather than on each switch. You can
configure up to five RADIUS servers to provide failover.
You can configure the RADIUS server to authenticate just the switch or both the
switch and the initiator device if the device supports authentication. When using a
RADIUS server, every switch in the fabric must have a network connection. A
RADIUS server can also be configured to authenticate user accounts.
Consider the devices, switches, and management agents and evaluate the need
for authorization and authentication. Also consider whether the security database
is to distributed on the switches or centralized on a RADIUS server and how many
servers to configure.
Managing device security involves the following tasks:
Creating security sets, groups, and members
Editing a security configuration on a switch
Viewing properties of a security set, group, or member
Archiving a security configuration on a switch to a file
Activating and deactivating a security set
The security database is made up of all security sets on the switch. The security
database has the following limits:
Maximum number of security sets is 4.
Maximum number of groups is 1000.
Maximum number of members in a group is 1000.
Maximum total number of group members is 1000.
