How can i track the Communication between LPARs? Post: 302802109

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Operating Systems AIX How can i track the Communication between LPARs? Post 302802109 by MichaelFelt on Friday 3rd of May 2013 02:01:44 AM

05-03-2013

Registered User

-=XrAy=- brings up some interesting points - I am glad he knows of these two core security mechanisms. And the redbook is a good starting point - even considering that it was written in October 2002 (these mechanisms have been available from at least 1996).

I would like to suggest you take a look at a couple of my blogs on IBMSystemsMagazine, in particular SecuringAIX: Combining audit and syslog where I describe how this command

Code:

auditstream -m -c general | tee -a /audit/general.bin | auditselect -e "result==FAIL && command!=java" | auditpr -v | logger -p local1.warn -t audit &

integrates audit with syslog.

And/or perhaps -=XrAy=- can tell us where he got his example from, as audit does not write automatically to syslog. The output (with comment built-in) is quite nice!

For this kind of detection, today! I would use a PowerSC component known as RTC - Real-Time-Compliance. "Real-Soon" I will be doing a writeup on that in my blog SecuringAIX.
However, more in general, two partitions aka LPAR on a POWER server are isolated by the firmware. Connections and monitoring of network activity would be the same as for a standalone host.
Properly configured, "disks" local to one partition are not accessible from another partition. The exception to this could be the VIO server when using VSCSI as the VIOS hosts the disks. Normally, VIOS are considered part of the managed system and "regular", unauthorized users/administrators are not permitted access. Again, under proper configuration and management conditions "side-ways" access should not be possible. This also can be additionaly protected by using NPIV rather than VSCSI. Now the storage team can control which partitions can see the "disks" aka LUNS by controlling/managing which virtual HBA(s) may access the luns.
Note: in a POWERHA/SystemMirror configuration is is considered normal that two partitions may access the same "disk". There are tools in PowerHA/SystemMirror to monitor which system has "active" access.

In short, AIX, POWER and VIOS have been repeated certified. See IBM AIX: AIX operating system certifications for an overview.

I hope this helps.

MichaelFelt

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ns_requestauthorize

ns_requestauthorize(3aolserver) 			    AOLserver Built-In Commands 			   ns_requestauthorize(3aolserver)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NAME

       ns_requestauthorize - commands

SYNOPSIS

       ns_requestauthorize option ?arg arg ...?
_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

   ns_requestauthorize method URL authuser authpassword ?ipaddr?
       Ask  the  server  to check permissions using nsperm.  This function does the same permission check that the AOLserver does before serving a
       URL. If the nsperm module is loaded, the algorithm is as follows.

       1. If the authuser is "nsadmin", the password is correct, and the IP address of the client is allowed nsadmin access, then access is autho-
	  rized.

       2. Find the relevant permission record. If an exact match for the method and URL combination is not found, the end of the URL is pared down
	  until a match is found. For example, if there is no match for `/products/cereals/raisin_bran.html,' then the server looks for a  permis-
	  sion record for the URL `/products/cereals.' If that permission record is specified as "Exact URL match is NOT required", then that per-
	  mission record is used.

       By default, the server comes with a row that says GET on `/' is open to the world. If no relevant permission record  is	found,	access	is
       denied (forbidden).

       1. If the authuser is in the "Allow Users" list, access is permitted. If the authuser is a member of a group in the "Allow Groups" list and
	  not in the "Deny Users" list, access is permitted.

       2. If the host is in the "Hosts to allow" list, access is permitted. If the host is in the "Hosts to deny" list, access is denied.

       3. If the request does not come in with authorization data, access is denied.

       4. The user and password are verified. If there is no password specified in the database, any password is accepted.

       5. Otherwise, access is denied.

   Return Values:
       The following values can be returned by ns_requestauthorize.

       OK	  The user has permission to execute this URL and method.

       DENIED	  The user does not have permission to execute this URL and method.

       FORBIDDEN  There is no possible user/password/IP Address combination that would give authorization.

       ERROR	  There was an error.

SEE ALSO

       ns_passwordcheck, ns_crypt

KEYWORDS

AOLserver								4.0					   ns_requestauthorize(3aolserver)