IBM CSM to IBM Systems Director Transformation Guide

Chapter 4. Functional comparison 101

Table 4-3 lists the different agents used by IBM Systems Director when managing IBM

Power-based systems. Be aware that other communication types might be used for different

hardware architectures, which is not covered in this book.

Table 4-3 IBM Systems Director agent communication protocol for Power-managed systems

4.4.3 Security consideration when defining users and groups

System administration is an important aspect of daily operations, and security is an inherent

part of most system administration functions. Also, in addition to securing the operating

environment, it is necessary to closely monitor daily system activities.

Remote command execution By default, dsh relies on the

“classic” rsh command for

remote execution.

Unfortunately, rsh provides only

a minimum security level. The

authorization is based on the

.rhosts file stored in the user’s

home directory. The data

exchanged between the

management server and the

nodes is not encrypted.

By default this relies on the

secure shell (ssh). Should the

remote system ssh server not

respond to the request, then the

remote command will try

regular Telnet. Both TCP

(default) and UDP are

supported.

Tip: When accessing an agentless managed system from Systems Director, it is

considered best practice to configure access using a user account other than root. This

way you can limit the functions performed by the user account and enhance the

information provided for audit purposes.

Managed System Communication Type Encryption used

Agentless Simple Network Management

Protocol (SNMP) v1 and v2.

Not encrypted.

Simple Network Management

Protocol (SNMP) v3.

Advanced Encryption Standard

(AES) or Data Encryption

Standard (DES).

Secure Shell (SSH). Encryption algorithm is

negotiated.

Platform Agent Agentless. Supports the communication

protocols and encryption listed

for the agentless managed

systems.

Common Information Model

(CIM).

If configured, using SSL on port

5989.

Common Agent Tivoli Common Agent

Service 6.x.

Encrypted Web Service (SSL).

Other Service Location Protocol

(SLP).

Not encrypted.

Security Topics Cluster System Management IBM Systems Director