Manual Chapter : Authentication & Access

Applies To:

  • F5OS-A

    1.8.4

back-action F5 rSeries Systems: Administration and Configuration

Updated Date: 04/27/2026

Authentication & Access

You can manage the rSeries system at all levels from the CLI, the webUI, or using REST APIs. Each of these levels is distinct from one another requiring separate user names and passwords.

The rSeries system has two levels of user management:

At the system level, after basic configuration is complete, the system includes default root (Bash access only) and admin accounts that you can use to log in to the system. The system administrator uses the admin account and changes the default passwords when logging in the first time. At that point, the admin user can also create additional accounts for other users, such as other system administrators, terminal server administrators, or operators.

Since the tenants are independent of the rest of the rSeries system, management of tenant users is not covered in this guide. For more information, see the tenant documentation (such as BIG-IP software documentation at my.f5.com).

There are multiple user roles for managing the rSeries system, and each role performs different sets of administrative actions at conceptually different levels.

On rSeries systems, users with admin access can make configuration changes at the level in which they are working.

This table lists user roles at the system level.

Role

Description

admin

Provides access to the system CLI or webUI to configure the system-level settings with unrestricted read/write access. Can unlock any system users. Logs in to the active management IP address. No Bash access. Has broader ability and can configure management interfaces, install Base OS system software, modify system settings, activate licensing, perform user management, and configure network settings, port groups, interfaces, VLANs, LAGs, log settings, tenant deployments, and system settings.

Important: The default login credentials are admin/admin. When logging in as admin for the first time, the system prompts you to change the password. This also changes the default password for the root account to match that of the admin account.

limited

F5 internal use only.

operator

Allows read access to system level configuration from the CLI or webUI and write access to change password only. Logs in to the active management IP address. No Bash access. Has read-only access to every screen and every configuration object at the level in which they are working. If an operator tries to modify any setting, however, the system displays a warning that explains that their role is unauthorized to make the configuration change.

resource admin

Similar to the Admin user role, but cannot create, modify, or delete local user accounts; create, modify, or delete server groups; or modify any authentication settings. This user role can modify their own user detail to change their own password.

root

Created by the system. Used by the system administrator. Provides Bash shell access to the entire system including all components. The root user is the only user that has Bash access. The system root account can be accessed from the management IP address and from a console. The root password can be changed using the passwd command, or by an admin user from the CLI. On first login, you are forced to change the password. If you change the root user password and the admin password is ‘admin’ at that time, the admin user will have the same new password.

Warning: F5 recommends disabling the root account using appliance mode in production to reduce the attack surface of the system and protect it from any vulnerabilities.

tenant-console

Has virtual console access to tenants from the CLI. Tenant console access is authenticated by tenant root credentials. No access to any part of the rSeries system.

user

This role grants users permission to view all objects on the system except for sensitive data such as events, user login activity, files and directories, and configuration backup. This user role cannot modify any system configurations however users can change their own password.

superuser

This role provides root access privileges and bash access to the system, allowing users with the superuser role to execute commands from bash shell. To get the bash shell, users must set the ‘superuser-bash-access’ flag in ConfD to ’true’ and turn off the appliance mode.

The rSeries system includes support for using a remote authentication server to store system user accounts. After you have created system accounts on the remote server (using the server vendor’s instructions), you can configure the rSeries system to use that server type to authenticate and authorize users. You can enable all available remote authentication methods and use either the CLI or webUI to indicate the order in which you would like the methods to be attempted when a user logs in.

If you want to use a remote authentication server with your rSeries system, you can configure remote authentication from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings.

  3. For Authentication Methods, from the Available list, select one or more options and click the arrows to move them to the Selected list.

    The authentication server must be configured and reachable from the system.

    Note: The Local (Always Selected) option is always enabled and cannot be changed. Local authentication is always enabled, by default, so the administrator can always access the system in case of external authentication server failure.

  4. Click Show to display additional settings, as needed, such as those in the Common LDAP Configuration area.

    This is required only if you want to use LDAP and create LDAP server groups with LDAP servers.

  5. Click Save.

When a user logs in, the system attempts to authenticate them against the configured authentication methods. When the account has a match within any of the configured authentication methods, the user is authenticated and given access.

You can configure the order in which the rSeries system attempts authentication methods when a user logs in to the system from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings.

  3. For Authentication Methods, from the Selected list, select an authentication method and click the arrows to move it up or down in the list.

    Note: The Local (Always Selected) option is always enabled and cannot be changed. Local authentication is always enabled, by default, so the administrator can always access the system in case of external authentication server failure.

  4. Click Save.

You can create authentication server groups to organize servers using the same type of authentication method.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Server Groups.

  3. Click Add.

  4. For Name, create a recognizable name for the server group.

  5. For Provider Type, select LDAP, OCSP, RADIUS, or TACACS+ to qualify the type of servers that will be in the group.

  6. Click Save & Close.

You have created the authentication server group.

Next, you can add servers to the server group.

Before you add server groups, you must have previously created at least one server group.

You can add servers to an authentication server group from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

    1. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Server Groups.

  3. Click the server group to which you want to add servers.

    The Edit Server Group screen displays.

  4. Click Add.

  5. Add server information for the server group.

    • Provider Type is set when you create the server group and cannot be changed.

    • For an LDAP server group, you can change the Port number or Type of the server.

      Select from these options: LDAP over TCP or LDAP over SSL (requires SSL certificate) depending on which protocol the LDAP server uses.

    • For an OCSP server group, you can change the Port number.

    • For a RADIUS server group, you can change the Port number, Secret (string or password), or Timeout (seconds to wait for a response from the server).

    • For a TACACS+ server group, you can change the Port number, Secret (string or password), or Source Address.

  6. Click Save & Close.

Add as many servers as needed to the authentication server group. OCSP server groups can contain only one OCSP server.

Users with the admin role can configure the system to use these authentication methods to authenticate users:

  • External LDAP Server (includes Active Directory)
  • External RADIUS Server
  • External TACACS+ Server
  • Local (local UNIX authentication)

Each user role is internally mapped to a group ID. Users created and managed on external LDAP, Active Directory, RADIUS, or TACACS+ servers must have the same group IDs on the external servers as they do on F5 rSeries systems to enable authentication and authorization to occur on rSeries systems. Users created on external LDAP, Active Directory, RADIUS, or TACACS+ servers must be associated with one of these group IDs on the system.

Important: You can only use existing roles and cannot create new roles.

The group IDs are specified in a user configuration file on the external server (file locations vary on different servers). You can assign these F5 user attributes:

F5-F5OS-UID=1001
F5-F5OS-GID=9000   <-- Required; must match with the GID of a role in F5OS (or correspond to the ‘remote-gid’ configured for a role)  
F5-F5OS-HOMEDIR=/tmp  <-- Optional; prevents sshd warning msgs 
F5-F5OS-USERINFO=test_user  <-- Optional user info 
F5-F5OS-SECONDARYGIDS <-- Optional; comma-separated list of secondary GIDs. Must match with the GID of a role in F5OS (or correspond to the 'remote-gid' for a role).
F5-F5OS-SHELL=/bin/bash    <--  Ignored; always set to /var/lib/controller/f5_confd_cli

Setting F5-F5OS-HOMEDIR=/tmp is a good idea to avoid warning messages from sshd that the directory does not exist. Also, the source address in the TACACS+ configuration is not used by the rSeries system.

The F5-F5OS-UID field is deprecated and no longer used by the F5OS systems. Even if configured on the remote server, the value will be ignored by the F5OS systems. Instead, the F5OS system assigns the user a unique UID during authentication. Once assigned, the user keeps its UID across different sessions on the same system. F5-F5OS-GID is required; if not set, user authentication will fail. The F5-F5OS-USERINFO is a comment field. Essentially, F5-F5OS-GID is the only hard requirement and must coincide with the group ID’s user role.

This table lists the default group IDs for system roles.

Role Group ID
admin 9000
operator 9001
resource admin 9003
tenant-console 9100
user 9002
superuser 9004

The user configuration file is often named /etc/raddb/users. This is an example of an entry for an administrator with admin privileges:

radius_user Cleartext-Password := test
        F5-F5OS-UID := 1001,
        F5-F5OS-GID := 9000,
        F5-F5OS-SECONDARYGIDS := “9004”,
        F5-F5OS-HOMEDIR := "/tmp",
        F5-F5OS-SHELL := "/var/lib/controller/f5_confd_cli"

For example, on a TACACS+ server, the user configuration file is typically named /etc/tac_plus.conf. This is an example of an entry for an administrator with admin privileges:

group = admin {
    service = ppp
    protocol = ip
    {
        default attribute=permit
        F5-F5OS-UID=1001
        F5-F5OS-GID=9000
        F5-F5OS-HOMEDIR=/tmp
        F5-F5OS-USERINFO=test_user
    }
}

user = test_tacacs_user {
    global = cleartext "test-tacplus"
    member = admin
}

You can display the administrator roles with their associated group IDs from the CLI using an account with admin or operator access.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Display user roles for the system.

    show system aaa authentication roles

    A summary similar to this example displays:

    appliance-1# show system aaa authentication roles
                      REMOTE  LDAP                                                                                          
ROLENAME        GID   GID     GROUP  DESCRIPTION                                                                      USERS 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
admin           9000  -       -      Unrestricted read/write access.                                                  -     
operator        9001  -       -      Read-only access to system level data.                                           -     
resource-admin  9003  -       -      Restricted read/write access. No access to modify authentication configuration.  -     
superuser       9004  -       -      Sudo privileges and Bash access to the system (if enabled).                      -     
user            9002  -       -      Read-only access to non-sensitive system level data.                             -

Using an account with admin or operator access, you can configure a custom remote group ID (GID) for all remote authentication methods (LDAP, TACACS+, RADIUS). For example, this enables LDAP administrators to specify admin and operator groups, and then associate those GIDs to the associated roles rather than the hard-coded 9000 and 9001. The default GID fields (that is, 9000 and 9001) are not affected, and the system maps the remote GID to the default GID.

Important: You can configure multiple remote authentication methods at a time but can only assign one remote GID to a specific primary GID. If you switch from LDAP to RADIUS, for example, you will have to reconfigure the settings for RADIUS. If you then decide to go back to LDAP, you will have to reconfigure it again. F5 recommends that you avoid assigning multiple F5-mapped GIDs to a single user account.

Using an account with admin or operator access, you can configure a custom group ID (GID) for all remote authentication methods (LDAP, TACACS+, RADIUS) from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Configure a remote GID.

    system aaa authentication roles role <*role-name*> config remote-gid

    This example assigns a remote GID to the admin user:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication roles role admin config remote-gid
(<unsignedInt>) (9000): 6000

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  5. Return to user (operational) mode.

    end

  6. Verify that the operator user role is assigned the custom remote GID.

    show system aaa authentication roles

    A summary similar to this example displays:

    `appliance-``1``# show system aaa authentication roles``                      ``REMOTE  LDAP``ROLENAME        GID   GID     GROUP  DESCRIPTION                                                                      USERS``-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------``admin           ``9000`  `6000`    `-      Unrestricted read/write access.                                                  -``operator        ``9001`  `-       -      Read-only access to system level data.                                           -``resource-admin  ``9003`  `-       -      Restricted read/write access. No access to modify authentication configuration.  -``superuser       ``9004`  `-       -      Sudo privileges and Bash access to the system (``if` `enabled).                      -``user            ``9002`  `-       -      Read-only access to non-sensitive system level data.                             -`

Verify that the remote GID for the user matches the GID on the remote authentication server.

Using an account with admin access, you can configure a LDAP group name for the LDAP authentication method from the CLI. One group name can be configured for every role. The LDAP group must be in the form of a LDAP query, such as “cn=….” or “dn=….”.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Configure an LDAP group filter.

    system aaa authentication roles role <*role-name*> config ldap-gid

    Note: For LDAP Group, F5 recommends you provide a fully distinguished name. For example:

    • samaccountname=<samaccountname assigned to group>
    • distinguishedName=<full DN of group>

    Note: The selected group must be under the configured LDAP base path (the Base DN configured in section ).

    The following example assigns a LDAP group to the admin user:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication roles role admin config ldap-group (<string>): distinguishedName=cn=my_ldap_group,ou=Otters,DC=example,DC=org

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  5. Return to user (operational) mode.

    end

  6. Verify that the operator user role is assigned the custom remote LDAP group.

    show system aaa authentication roles

    A summary similar to this example displays:

    appliance-1# show system aaa authentication roles
                      REMOTE  LDAP
ROLENAME        GID   GID     GROUP                                     DESCRIPTION                                                                    Users
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
admin           9000  -       distinguishedName=cn=my_ldap_group,       Unrestricted read/write access.                                                  -
                              ou=Otters,DC=example,DC=org
operator        9001  -       -                                         Read-only access to system level data.                                           -
resource-admin  9003  -       -                                         Restricted read/write access. No access to modify authentication configuration.  -
superuser       9004  -       -                                         Sudo privileges and Bash access to the system (if enabled).                      - 
user            9002  -       -                                         Read-only access to non-sensitive system level data.                             -

    Note:

    • If both LDAP group and remote GID are configured for a role, the system considers the LDAP group for LDAP authentication. Therefore, only LDAP users in the LDAP groupare allowed into the system as the role. However, LDAP group configurations do not affect RADIUS and TACACS+ users. To avoid authentication failure for LDAP users, ensure to configure ‘base’ path for LDAP search. For more information, see LDAP/AD Configuration Overview.
    • When configuring an LDAP group, it may be appropriate to configure Unix Attributes to False.

You can configure a custom remote group ID (GID) from the webUI to a specific role for all remote authentication methods (LDAP, RADIUS, TACACS+). You can also configure a LDAP group from the webUI to a specific role for the LDAP authentication method.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS****Users & Roles.

  3. In the Roles section, click Show to expand and view the configurations assigned to each role.

  4. Click on any role from the Role Name to edit the role. The Edit Role screen displays.

  5. Enter GID number and LDAP group name in the Remote GID and LDAP Group fields respectively.

    Note: For LDAP Group, F5 recommends you provide a fully distinguished name. For example:

    • samaccountname=<samaccountname assigned to group>
    • distinguishedName=<full DN of group> The following example shows a fully distinguished name:
    distinguishedName=cn=my_ldap_group,ou=Otters,DC=example,DC=org

    Note:

    • If both LDAP Group and Remote GID are configured for a role, the system considers the LDAP Group for LDAP authentication. Therefore, only LDAP users in the LDAP Groupare allowed into the system as the role. However, LDAP Group configurations do not affect RADIUS and TACACS+ users. To avoid authentication failure for LDAP users, ensure to configure ‘base’ path for LDAP search. For more information, see LDAP/AD Configuration Overview.
    • When configuring an LDAP group, it may be appropriate to configure Unix Attributes to False in the AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings > Common LDAP Configuration section.

  6. Click Save & Close.

You can configure the rSeries system to use an LDAP or Microsoft Windows Active Directory (AD) server for authenticating rSeries system user accounts.

Before you begin:

  • Verify that the LDAP service is set up on a server that is accessible to the rSeries system. The default port for the LDAP service is 389 for unsecure protocol (LDAP) or 636 for secure protocol (LDAPS). If the service is configured with a different port, make note of it, as you will need that port number during configuration.
  • Import one or more LDAP certificates if you want to verify the certificate of the authentication server.
  • Assign users to valid system group IDs on the external LDAP or Active Directory servers. For more information, see Group IDs (GIDs) and system authentication roles.
  • For the system to recognize an Active Directory user, the user’s uidNumber attribute must be set to a valid value. The gidNumber for important groups must also be set to a valid value. While these attributes are typically present in a basic LDAP configuration, they are often missing from a basic AD configuration.

You can configure the use of LDAP/Active Directory (AD) authentication with rSeries systems from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings.

  3. For Authentication Methods, from the Available list, select LDAP and click the arrows to move it to the Selected list.

    The LDAP server must be configured and reachable from the system.

    Note: The Local (Always Selected) option is always enabled and cannot be changed. Local authentication is always enabled, by default, so the administrator can always access the system in case of external authentication server failure.

  4. In the Common LDAP Configuration area, click Show to expand the settings.

    Note: The Common LDAP Configuration settings are required only if you want to use LDAP and create LDAP server groups with LDAP servers.

  5. For Base DN, type the base distinguished name (name-value pairs) from which to start the search for the LDAP user or group (for example, dc=example,dc=org).

  6. For Bind, specify the information for binding the LDAP service account.

    1. For DN, enter the distinguished name with which to bind to the LDAP directory server for lookups (for example: cn=admin,dc=example,dc=org).

    2. For Password, enter the admin password for the LDAP server.

      Note: F5 recommends that the LDAP service account password is set to never expire. Otherwise, if it expires, LDAP authentication will not be possible and might result in users getting locked out of the system.

    3. For Confirm, retype the password.

    To clear the password, click Clear.

  7. For Bind Timeout, specify the maximum amount of time, in seconds, that the system waits before timing out when trying to reach the LDAP server.

  8. For Read Timeout, specify the maximum amount of time, in seconds, that the system waits to receive an LDAP response before aborting the read attempt.

  9. For Idle Timeout, specify the maximum amount of time, in seconds, that an LDAP connection can be inactive before the connection is closed.

  10. For LDAP Version, select the version of the LDAP protocol to use.

    The default value is 3.

  11. For Chase Referrals, select whether to enable LDAP referral chasing.

    Note: The default value is True, which specifies that the system queries all LDAP servers in the domain. This might cause delays and timeouts when authenticating against an LDAP server.

  12. If the LDAP server has Transport Layer Security (TLS) support, from TLS, select whether to use TLS to encrypt the transfer of authentication data between the LDAP server and the system.

    |Option|Description| |——|———–| |On|Use TLS to secure all connections.| |Off|Do not use TLS.| |StartTLS|Starts a connection in unencrypted mode on a port configured for plain text and negotiates the encryption with the client. If selected, it is used rather than raw LDAP over SSL.|

    If set to On or StartTLS, additional TLS-related fields are enabled.

  13. For TLS Certificate Validation, specify what checks to perform on a server-supplied certificate

    |Option|Description| |——|———–| |Never|TLS certificate is not required.| |Allow|Allow the connection. The server certificate is requested. If no certificate is provided, the session proceeds normally. If a bad certificate is provided, it is ignored and the session proceeds normally.| |Try|Request the TLS certificate. The server certificate is requested. If no certificate is provided, the session proceeds normally. If a bad certificate is provided, the session is immediately terminated.| |Demand|Request the certificate. If no certificate is provided, or a bad certificate is provided, the session is immediately terminated.| |Hard|Request the certificate. If no certificate is provided, or a bad certificate is provided, the session is immediately terminated.|

  14. For TLS CA Certificate, click Show and paste the contents of the X.509 certificate (self-signed or from a CA) for peer authentication.

  15. For Cipher String, enter the cipher string to specify the type of encryption to use (for example, ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 or ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256).

    The cipher string can take several additional forms. It can consist of a single cipher suite such as RC4-SHA. It can represent a list of cipher suites containing a certain algorithm, or cipher suites of a certain type. For example, SHA1 represents all cipher suites using the digest algorithm SHA1, and SSLv3 represents all SSLv3 algorithms.

    You can combine lists of cipher suites into a single cipher string using the + character as a logical AND operation. For example, SHA1+DES represents all cipher suites containing the SHA1 and DES algorithms.

    For additional information, see the ciphers man page at www.openssl.org/docs/manpages.html.

  16. In the TLS Certificate field, click Show and paste the text of the local certificate for client TLS authentication.

  17. In the TLS Key field, click Show and paste the text of the private key for client TLS authentication.

  18. For Authenticate with Active Directory, select True if you want LDAP to authenticate against an Active Directory (AD) server.

  19. For Unix Attributes,

    1. Select True (default) to use the gidNumber attribute for user and group role mapping.

    2. Select False to automatically synthesize a gidNumber for role mapping from the Microsoft objectSid attribute.

    Note:

    • Unix Attributes is only applicable when Active Directory is set to True. When Active Directory is set to False, Unix Attributes is ignored and the gidNumber attribute is required.
    • If Unix Attributes is set to False, ensure you configure LDAP Group for each role in AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Users & Roles > Roles > Edit Role.

  20. Click Save.

LDAP/AD authentication for users is configured on the system. When a user logs in, the system attempts to authenticate them against the configured authentication method. When the account has a match within any of the configured authentication methods, the user is authenticated and given access.

Next, you can create a server group.

You can configure an LDAP/Active Directory (AD) server group from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Server Groups.

  3. Click Add.

  4. For Name, create a recognizable name for the server group.

  5. For Provider Type, select LDAP to qualify the type of servers that will be in the group.

  6. Click Save & Close.

  7. Click the server group to which you want to add servers. The Edit Server Group screen displays.

    1. For Server, type the IPv4, IPv6 address, or FQDN of the LDAP server to add.

    2. For Port, make sure the port number is correct for LDAP traffic.

      The default value is 636.

    3. From the Type list, select LDAP over TCP or LDAP over SSL (secured) depending on which is supported.

  8. Click Save & Close.

Add as many servers as needed to the group.

You can configure LDAP/Active Directory authentication from the CLI. You can also create an LDAP server group (including Active Directory servers), if you have multiple external LDAP servers to which you want to connect.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Set the authentication method to LDAP.

    system aaa authentication config authentication-method LDAP_ALL

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  5. Set the LDAP or Active Directory configuration details.

    system aaa authentication ldap active_directory { true | false } base <*dn-name*> bind_timelimit <*number-of-seconds*> binddn <*dn-acct-info*> bindpw <*password*> chase-referrals { true | false } idle_timelimit <*number-of-seconds*> ldap_version <*version-number*> ssl { on | off | start\_tls } timelimit <*number-of-seconds*> tls_cacert <*path-to-cert&gt;* tls_cert <*path-to-cert*> tls_ciphers <*cipher-suite*> tls_key <*path-to-file*> tls_reqcert { never | allow | try | demand | hard }

    This example specifies a search base distinguished name for LDAP authentication:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication ldap base dc=example,dc=local

    This example enables Active Directory authentication, by setting the active_directory option to true:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication config authentication-method LDAP all system aaa authentication ldap active_directory true

  6. Configure LDAP login attribute:

    system aaa authentication ldap loginattr { sAMAccountName | userPrincipalName }

    A summary to this example displays:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication ldap loginattr userPrincipalName

  7. Add the LDAP/AD server details to the authentication server groups.

    1. Create a server group.

      system aaa server-groups server-group <*group-name*> config name <*group-name*> type LDAP

      This example creates an LDAP server group named ldap-group:

      appliance-1(config)# system aaa server-groups server-group ldap-group 
  config name ldap-group type LDAP

    2. Add a server to the server group.

      servers server <*ip-address*> config address <*ip-address*>

      This example adds a server at specified IP address:

      appliance-1(config-server-group-ldap-group)# servers server 192.0.2.21

    3. Customize other LDAP configuration details, as needed.

      ldap config auth-port <*port-number*> type { ldap | ldaps }

      This example shows configuring a port number and LDAP over SSL.

      appliance-1(config-server-192.0.2.21)# ldap config auth-port 636 
  type ldaps

    4. Exit to the top level.

      top

    5. Add the host name for the LDAP service.

      Note: This host name might have to be resolved in /etc/hosts or by DNS.

      system aaa server-groups server-group <*group-name*> servers server <*host-name*>

      This example adds a host name to the LDAP service:

      appliance-1(config)# system aaa server-groups server-group ldap-group 
  servers server ldap.company.com

  8. Commit the configuration changes.

    `commit`

LDAP/AD authentication for users is configured on the system. When a user logs in, the system attempts to authenticate them against the configured authentication method. When the account has a match within any of the configured authentication methods, the user is authenticated and given access.

You can view the LDAP configuration from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. View LDAP configuration:

    show running-config system aaa authentication ldap

    A summary to this example displays:

    appliance-1# show running-config system aaa authentication ldap 
system aaa authentication ldap binddn binduser@si-pdsea.f5net.com
system aaa authentication ldap bindpw $8$dV5txmvXR7dzNLQTTB1vgB5UkGxfv9zYQSc6v44tKro=
system aaa authentication ldap base [ DC=si-pdsea,DC=f5net,DC=com ]
system aaa authentication ldap bind_timelimit 10
system aaa authentication ldap timelimit 0
system aaa authentication ldap idle_timelimit 0
system aaa authentication ldap ldap_version 3
system aaa authentication ldap ssl off
system aaa authentication ldap active_directory true
system aaa authentication ldap unix_attributes false
system aaa authentication ldap tls_reqcert demand
system aaa authentication ldap chase-referrals true
system aaa authentication ldap ignore-case false
system aaa authentication ldap login-attrribute userPrincipalName

You can add the LDAP certificates and key from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Add the TLS config key:

    system aaa tls config key (<*AES-encrypted-string*>)

    Press Enter to enable multi-line mode and paste the contents. Press Ctrl-D to exit multi-line mode.

    A summary similar to this example displays:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls config key 
(<AES encrypted string>): 
[Multiline mode, exit with ctrl-D.]
> -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
> MIIEvQIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCBKcwggSjAgEAAoIBAQDarxbhnYlm8DoQ
> W23fxEm6qZF5+DEBinym3IAZe7V3eV/v1UmuqSMKmz3pLX5oYTZ0Fqj+mW4XdMxK
> kW93w91xYLZoOOn/P9ELt4Cu9YIoDTy3OU68EETjQarw9wd+0/JqKTRPWa+VAWGn
> hMg6N2OCY7hNc8FWFU2YD2x6MryacVCgCi20uhzde2G89pJlqGrm9KpbCN1ZV4Hc
> 4OWEnMAO/yyb8FceKQNgJ0pk9+kBosKfyYypZ8SjP9Bg4E76of5xMHBtbXNu/f3Y
> hJk/0gmMyuoTKl5d9AAUhU+gOZP6z2GTc2UfWnG0dfG6SWUGVmBtZ8u8y3nPi7Y9
> G1K5R3TzAgMBAAECggEAVamQhQB4+mHP3OhzudviJcSWv/iA+eGNwq9NXq4e/5YE
> Bqa+HjUTDOyS6+xuP+UUt5TIzjK79WRDQlKGH5wR+n+v9FOXFe2hrb1MIzz4p0fI
> KN3CAdk9oufuVkXuIbhUlVFetFalePD5l+1joapgyIrXfz+A1H+zzYT9MUD+sGBJ
> bYkTqxFgAwsJoMaPruemfzFLHeWRDh/o0fG7aA6v4AA+urIaK13bEs+U/38A6D4X
> j+Mzr2RP4bQJHBKE5vYJ0bwqfO3we21CPYpkla4APJUNGOLuZwfGhH1QREQy31rA
> sIru7KRBcxYikvfKI4oL8aUfPurcZbnaCD1bdUhlQQKBgQD3lQ4Qp53c3QGww/bQ
> s0tvJD6T86t5ve47j0V6hKHbp8Kq/zm+3jkRVNjH8nipyleQ44YJuSqPfo4EVKLC
> OYPDEEQP+2fAWmt1LUugoB/ilQHOHMJVuPUj9Hyt7wetp1EeFZqNqpgohdP9eM5/
> R8jSIuNhqIjPKTliqwOn4hLnvwKBgQDiHoE/O87/GadvmS/G6ExWFAE2j7l16y1f
> pz/cqY/p674TF/VUYsyKaLKM08iOhT6XeDACto+z7TYd5YNYAgawuxcDvDWXOZxe
> mWLpdzlQGzumeTz2Rsx3U3NnXETlGBWEjj6kAUq4oqFrRSBNGbHb4D7XVNuQPPSX
> rZ8CfNxfzQKBgG/rZ7JLs2c2WR9JVve9NWqGnetQCcI9A8bU23mpH2omii+2tKn9
> 1xpomp64k6ddmvwafmtC02SOtzBp+jGGwnOZlMsMwTgJJ+6OjVONTxykc25zPb52
> oAqi6QHPvk7YBiltZrKH3cTjypMY23BaSQQFVXi+MSpE3nYmDL8FyboNAoGAVIDp
> 9GO5nAROWpp5DHDL9m9LdMSJntPhBRpP93s22UjMo/4UJRE3N5KhB5guH3UUSy8T
> YjAvzCIeU1Xum/lF3s5Mb4zqyjUxhvjzyiRQOuuygyhT7AXRa9a4DiyhYqx5fixa
> pJgHALFmedw/khDEM1O+qGKCG4lsLzMndZqMERECgYEA5LQ128pxYmpp3lyK6a62
> 01W/1/BtuiApuEFdcqwk6MTtateS5Kpb5uA9orWISmtd7mZLcXZGTBuJEoWsHBs4
> BE/B1urijsnmFzGRwmwF9DwhhDuyLW/cAqQSWAb4IBkU0lo0MOwm80EgcLwoy/53
> zicLAzdPQOiNQEyIh5U46xg=
> -----END PRIVATE KEY-----

  4. Add the TLS config certificate.

    system aaa tls config certificate (<*string*>)

    Press Enter to enable multi-line mode and paste the contents. Press Ctrl-D to exit multi-line mode.

    In this example, you add a certificate:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls config certificate 
(<string>): 
[Multiline mode, exit with ctrl-D.]
> -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
> MIIESzCCAzOgAwIBAgIJALgGgs+5qgX1MA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMIG7MQswCQYD
> VQQGEwItLTESMBAGA1UECAwJU29tZVN0YXRlMREwDwYDVQQHDAhTb21lQ2l0eTEZ
> MBcGA1UECgwQU29tZU9yZ2FuaXphdGlvbjEfMB0GA1UECwwWU29tZU9yZ2FuaXph
> dGlvbmFsVW5pdDEeMBwGA1UEAwwVbG9jYWxob3N0LmxvY2FsZG9tYWluMSkwJwYJ
> KoZIhvcNAQkBFhpyb290QGxvY2FsaG9zdC5sb2NhbGRvbWFpbjAeFw0yMDEwMjMy
> MjMwNTZaFw0yMTEwMjMyMjMwNTZaMIG7MQswCQYDVQQGEwItLTESMBAGA1UECAwJ
> U29tZVN0YXRlMREwDwYDVQQHDAhTb21lQ2l0eTEZMBcGA1UECgwQU29tZU9yZ2Fu
> aXphdGlvbjEfMB0GA1UECwwWU29tZU9yZ2FuaXphdGlvbmFsVW5pdDEeMBwGA1UE
> AwwVbG9jYWxob3N0LmxvY2FsZG9tYWluMSkwJwYJKoZIhvcNAQkBFhpyb290QGxv
> Y2FsaG9zdC5sb2NhbGRvbWFpbjCCASIwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADggEPADCCAQoC
> ggEBANqvFuGdiWbwOhBbbd/ESbqpkXn4MQGKfKbcgBl7tXd5X+/VSa6pIwqbPekt
> fmhhNnQWqP6Zbhd0zEqRb3fD3XFgtmg46f8/0Qu3gK71gigNPLc5TrwQRONBqvD3
> B37T8mopNE9Zr5UBYaeEyDo3Y4JjuE1zwVYVTZgPbHoyvJpxUKAKLbS6HN17Ybz2
> kmWoaub0qlsI3VlXgdzg5YScwA7/LJvwVx4pA2AnSmT36QGiwp/JjKlnxKM/0GDg
> Tvqh/nEwcG1tc279/diEmT/SCYzK6hMqXl30ABSFT6A5k/rPYZNzZR9acbR18bpJ
> ZQZWYG1ny7zLec+Ltj0bUrlHdPMCAwEAAaNQME4wHQYDVR0OBBYEFJ8f90ExRYYD
> 0j2rQSKhMbRaKz0vMB8GA1UdIwQYMBaAFJ8f90ExRYYD0j2rQSKhMbRaKz0vMAwG
> A1UdEwQFMAMBAf8wDQYJKoZIhvcNAQELBQADggEBACzFSIiJ01qLtl9Nom5rtFRh
> m+iH0RewmO2YV9rQTl53shma1/Wa2D5PXsFt6w0wiXRa6Gab1YVxaHkP9E4RK6us
> B5s5pR+SijP02Ijw5y4RICegkWApx86wlW09NDBgPFQdz+xQnpx8LfAFDzkAEf02
> eI4SI25Vi3fDW6qeOKeQmS5itcRFXBi/E2+FwYu3zvtMEIp7WB90f0mvxiEd1bz8
> UY0pODHlYUzc/4jl9CGWGPl+80KHsjppqwsFzZs3koe2IyKbzMKfpdQ+oIiJP17+
> IVJgNbRCO5TgGXtFW3p3CJ2fHzEPongFdvbPOTr/cE/KkGxKqcoeN7d22g7POas=
> -----END CERTIFICATE-----

  5. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can configure the rSeries system to use a RADIUS server for authenticating rSeries system user accounts.

Important: Before you begin, you must verify that the RADIUS service is set up on a server that is accessible to the rSeries system. The default port for RADIUS service is 1812. If the service is configured with a different port, make note of it, as you will need it during the configuration.

When configuring remote RADIUS authentication for the F5 system, you add these F5OS vendor-specific attributes (VSA) to the F5 vendor-specific RADIUS dictionary file on the RADIUS server. Be sure to add the vendor lines if you are using the RADIUS server for the first time.

VENDOR          F5                             3375
BEGIN-VENDOR    F5
ATTRIBUTE       F5-F5OS-UID                    21       integer
ATTRIBUTE       F5-F5OS-GID                    22       integer
ATTRIBUTE       F5-F5OS-HOMEDIR                23       string
ATTRIBUTE       F5-F5OS-SHELL                  24       string
ATTRIBUTE       F5-F5OS-USERINFO               25       string
ATTRIBUTE       F5-F5OS-SECONDARYGIDS          26       string
END-VENDOR      F5

You can configure the use of RADIUS authentication with rSeries systems from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings.

  3. For Authentication Methods, from the Available list, select RADIUS and click the arrows to move it to the Selected list.

    The RADIUS server must be configured and reachable from the system.

    Note: The Local (Always Selected) option is always enabled and cannot be changed. Local authentication is always enabled, by default, so the administrator can always access the system in case of external authentication server failure.

  4. Click Save.

RADIUS authentication for users is configured on the system. When a user logs in, the system attempts to authenticate them against the configured authentication method. When the account has a match within any of the configured authentication methods, the user is authenticated and given access.

Next, you can create a server group.

You can configure a RADIUS server group from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Server Groups.

  3. Click Add.

  4. For Name, create a recognizable name for the server group.

  5. For Provider Type, select RADIUS to qualify the type of servers that will be in the group.

  6. Click Save & Close.

  7. Click the server group to which you want to add servers.

    The Edit Server Group screen displays.

  8. For Server, enter the IPv4, IPv6 address, or FQDN of the RADIUS server to add.

  9. For Port, make sure the port number is correct for RADIUS traffic.

    The default value is 1812.

  10. For Secret, enter the shared secret used to access the server.

  11. For Timeout (seconds), type the number of seconds to timeout if unable to access the server.

    The default value is 5.

  12. Click Save & Close.

Add as many servers as needed to the group.

You can configure the system for RADIUS authentication from the CLI. You can also create a RADIUS server group, if you have multiple external RADIUS servers to which you want to connect.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Set the authentication method to RADIUS.

    system aaa authentication config authentication-method RADIUS_ALL

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  5. Add the RADIUS service details to the authentication server groups:

    1. Create a server group.

      system aaa server-groups server-group <*group-name*> config name <*group-name*> type RADIUS

      This example creates an RADIUS server group named radius-group:

      appliance-1(config)# system aaa server-groups server-group radius-group config 
  name radius-group type RADIUS

    2. Add a server to the server group.

      servers server <*ip-address*> config address <*ip-address*>

      This example adds a server at specified IP address:

      appliance-1(config-server-group-radius-group)# servers server 192.0.2.20

    3. Customize other RADIUS configuration details, as needed.

      radius config auth-port <*port-number*> secret-key <*secret*> timeout <*timeout-in-seconds*>

      This example shows configuring a port number:

      appliance-1(config-server-192.0.2.20)# radius config port 1812

    4. Commit the configuration changes.

      commit

  6. Enable message authentication on the device:

    system aaa authentication radius require_message_authenticator { false | true }

    Example:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication radius require_message_authenticator
Possible completions:
false  true
appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication radius require_message_authenticator true
appliance-1(config)# commit

    Note
    To get the bash shell for a superuser role, you must:\

    • Enabling Message authentication enhances the security of RADIUS communication between the F5OS device and the RADIUS server.
    • Ensure that message authentication is enabled on the RADIUS server by setting “require_message_authenticator = yes”. This enforces that all RADIUS requests from the F5OS device include a valid Message-Authenticator attribute.

RADIUS authentication for users is configured on the system. When a user logs in, the system attempts to authenticate them against the configured authentication method. When the account has a match within any of the configured authentication methods, the user is authenticated and given access.

You can configure the rSeries system to use a TACACS+ server for authenticating rSeries system user accounts.

Before you begin:

You can configure the use of TACACS+ authentication with rSeries systems from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings.

  3. For Authentication Methods, from the Available list, select TACACS+ and click the arrows to move it to the Selected list.

    The TACACS+ server must be configured and reachable from the system.

    Note: The Local (Always Selected) option is always enabled and cannot be changed. Local authentication is always enabled, by default, so the administrator can always access the system in case of external authentication server failure.

  4. Click Save.

TACACS+ authentication for users is configured on the system. When a user logs in, the system attempts to authenticate them against the configured authentication method. When the account has a match within any of the configured authentication methods, the user is authenticated and given access.

Next, you can create a server group.

You can configure a TACACS+ server group from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Server Groups.

  3. Click Add.

  4. For Name, create a recognizable name for the server group.

  5. For Provider Type, select TACACS+ to qualify the type of servers that will be in the group.

  6. Click Save & Close.

  7. Click the server group to which you want to add servers.

    The Edit Server Group screen displays.

  8. Click Add.

  9. For Server, type the IPv4, IPv6 address, or FQDN of the TACACS+ server to add.

  10. For Port, make sure the port number is correct for TACACS+ traffic.

    The default value is 49.

  11. For Secret, enter the shared secret used to access the server.

  12. Click Save & Close.

Add as many servers as needed to the group.

You can configure TACACS+ authentication from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Set the authentication method to TACACS+.

    system aaa authentication config authentication-method TACACS_ALL

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  5. Add the TACACS+ service details to the authentication server groups.

    1. Create a server group.

      system aaa server-groups server-group <*group-name*> config name <*group-name*> type TACACS

      This example creates a TACACS+ server group named tacacs-group:

      appliance-1(config)# system aaa server-groups server-group tacacs-group config 
  name tacacs-group type TACACS

    2. Add a server to the server group.

      servers server <*ip-address*> config address <*ip-address*>

      This example adds a server at specified IP address:

      appliance-1(config-server-group-tacacs-group)# servers server 192.0.2.22

    3. Customize other TACACS+ configuration details, as needed.

      tacacs config port <*port-number*> secret-key <*secret*> source-address <*ip-address*>

      This example shows configuring a port number:

      appliance-1(config-server-192.0.2.22)# tacacs config port 49

    4. Commit the configuration changes.

      commit

TACACS+ authentication for users is configured on the system. When a user logs in, the system attempts to authenticate them against the configured authentication method. When the account has a match within any of the configured authentication methods, the user is authenticated and given access.

Admin users can configure the rSeries system to use Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) to verify certificate validity and revoke expired certificates. The system sends an OCSP request, which includes the certificate serial number, to an OCSP responder, and receives a response with the certificate status (good, revoked, or unknown). OCSP is a similar to CRL checking, and you can configure the system to use both at the same time.

You can configure Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) for certificate validation from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings.

  3. In the OCSP Configuration area, click Show to expand the settings.

  4. For OCSP Checking, select Disabled or Enabled.

    The default value is Disabled.

  5. In the OCSP Configuration area, for Nonce Request, specify whether queries to OCSP responders should include a nonce (a unique identifier) in the request.

  6. For Override Responder, specify whether the OCSP default responder is required for certificate validation.

  7. For Response Max Age, specify the maximum amount of time, in seconds, for Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responses.

  8. For Response Time Skew, specify the maximum allowable time skew, in seconds, for Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) response validation.

  9. Click Save.

Next, you can create a server group.

You can configure an Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) server group from the webUI. The server group can contain only one OCSP server.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Server Groups.

  3. Click Add.

  4. For Name, create a recognizable name for the server group.

  5. The Provider Type, select OCSP to qualify the type of servers that will be in the group.

  6. Click Save & Close.

  7. Click the server group to which you want to add servers.

    The Edit Server Group screen displays.

  8. For Host, type the IPv4 address, IPv6 address, or the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the OCSP server.

  9. For Port, enter the port for the OCSP server.

    The default value is 80.

  10. Click Save.

The OSCP server is added to the server group.

You can configure Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) for certificate validation from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Enable OCSP.

    system aaa authentication ocsp config enabled

  4. Configure the OCSP responder address that will be used for client certificate validation using one of these methods:

    • Provide the OCSP responder address using the client certificate.

      appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication ocsp config override-responder off

    • Provide the OCSP IP address using a server group.

      appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication ocsp config override-responder on
appliance-1(config)# system aaa server-groups server-group ocsp1 config name ocsp1 type OCSP
appliance-1(config-server-group-ocsp1)# servers server 192.0.2.10
appliance-1(config-server-192.0.2.10)# config address 192.0.2.10
appliance-1(config-server-192.0.2.10)# ocsp config port 23456

  5. Configure additional OCSP options, if needed.

    The system creates the responder address using default values for nonce-request (on) and response-time-skew (300).

    system aaa authentication ocsp config nonce-request { off | on } response-max-age <*time-in-seconds*> response-time-skew <*time-in-seconds*>

    For nonce-request, the default value is on. For response-max-age, the default value is -1, which disables the maximum age check. The range is from -1 to 214748364. For response-time skew, the default value is 300.

  6. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

Next, you can create a server group.

You can configure an Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) server group from the CLI. The server group can contain only one OCSP server.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Create an OCSP server group.

    system aaa server-groups server-group <*group-name*> config name <*group-name*> type OCSP

    This example creates an OCSP server group named ocsp-group:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa server-groups server-group ocsp-group config type OCSP

  4. Add an OCSP server to the server group.

    servers server <*ip-address*> config address <*ip-address*>

    This example adds a server at a specified IP address, with the default value for port number (80):

    appliance-1(config-server-group-ocsp-group)# servers server 192.0.2.25 ocsp config port 88

  5. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

Using SSH public key authentication to connect to a remote system is a robust, more secure alternative to logging in with an account password or passphrase. SSH public key authentication relies on asymmetric cryptographic algorithms that generate a pair of separate keys (a key pair), one “private” and the other “public”. You keep the private key a secret and store it on the computer you use to connect to the remote system.

You can configure Secure Shell (SSH) public key authentication from the CLI. You can configure multiple authorized keys in one step. This feature supports all SSH key algorithms that are supported in the latest SSHD version. Root users cannot use this feature.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Configure SSH public key authentication.

    system aaa authentication users user <*username*> config authorized_keys

    Press Enter to enable multi-line mode and paste the contents. Paste the first SSH public key into the prompt, press enter to paste the next key, and continue until you have entered all keys. Press Ctrl-D to exit multi-line mode.

    In this example, you configure public key authentication for a specified user:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication users user jdoe config authorized_keys
 (<string, min: 1 chars>):
[Multiline mode, exit with ctrl-D.]
> hdsjhfashlksdfklahkjdhsakfdhaskhfkjasdhfjashd

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can delete a Secure Shell (SSH) public key authentication from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Remove the authorized key.

    no system aaa authentication users user <*username*> config authorized_keys

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

Before rSeries systems can exchange data with one another, they must exchange device certificates, that is, digital certificates and keys used for secure communication.

If you are using LDAP with transport layer security (TLS) for user authentication, you can choose to require TLS Certificate Validation in the authentication settings. You can add a certificate and key into the system, and when you create a certificate signing request (CSR), it saves the generated key and certificate to these directories:

  • system/aaa/tls/config/key
  • system/aaa/tls/config/certificate

When you install an SSL certificate, you also install a certificate authority (CA) bundle, which is a file that contains root and intermediate certificates. The CA bundle and server certificate complete the SSL chain of trust.

The rSeries system also supports using self-signed certificates.

You can also configure a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) entry for the system to use to check revocation status of a certificate prior to authenticating a client. Note that once you have configured a CRL, there must be a CRL certificate for each CA. If there are two CAs configured and one CRL is been added for one of the CAs, you need to provide a CRL for the other CA even if it is not revoked.

As an alternative to CRLs, you can also use Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP). You can configure the system to use both at the same time. For more information about OCSP, see OCSP configuration overview.

For information about client certification authentication, see Client certificate authentication overview.

For enhanced security, users with admin access can configure the system so that webUI users use a client certificate to provide a username and authenticate before granting access to the rSeries system. The system verifies a user’s identity by validating the client certificate against a list of trusted Certificate Authority (CA) certificates, and optionally checks the certificate status against a configured Certificate Revocation List (CRL) or Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responder. The system extracts the user name from the certificate and uses it to query an external server for group membership information for the user, which is used to determine what features they can access on the system. You can also configure client certificate authentication to work with an LDAP authentication provider.

You can enable verification of httpd client certificates from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > TLS Configuration.

  3. In the Client Certificate Verification area, click Settings.

    The Client Certificate Verification screen displays.

  4. For Verify Client, select whether to enable client certificate verification.

    The default value is false (verification is disabled).

  5. For Client Depth, select the client certificate verification depth.

    The default value is 1, which indicates that the client certificate can be self-signed or must be signed by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is known to the server. A depth of 0 indicates that only self-signed client certificates are accepted. The range is from 0 to 100. The value you provide for depth indicates the maximum number of CA certificates allowed to be followed while verifying the client certificate. You might need to raise the default depth if you received more than one chained root certificate in addition to a client certificate from your CA.

  6. Click Save.

Before you can log in to the webUI using client certificate authentication, you must have configured client certificate authentication from the CLI and imported the certificate to your browser. This procedure varies depending on operating system and browser.

You can log in to the webUI using a client certificate for authentication.

  1. Connect to the webUI by entering the management IP address in your browser.

  2. On the login screen, review the client certificate authentication agreement, if available, and then click Log in.

  3. When prompted to select a certificate, select the certificate from the list and click OK.

    When authentication completes, the Dashboard displays. If you did not import a certificate to your browser, the authentication fails and displays an error message.

You can configure client certificate verification settings from the CLI. The value you provide for depth indicates the maximum number of Certificate Authority (CA) certificates allowed to be followed while verifying the client certificate. You might need to raise the default depth if you received more than one chained root certificate in addition to a client certificate from your CA. The default depth of 1 indicates that the client certificate can be self-signed or must be signed by a CA that is known to the server. A depth of 0 indicates that only self-signed client certificates are accepted.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Specify whether to use client certificate verification.

    system aaa tls config verify-client { false | true }

    In this example, you enable client certificate verification:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls config verify-client true

  4. Configure client certificate verification depth.

    The default value is 1. The range is from 1 to 100.

    system aaa tls config verify-client-depth <*depth*>

    In this example, you specify a depth of 10:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls config verify-client-depth 10

  5. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

Before you configure client certificate verification on your system, you must first:

  • Create your self-signed certificates, ensuring that the CN name for the server is the server name from the client’s perspective (either an IP address or fully-qualified domain name (FQDN)).
  • Configure the server name in your SSL server’s httpd configuration files.

You can configure HTTP server SSL settings with client certificate verification and self-signed certificates from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Add the TLS config key:

    system aaa tls config key (<*AES-encrypted-string*>)

    Press Enter to enable multi-line mode and paste the contents. Press Ctrl-D to exit multi-line mode.

    A summary similar to this example displays:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls config key 
(<AES encrypted string>): 
[Multiline mode, exit with ctrl-D.]
> -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
> MIIEvQIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCBKcwggSjAgEAAoIBAQDarxbhnYlm8DoQ
> W23fxEm6qZF5+DEBinym3IAZe7V3eV/v1UmuqSMKmz3pLX5oYTZ0Fqj+mW4XdMxK
> kW93w91xYLZoOOn/P9ELt4Cu9YIoDTy3OU68EETjQarw9wd+0/JqKTRPWa+VAWGn
> hMg6N2OCY7hNc8FWFU2YD2x6MryacVCgCi20uhzde2G89pJlqGrm9KpbCN1ZV4Hc
> 4OWEnMAO/yyb8FceKQNgJ0pk9+kBosKfyYypZ8SjP9Bg4E76of5xMHBtbXNu/f3Y
> hJk/0gmMyuoTKl5d9AAUhU+gOZP6z2GTc2UfWnG0dfG6SWUGVmBtZ8u8y3nPi7Y9
> G1K5R3TzAgMBAAECggEAVamQhQB4+mHP3OhzudviJcSWv/iA+eGNwq9NXq4e/5YE
> Bqa+HjUTDOyS6+xuP+UUt5TIzjK79WRDQlKGH5wR+n+v9FOXFe2hrb1MIzz4p0fI
> KN3CAdk9oufuVkXuIbhUlVFetFalePD5l+1joapgyIrXfz+A1H+zzYT9MUD+sGBJ
> bYkTqxFgAwsJoMaPruemfzFLHeWRDh/o0fG7aA6v4AA+urIaK13bEs+U/38A6D4X
> j+Mzr2RP4bQJHBKE5vYJ0bwqfO3we21CPYpkla4APJUNGOLuZwfGhH1QREQy31rA
> sIru7KRBcxYikvfKI4oL8aUfPurcZbnaCD1bdUhlQQKBgQD3lQ4Qp53c3QGww/bQ
> s0tvJD6T86t5ve47j0V6hKHbp8Kq/zm+3jkRVNjH8nipyleQ44YJuSqPfo4EVKLC
> OYPDEEQP+2fAWmt1LUugoB/ilQHOHMJVuPUj9Hyt7wetp1EeFZqNqpgohdP9eM5/
> R8jSIuNhqIjPKTliqwOn4hLnvwKBgQDiHoE/O87/GadvmS/G6ExWFAE2j7l16y1f
> pz/cqY/p674TF/VUYsyKaLKM08iOhT6XeDACto+z7TYd5YNYAgawuxcDvDWXOZxe
> mWLpdzlQGzumeTz2Rsx3U3NnXETlGBWEjj6kAUq4oqFrRSBNGbHb4D7XVNuQPPSX
> rZ8CfNxfzQKBgG/rZ7JLs2c2WR9JVve9NWqGnetQCcI9A8bU23mpH2omii+2tKn9
> 1xpomp64k6ddmvwafmtC02SOtzBp+jGGwnOZlMsMwTgJJ+6OjVONTxykc25zPb52
> oAqi6QHPvk7YBiltZrKH3cTjypMY23BaSQQFVXi+MSpE3nYmDL8FyboNAoGAVIDp
> 9GO5nAROWpp5DHDL9m9LdMSJntPhBRpP93s22UjMo/4UJRE3N5KhB5guH3UUSy8T
> YjAvzCIeU1Xum/lF3s5Mb4zqyjUxhvjzyiRQOuuygyhT7AXRa9a4DiyhYqx5fixa
> pJgHALFmedw/khDEM1O+qGKCG4lsLzMndZqMERECgYEA5LQ128pxYmpp3lyK6a62
> 01W/1/BtuiApuEFdcqwk6MTtateS5Kpb5uA9orWISmtd7mZLcXZGTBuJEoWsHBs4
> BE/B1urijsnmFzGRwmwF9DwhhDuyLW/cAqQSWAb4IBkU0lo0MOwm80EgcLwoy/53
> zicLAzdPQOiNQEyIh5U46xg=
> -----END PRIVATE KEY-----

  4. Add the TLS config certificate.

    system aaa tls config certificate (<*string*>)

    Press Enter to enable multi-line mode and paste the contents. Press Ctrl-D to exit multi-line mode.

    In this example, you add a certificate:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls config certificate 
(<string>): 
[Multiline mode, exit with ctrl-D.]
> -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
> MIIESzCCAzOgAwIBAgIJALgGgs+5qgX1MA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMIG7MQswCQYD
> VQQGEwItLTESMBAGA1UECAwJU29tZVN0YXRlMREwDwYDVQQHDAhTb21lQ2l0eTEZ
> MBcGA1UECgwQU29tZU9yZ2FuaXphdGlvbjEfMB0GA1UECwwWU29tZU9yZ2FuaXph
> dGlvbmFsVW5pdDEeMBwGA1UEAwwVbG9jYWxob3N0LmxvY2FsZG9tYWluMSkwJwYJ
> KoZIhvcNAQkBFhpyb290QGxvY2FsaG9zdC5sb2NhbGRvbWFpbjAeFw0yMDEwMjMy
> MjMwNTZaFw0yMTEwMjMyMjMwNTZaMIG7MQswCQYDVQQGEwItLTESMBAGA1UECAwJ
> U29tZVN0YXRlMREwDwYDVQQHDAhTb21lQ2l0eTEZMBcGA1UECgwQU29tZU9yZ2Fu
> aXphdGlvbjEfMB0GA1UECwwWU29tZU9yZ2FuaXphdGlvbmFsVW5pdDEeMBwGA1UE
> AwwVbG9jYWxob3N0LmxvY2FsZG9tYWluMSkwJwYJKoZIhvcNAQkBFhpyb290QGxv
> Y2FsaG9zdC5sb2NhbGRvbWFpbjCCASIwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADggEPADCCAQoC
> ggEBANqvFuGdiWbwOhBbbd/ESbqpkXn4MQGKfKbcgBl7tXd5X+/VSa6pIwqbPekt
> fmhhNnQWqP6Zbhd0zEqRb3fD3XFgtmg46f8/0Qu3gK71gigNPLc5TrwQRONBqvD3
> B37T8mopNE9Zr5UBYaeEyDo3Y4JjuE1zwVYVTZgPbHoyvJpxUKAKLbS6HN17Ybz2
> kmWoaub0qlsI3VlXgdzg5YScwA7/LJvwVx4pA2AnSmT36QGiwp/JjKlnxKM/0GDg
> Tvqh/nEwcG1tc279/diEmT/SCYzK6hMqXl30ABSFT6A5k/rPYZNzZR9acbR18bpJ
> ZQZWYG1ny7zLec+Ltj0bUrlHdPMCAwEAAaNQME4wHQYDVR0OBBYEFJ8f90ExRYYD
> 0j2rQSKhMbRaKz0vMB8GA1UdIwQYMBaAFJ8f90ExRYYD0j2rQSKhMbRaKz0vMAwG
> A1UdEwQFMAMBAf8wDQYJKoZIhvcNAQELBQADggEBACzFSIiJ01qLtl9Nom5rtFRh
> m+iH0RewmO2YV9rQTl53shma1/Wa2D5PXsFt6w0wiXRa6Gab1YVxaHkP9E4RK6us
> B5s5pR+SijP02Ijw5y4RICegkWApx86wlW09NDBgPFQdz+xQnpx8LfAFDzkAEf02
> eI4SI25Vi3fDW6qeOKeQmS5itcRFXBi/E2+FwYu3zvtMEIp7WB90f0mvxiEd1bz8
> UY0pODHlYUzc/4jl9CGWGPl+80KHsjppqwsFzZs3koe2IyKbzMKfpdQ+oIiJP17+
> IVJgNbRCO5TgGXtFW3p3CJ2fHzEPongFdvbPOTr/cE/KkGxKqcoeN7d22g7POas=
> -----END CERTIFICATE-----

  5. Enable client certificate verification.

    system aaa tls config verify-client { false | true }

    In this example, you enable client certificate verification:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls config verify-client true

  6. Configure client certificate verification depth.

    The default value is 1. The range is from 1 to 100.

    system aaa tls config verify-client-depth <*depth*>

    In this example, you specify a depth of 10:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls config verify-client-depth 10

  7. Add a CA bundle.

    system aaa tls ca-bundles ca-bundle <*ca-bundle-name*> config name <*ca-bundle-name*> content

    Press Enter to enable multi-line mode and paste the contents. Press Ctrl-D to exit multi-line mode.

    In this example, you add a CA bundle named “test_caaaa”:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls ca-bundles ca-bundle test_caaaa 
  config name test_caaaa content
(<string>): 
[Multiline mode, exit with ctrl-D.]

  8. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

Before you configure client certificate authentication, be sure that you have enabled client certificate verification. For more information, see Configure client certificate verification settings from the CLI.

You can configure client certificate authentication settings on the rSeries system from the CLI.

Important: Only users with admin access can configure client certificate authentication.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Enable client certificate authentication.

    system aaa authentication config cert-auth { disabled | enabled }

    In this example, you enable client certificate authentication:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication config cert-auth enabled

  4. Configure the client certificate name field if you want to use a custom OID value for the client certificate username.

    system aaa authentication clientcert config client-cert-name-field { san-gen-dns | san-gen-email | san-gen-othername OID { <*OID*> | UPN } | san-gen-uri | subjectname-cn }

    In these examples, you configure an OID using one of these valid formats:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication clientcert config client-cert-name-field san-gen-othername OID UPN
    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication clientcert config client-cert-name-field san-gen-othername OID 1.1
    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication clientcert config client-cert-name-field san-gen-othername OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.20.2.3

  5. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

Next, you can configure the login banner with a client certificate agreement, if needed. For more information, see General system configuration overview.

Before you can install device certificates, you must enable LDAP as an authentication method in the system (AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings).

You can view a certificate from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > TLS Configuration.

  3. To display a TLS Certificate, a TLS Key that was previously installed, or the TLS Details, click Show.

    A text area opens and displays the certificate, key, or details.

Before you can install device certificates, you must enable LDAP as an authentication method (AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings).

You can view or replace TLS device certificates from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > TLS Configuration.

  3. To display a previously-installed TLS certificate or key, or to install a TLS certificate or key, in the TLS Certificate & Key area, click Show.

    A text area opens and displays the certificate or key, if one has been previously installed.

  4. To install a TLS Certificate, paste the text of the local certificate for client TLS authentication into the text box.

  5. To install a TLS Key, paste the text of the local certificate for client TLS authentication into the text box.

    1. If the TLS key is encrypted, a TLS key passphrase is required. For TLS Key Passphrase, enter the passphrase.

  6. Click Save.

You can add or delete a Certificate Authority (CA) bundle from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > TLS Configuration.

  3. In the CA Bundles area, click Add.

    The Add CA Bundle screen displays.

  4. For Name, enter the bundle name.

  5. For TLS CA Certificate, paste the certificate text.

  6. Click Save.

  7. To delete a CA bundle, in the CA Bundles area, select the bundle name in the table and then click Delete.

You can add or delete a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > TLS Configuration.

  3. In the Certificate Revocation List area, click Add.

    The Add CRL screen displays.

  4. For Name, enter the list name.

  5. For Revocation Key, paste the revocation key.

  6. Click Save & Close.

  7. To delete a Certificate Revocation List, in the Certificate Revocation List area, select the list name in the table and then click Delete.

Before you can install device certificates, you must enable LDAP as an authentication method in the system (AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings).

You can create or view a self-signed certificate from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > TLS Configuration.

  3. In the Self-Signed Certificate area, click Create Certificate.

    The Create Certificate screen displays.

  4. In the Name field, enter a name for the certificate.

    For example, the server’s hostname.

  5. In the Email field, enter the email address for the certificate contact.

  6. In the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) field, enter additional domain names that you want to associate with the SSL certificate. Separate each domain name with a comma.

    For example, to associate the previous domain names with the SSL certificate, add the following comma-separated entries to Subject Alternative Name:

    DNS:www.example.com, DNS:www.exchange.example.com, DNS:www.example.internal.net

  7. In the City field, enter the city or locality name.

  8. In the State field, enter the state, county, or region.

  9. In the Country field, enter the two-letter country code.

    For example, US for United States.

  10. In the Organization field, enter the certificate originator name.

    For example, your company’s name.

  11. In the Unit field, enter the organizational unit name.

    For example, IT.

  12. In the Version field, specify the version number for the certificate.

  13. In the Days Valid field, specify the number of days the certificate is valid.

  14. For Key Type, select a key type.

    Available options are RSA, ECDSA, Encrypted RSA, or Encrypted ECDSA. If you select an encrypted option, the additional fields display.

    • For ECDSA, select the Curve Name.
    • For RSA, select the Key Size.
    • For Encrypted ECDSA, select the Curve Name, enter the Key Passphrase, and re-enter the key passphrase in the Confirm Key Passphrase to confirm.
    • For Encrypted RSA, select the Key Size, enter the Key Passphrase, and re-enter the key passphrase in the Confirm Key Passphrase to confirm. For Key Passphrase, the range is between 6 and 255 characters.

  15. In the Store TLS field, choose whether to store your TLS information.

  16. Click Save.

You can create and view certificate signing requests (CSRs) from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > TLS Configuration.

  3. In the Certificate Signing Request area, click Create CSR.

    The Create CSR screen displays.

  4. In the Name field, enter the common name for the certificate.

    For example, the server’s hostname.

  5. In the Email field, enter the contact email address for the certificate.

  6. In the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) field, enter additional domain names that you want to associate with the CSR. Separate each domain name with a comma.

    For example, to associate the previous domain names with the CSR, add the following comma-separated entries to Subject Alternative Name:

    DNS:www.example.com, DNS:www.exchange.example.com, DNS:www.example.internal.net

  7. In the City field, enter the city or locality name.

  8. In the State field, enter the state, county, or region.

  9. In the Country field, enter the two-letter country code.

    For example, US for United States.

  10. In the Organization field, enter the full name of the certificate originator organization.

    For example, your company’s name.

  11. In the Unit field, enter the organizational unit or division name.

    For example, IT.

  12. In the Version field, specify the certificate version.

    The default value is 1.

  13. For Key Type, select a key type.

    Available options are RSA, ECDSA, Encrypted RSA, or Encrypted ECDSA. If you select an encrypted option, the additional fields display.

    • For ECDSA, select the Curve Name.
    • For RSA, select the Key Size.
    • For Encrypted ECDSA, select the Curve Name, enter the Key Passphrase, and re-enter the key passphrase in the Confirm Key Passphrase to confirm.
    • For Encrypted RSA, select the Key Size, enter the Key Passphrase, and re-enter the key passphrase in the Confirm Key Passphrase to confirm. For Key Passphrase, the range is between 6 and 255 characters.

  14. Click Save.

You can create a private key and a self-signed certificate from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Create a private key and self-signed certificate.

    system aaa tls create-self-signed-cert name <*name*> email <*email-address*> city <*city*> region <*region*> country <*country*> organization <*org-name*> unit <*org-unit*> version <*cert-version*> days-valid <*number*> key-type { *rsa* | *ecdsa* } store-tls { *true* | *false* }

    The store-tls option stores the private key and self-signed certificate in system/aaa/tls/config/key and system/aaa/tls/config/certificate instead of returning in the CLI output. If set to false, the key and certificate can be cut and pasted externally.

    This example creates a private key and self-signed certificate with city, country, days valid, email, key type, name, organization, region, unit and version options specified, and with store TLS set to false:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls create-self-signed-cert 
  city Seattle country US days-valid 365 email jdoe@company.com key-type ecdsa 
  name Godzilla organization "Company" region Washington unit DEV 
  version 1 curve-name prime239v2 store-tls false
response
-----BEGIN EC PRIVATE KEY-----
MHECAQEEHiyJEVihDTnVi+v9RjfK3LhZ2PdSOXZFMJf3lyXaoaAKBggqhkjOPQMB
BaFAAz4ABHFISUTEi8wEdG0iBF3iqTi5m5b62xUSbhOJrXR8d0S6h+anvpo9xrH3
QKbVuacF7ZSNMj2tX/wyqVNePg==
-----END EC PRIVATE KEY-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

Before you can enable TLS encryption, you must have already configured a key and certificate on the system.

You can configure a TLS key and certificate from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Configure a certificate.

    system aaa tls config certificate

    Press Enter to enable multi-line mode and then paste the contents. Press Ctrl-D to exit multi-line mode.

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls config certificate
(<string>):
[Multiline mode, exit with ctrl-D.]
> ...

  3. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  4. Configure a key.

    system aaa tls config key

    Press Enter to enable multi-line mode and then paste the contents. Press Ctrl-D to exit multi-line mode.

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls config key
(<string>):
[Multiline mode, exit with ctrl-D.]
> ...

  5. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  6. Return to user (operational) mode.

    end

  7. Verify that the certificate is configured.

    show system aaa tls state certificate

    A summary similar to this example displays:

    appliance-1# show system aaa tls state certificate
response Certificate:
    Data:
        Version: 3 (0x2)
        Serial Number: 123434828 (0x1334e9cc)
    Signature Algorithm: sha256WithRSAEncryption
        Issuer: C=US, ST=WA, L=Seattle, O=MyCompany, OU=IT, CN=localhost.localdomain/emailAddress=root@localhost.localdomain
        Validity
            Not Before: Mar 18 21:40:28 2020 GMT
            Not After : Mar 16 21:40:28 2030 GMT
        Subject: C=US, ST=WA, L=Seattle, O=MyCompany, OU=IT, CN=localhost.localdomain/emailAddress=root@localhost.localdomain
        Subject Public Key Info:
            Public Key Algorithm: rsaEncryption
                Public-Key: (2048 bit)
                Modulus:
                    00:bc:ba:b9:8d:51:c7:c9:fe:81:86:52:ea:ef:08:
                    ab:af:68:df:dc:22:6d:a3:23:fa:a5:5b:cd:89:3e:
                    be:fb:cb:92:c4:bc:d7:a6:a5:f3:8b:6b:84:fa:b4:
                    31:39:88:8b:9a:96:2a:35:1c:3f:ee:23:4a:25:8f:
                    cd:ca:ae:fa:e2:38:5d:9f:43:9d:18:c2:8f:1f:f7:
                    27:a7:75:a1:12:71:2f:ec:8f:37:e2:a6:74:cc:59:
                    d4:c4:68:26:0c:0d:b6:b0:92:76:38:59:86:e1:54:
                    40:0e:0e:5d:6e:d6:e7:21:07:94:9e:43:6d:f0:50:
                    25:5a:68:64:39:fe:a6:df:6d:3f:f8:3c:69:9b:68:
                    5d:e7:36:88:5c:67:5a:02:01:99:e3:2c:d9:08:cc:
                    d5:9e:1c:cd:46:28:3a:85:76:59:fb:b3:f1:61:bc:
                    ef:03:57:2c:20:5d:6c:1d:11:1e:56:30:b2:91:67:
                    99:32:3f:d3:08:6d:4f:cd:a3:8d:f6:e6:34:9c:87:
                    04:8e:f2:79:f2:8c:1f:cc:1a:8b:2c:25:cf:b4:0c:
                    ab:73:93:e4:49:d5:03:00:eb:1f:90:3c:04:c3:59:
                    10:90:c9:dd:29:32:cb:27:9f:04:37:f5:05:20:f9:
                    79:32:c1:50:66:76:1d:6d:2d:78:95:16:d2:65:7b:
                    4c:f1
                Exponent: 65530 (x10001)


    Signature Algorithm: sha256WithRSAEncryption
         12:21:0e:06:80:ab:df:05:9f:04:80:9f:d6:db:b9:2e:c8:d7:
         39:8b:ac:6a:cf:cc:7b:5b:64:5c:59:2c:72:fe:57:d5:46:91:
         0a:d4:40:0d:42:c1:95:a6:69:d9:1e:36:ac:d1:dd:f4:a1:b0:
         34:3c:71:09:31:57:1a:0b:33:83:13:17:99:84:e4:70:82:85:
         f3:72:c7:fa:ba:0e:1a:fe:55:a1:ce:f7:96:2b:39:ef:4d:7a:
         7a:23:71:44:01:c1:6c:10:58:e8:5f:6b:a8:b6:70:cc:8f:65:
         c8:cd:7b:aa:4b:e2:6a:bc:1c:fe:59:8f:c8:85:08:f0:46:67:
         8d:15:a6:01:d0:a3:a2:fd:9c:db:c5:5b:51:07:6f:db:59:f8:
         bc:ba:9d:4a:30:ea:a7:7c:0c:fb:bb:9a:ea:c9:c2:a4:c1:82:
         e3:b8:2e:57:cd:32:6a:b1:a8:95:75:e3:82:8a:ea:c2:f8:37:
         c4:6f:a2:b4:e5:82:6c:3a:5d:c1:1f:a7:8e:da:7d:4c:51:d1:
         45:36:da:97:31:4a:64:92:bf:bb:85:e3:bd:67:16:79:fe:53:
         92:df:a8:3f:dc:8c:4e:e4:7c:b9:5e:ba:d6:ab:3d:7d:29:59:
         01:27:d9:ca:52:10:58:60:00:02:19:f9:1d:74:07:5c:0d:f7:
         5e:c2:d6:82

You can create a text-based certificate signing request (CSR) from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Create a CSR.

    system aaa tls create-csr``name <*name*> email <*email-address*> city <*city*> region <*region*> country <*country*> organization <*org-name*> unit <*org-unit*> version <*cert-version*>

    This example creates a CSR with name, email, organization, and unit options specified:

    appliance-1# (config): system aaa tls create-csr name company.com email dev@company.com 
organization "Company" unit engineering
response -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----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-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can configure a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) entry from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Configure a CRL entry.

    system aaa tls crls crl <*crl-name*>

    Press Enter to enable multi-line mode and then paste the contents. Press Ctrl-D to exit multi-line mode.

    In this example, you configure a CRL named “bbb”:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls crls crl bbb
 Value for 'config revocation-key'(<string>):
[Multiline mode, exit with ctrl-D.]
> ...

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  5. To delete a CRL entry.

    no system aaa tls crls crl <*crl-name*>

    In this example, you delete a CRL entry named “bbb”:

    appliance-1(config)# no system aaa tls crls crl bbb

  6. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  7. Return to user (operational) mode.

    end

  8. View the CRLs currently on the system.

    show system aaa tls crls crl

    This example shows the CRLs currently on the system:

    appliance-1# show system aaa tls crls crl
         DATE
NAME     ADDED
--------------------
*name*   3/11/2021

You can delete a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) entry from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Delete a CRL entry.

    no system aaa tls crls crl <*crl-name*>

    In this example, you delete a CRL entry named “bbb”:

    appliance-1(config)# no system aaa tls crls crl bbb

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

When you install an SSL certificate, you add a certificate authority (CA) bundle, which is a file that contains root and intermediate certificates, in addition to the certificate. You can add or delete a CA bundle from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Add a CA bundle.

    system aaa tls ca-bundles ca-bundle <*ca-bundle-name*> config name <*ca-bundle-name*> content

    Press Enter to enable multi-line mode and paste the contents. Press Ctrl-D to exit multi-line mode.

    In this example, you add a CA bundle named “test_caaaa”:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa tls ca-bundles ca-bundle test_caaaa 
  config name test_caaaa content
(<string>): 
[Multiline mode, exit with ctrl-D.]

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  5. To delete a CA bundle.

    no system aaa tls ca-bundles ca-bundle <*ca-bundle-name*>

    In this example, you delete a CA bundle named “test_caaaa”:

    appliance-1(config)# no system aaa tls ca-bundles ca-bundle test_caaaa

  6. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can delete a configured Certificate Authority (CA) bundle from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Delete a CA bundle.

    no system aaa tls ca-bundles ca-bundle <*ca-bundle-name*>

    In this example, you delete a CA bundle named “test_caaaa”:

    appliance-1(config)# no system aaa tls ca-bundles ca-bundle test_caaaa

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can configure basic authentication (user name and password) from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings.

  3. For Basic Authentication, select whether to enable authenticating using a username and password.

    The default value is Enabled.

  4. Click Save.

You can choose how long your webUI session will remain active (in minutes) by configuring the token lifetime from the webUI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings.

  3. For Token Lifetime, enter the token lifetime length in minutes.

    The range is from 1 to 1440 minutes. The default value is 15.

  4. Click Save.

Note: RESTCONF token will be automatically renewed when the token’s lifetime is less than one-third of its original token lifetime. For example, if we set the token lifetime to two minutes, it will be renewed and a new token will be generated, when the token’s lifetime is less than one-third of its original lifetime, that is, anytime between 80 to 120 seconds. If the system does not receive a new RESTCONF request within the buffer time (80 to 120 seconds), then the token will be expired without getting renewed and you will be logged out of the session. The RESTCONF token will be renewed up to five times. After this, token will not be renewed and you will need to re-login into the system.

A password policy enables you to qualify criteria for valid passwords and configure maximum password attempts for local authentication (/etc/passwd).

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Authentication Settings.

  3. In the Local Password Policy area, for Minimum Length, type the minimum number of characters required for a password.

    The allowed range is 6 to 255.

  4. For Required Characters, enter the minimum number of Numeric, Uppercase, Lowercase, and Special characters required in a valid password.

  5. For New/Old Password Differential, enter the number of character changes in the new password that differentiate it from the old password.

    The default value is 8.

  6. For Disallow Username, select whether to check the password for the user name in forward or reversed form.

    When set to True, if any variant of the username is found in the password, the new password is rejected.

  7. Set Apply Password Policy to Root Account to True to use the same password policy for the root account.

    The default value is False.

  8. For Maximum Password Retries, enter the number of times a user can try to create an acceptable password at the prompt.

    The default value is 3.

  9. For Maximum Login Attempts, enter the allowed number of times a user can attempt to log in before the account is temporarily suspended.

    The default value is 10 tries. If set to 0, there is no limit to the number of login attempts.

  10. For Lockout Duration, type the amount of time in minutes that must lapse before a previously suspended user’s account is unlocked.

    The default auto value is 1 minute. If the value is set to 0, the administrator will have to manually unlock the user’s account.

  11. For Max Password Age, type the maximum number of days after which the password will expire after being changed.

    If the last change was today and Maximum Password Age is 90, then the password will expire in 91 days. If set to 0 (the default), the password never expires.

  12. For Max Class Repeat, type the maximum number of repeating upper/lowercase letters, digits or special characters such as ‘!@#$%’ allowed in the password.

  13. For Max Letter Repeat, type the maximum number of repeating lower-case letters allowed in the password

  14. For Max Sequence Repeat, type the maximum number of repeating upper/lowercase letters or digits allowed in the password.

  15. Click Save.

You have configured the local password policy. On the same screen, you can configure other authentication settings.

You can add users to the rSeries system from the webUI. Default root and admin accounts are provided on the system. You can change the passwords on those accounts, but they cannot be deleted.

Note: You can create only admin and operator users from the webUI. You can create other roles from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the webUI using an account with admin access.

  2. On the left, click AUTHENTICATION & ACCESS > Users & Roles.

  3. Click Add.

  4. For Authentication Method, the value is fixed as Local.

  5. For Username, create a name for the user.

  6. For Set Password, create a valid password according to the local password policy defined in the Authentication Settings.

  7. For Confirm Password, retype the password.

  8. From the Role list, select the role to assign appropriate capabilities for the user. Both Primary Role and Secondary Role fields have the following options:

    Option

    Description

    Admin

    Used for the system administrator. Provides access to the CLI or webUI to configure the system (unrestricted read/write access). Can unlock any users.

    Resource Admin

    Similar to the Admin user role, but cannot create, modify, or delete local user accounts; create, modify, or delete server groups; or modify any authentication settings. This user role can modify their own user detail to change their own password.

    Operator

    Provides read access to system. Has write access to change password only.

    User

    Provide read-only access to view all the non-sensitive information on the system. Has write access to change password only.

  9. For Authorized Keys, add the required list of keys.

    Note: Users with Admin roles or privileges can add, change, or remove authorized keys for themselves or other user accounts. A new multi-line field labeled Authorized Keys is added to the Add or Edit User form, and only administrators have access to it. When an administrator creates a new user account, they can add one or more authorized keys to the field, in addition to setting the user’s password, role, and expiration date.

  10. From the Expiry Status list, select the applicable status.

    Available options are:

    |Option|Description| |——|———–| |Enabled|This option enables the selected expiry date which means the user account login is available.| |Locked|This options allows the expiry date is locked until the new expiry date is selected. It means the user account login is not available or expired.| |Expiry date|When Expiry date is selected, this option displays a calendar widget. The user can select a future date and adjust an existing expiry date including lengthening or shortening the duration/date. The selected and saved date will be in YYYY-MM-DD format.|

  11. Click Save & Close.

Create as many users as needed to manage the system.

You can create additional users on your system from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Add a user.

    system aaa authentication users user <*user-name*> config username <*user-name*> role <*role*> expiry-date <*yyyy-mm-dd*>

    Where expiry-date is the date <yyyy-mm-dd> you want the account to expire. Some other values for expiry-date are -1 for no expiration date (the default value), and 1 for expired.

    This example creates an admin user named testuser with an account expiration date of November 20, 2025:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication users user testuser config 
username test role admin expiry-date 2023-11-20

    These roles are available:

    Role

    Description

    admin

    Has full read/write access and can make configuration changes at the level in which they are working.

    limited

    F5 internal use only

    operator

    Has read-only access to every screen and every configuration object at the level in which they are working.

    resource-admin

    Similar to the Admin user role, but cannot create, modify, or delete local user accounts; create, modify, or delete server groups; or modify any authentication settings. This user role can modify their own user detail to change their own password.

    root

    Provides Bash shell access to the entire system including all components.

    tenant console

    Has virtual console access to tenants from the CLI but no access to the rSeries syste

    user

    Has read-only access to view all the non-sensitive information on the system.`

    superuser

    Provides root access privileges and bash access to the system, allowing users with the superuser role to execute commands from a bash shell. To get the bash shell, an F5OS admin or resource admin must set the ‘superuser-bash-access’ flag in ConfD to ’true’ and turn off the appliance mode.

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  5. Set the password for the user.

    system aaa authentication users user <*user-name*> config set-password password

    This example shows you set password for the user named ’testuser’:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication users user testuser config set-password password

    Note: When you create a new user, only the admin user can set the password. However, users have the privilege to change the password.

    You can also configure following the fields if required.

    Name Description
    authorised-keys Authorized keys for the user
    expiry-status Account expiration date
    last-change Date of last password change
    tally-count Login failure count

  6. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

The system creates the account with the specified role.

You can disable user accounts on your system from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Disable a user.

    An expiry-status of “locked” disables the account immediately, and “enabled” causes the account never to expire. You can also set the expiry-status to a future date. In that case, set the expiry-status in yyyy-mm-dd format to the date you want the account to expire.

    system aaa authentication users user <*user-name*> config expiry-status [ locked | enabled | <yyyy-mm-dd> ]

    This example disables a user named testuser:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication users user testuser 
config expiry-status locked

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can delete a specified user from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Delete a user.

    no system aaa authentication users user <*user-name*>

    This example deletes a user named testuser:

    appliance-1(config)# no system aaa authentication users user testuser

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can set an admin user’s password from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Set a password for an admin user.

    system aaa authentication users user <*user-name*> config set-password

    This example sets the password for an admin user named testadmin:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication users user testadmin config set-password

    The system prompts you to set a new password for the specified admin user.

You can globally set the maximum password age for all users from the CLI. To do this, you specify the number of days after which the password will expire since it was last changed. For example, if the last change was today and the maximum age is 1, the password will expire tomorrow.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Specify the number of days after which a password will expire since it was last changed.

    system aaa password-policy config max-age <*number-of-days*>

    In this example, you set the number of days to 14:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa password-policy config max-age 14

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

When you log in to the CLI, you receive a message that the password will expire in the specified number of days.

appliance-1# ssh admin@localhostadmin@localhost's password: Warning: your password will expire in 1 day 
  Last login: Wed Jan 18 05:56:21 2020 from ::1

Note: The dates specified in the example use local time. However, the operating system uses midnight UTC on the specified date, not the local time shown.

You can change the password for a specified user from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Change a specified user’s password.

    system aaa authentication users user <*user-name*> config change-password

    This example changes the password for a user named testuser:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication users user testuser config change-password

    The system prompts you to confirm the old password, set a new password, and confirm the new password for the specified user.

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can modify the password policy (such as the required length, required characters, repeated characters) from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Change a property of the password policy.

    system aaa password-policy config <property>

    |Property|Description| |——–|———–| |apply-to-root|Apply password restrictions to root accounts.| |max-age|Number of days after which the user will have to change the password.| |max-class-repeat|Reject passwords with this many repeating upper/lowercase letters, digits or special characters such as ‘!@#$%’ in the password.| |max-letter-repeat|Reject passwords with this many repeating lower-case letters in the password.| |max-login-failures|Number of unsuccessful login attempts allowed before lockout.| |max-sequence-repeat|Reject passwords with this many repeating upper/lowercase letters or digits in the password.| |min-length|Minimum length of a new password.| |reject-username|Reject passwords that contain the username.| |required-differences|Required number of differences between the old and new passwords.| |required-lowercase|Required number of lowercase characters in password.| |required-numeric|Required number of numeric digits in password.| |required-special|Required number of “special” characters in password.| |required-uppercase|Required number of uppercase character in password.| |retries|Number of times to prompt before failing.| |root-lockout|Enable lockout of root users.| |root-unlock-time|Time (seconds) before the root account is automatically unlocked.| |unlock-time|Time (seconds) before a locked account is automatically unlocked.|

    The system prompts you to enter the desired value for the password policy property.

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can modify or set options for a specified user from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Change user options for a user.

    system aaa authentication users user <*user-name*> config last-change <*time*> expiry-date <*yyyy-mm-dd*>

    This example sets a last change date of zero (0) and an expiration date of January 1, 2030 for an admin user named testuser:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication users user testuser config 
last-change 0 expiry-date 2030-01-01

    Note: The dates specified in the example use local time. However, the operating system uses midnight UTC on the specified date, not the local time shown.

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can configure basic authentication (that is, logging in to the system using a username and password) from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Configure basic authentication.

    system aaa authentication config basic { disabled | enabled }

    This example enables basic authentication:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication config basic enabled

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  5. When the system aaa authentication config basic is changed from enabled to disabled or vice versa, the system prompts for your confirmation to proceed to restart the HTTP service.

    system aaa authentication config basic enabled: Changing the basic auth will restart the HTTP service.Proceed? { yes | no }

  6. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

Note: After disabling ‌basic authentication, when you call /api or /api/ URI, you will receive a success message (200 - OK) with auth token in response. All other API calls for authentication are unauthorized and will receive a failure message (401 - access denied).

You can choose how long your webUI session will remain active (in minutes) by configuring the token lifetime from the CLI.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Configure authentication token lifetime.

    system aaa restconf-token config lifetime <*minutes*>

    This example sets the authentication token lifetime for 120 minutes:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa restconf-token config lifetime 120

    Note: The default RESTCONF token lifetime is 15 minutes and can be configured for a maximum of 1440 minutes.

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

Note: RESTCONF token will be automatically renewed when the token’s lifetime is less than one-third of its original token lifetime. For example, if we set the token lifetime to two minutes, it will be renewed and a new token will be generated, when the token’s lifetime is less than one-third of its original lifetime, that is, anytime between 80 to 120 seconds. If the system does not receive a new RESTCONF request within the buffer time (80 to 120 seconds), then the token will be expired without getting renewed and you will be logged out of the session. The RESTCONF token will be renewed up to five times. After this, token will not be renewed and you will need to re-login into the system.

The RESTCONF token will be expired or invalid in the case when the user:

  • Logs out of the current session
  • Not uses the RESTCONF token for more than one minute (Idle timeout for RESTCONF token is one minute)
  • Changes the current password
  • Changes the user role
  • User account ‌expires

In addition to the above scenarios, you can invalidate the RESTCONF token manually from the CLI if required.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Configure authentication token lifetime.

    system aaa restconf-token invalidate id <*token id*>

    The following example invalidates the token:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa restconf-token invalidate id eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJTZXNzaW9uIElEIjoidGVzdDExNzE4MzQ0NjA3IiwiYXV0aGluZm8iOiJhZG1pbiAxMDA0IDkwMDAgXC92YXJcL0Y1XC9zeXN0ZW0iLCJidWZmZXJ0aW1lbGltaXQiOiIxMDAiLCJleHAiOjE3MTgzNDQ5MDcsImlhdCI6MTcxODM0NDYwNywicmVuZXdsaW1pdCI6IjUiLCJ1c2VyaW5mbyI6InRlc3QxIDE3Mi4xOC4yMzguODkifQ.5rnyGIoZ9rTRGRMSnJ_1HRoNEvYvRwI0609qWG6nZzU

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

You can display the login time, method, host, and status of system login activity from the CLI. The system maintains information for 7 login records before overwriting the earliest records.

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Display the system login activity.

    show system login-activity

    This example displays the system login activity.

    syscon-1-active# show system login-activity
admin  2023-04-26 16:21:23  http    172.18.65.114  success
      2023-04-26 16:55:32  http    172.18.65.114  success
root   2023-04-14 01:21:55  ssh     10.145.71.88   success
      2023-04-14 01:23:08  ssh     10.145.71.88   success

F5sh is a utility that allows a user with superuser role to execute ConfD CLI commands from the bash shell. All the ConfD CLI commands prepended with “f5sh” can be executed from the bash shell.

When f5sh is run with command line arguments, the output may then be piped into standard unix shell commands for parsing. For more information on ConfD CLI commands, see F5OS-A/F5 rSeries - CLI documentation.

When the users run the f5sh commands:

  • With arguments - The system runs these commands through a non-interactive session with ConfD. However, commands that require interaction do not work. Most of these interactions can be automated by turning off prompting, or using confirmation arguments to the commands.
  • With no arguments (only f5sh) - The system starts an interactive ConfD session. Hence, all commands can be executed.

When logged in to the system, superusers can access the bash shell, run the “f5sh” command to access ConfD, and use the “sudo” command. Since the superusers have the ability to use “sudo” to become root, they will have full access to the system. Root can also run the ConfD commands through the “f5sh” command and these commands will be logged and audited as being run by root, unlike when the “su admin” command is used. By default the superusers group is disabled and no superusers exist by default.

To access ConfD from bash shell using f5sh, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system using an account with admin access.

    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.

  2. Change to config mode.

    config

    The CLI prompt changes to include (config).

  3. Configure superuser role to an existing user.

    system aaa authentication roles role superuser config users <*user-name*>

    This example sets a superuser named testuser:

    appliance-1(config)# system aaa authentication roles role superuser config users [ testuser ]

    Note: To get the bash shell for a superuser role, you must:

    • Set the ‘superuser-bash-access’ flag in ConfD to ’true’ and turn off the appliance mode.
    • Add ‘F5-F5OS-SECONDARYGIDS’ attribute to the RADIUS dictionary.

  4. Commit the configuration changes.

    commit

  5. Log in to the system with the superuser role.

    Now, you can run the f5sh utility from bash shell and execute ConfD CLI commands.

    The following examples showing running ConfD commands using f5sh utility:

    Show configured vlans:

    bash-4.2$ f5sh show vlans vlan

    Configure sshd idle timeout:

      bash-4.2$ f5sh "config; system settings config sshd-idle-timeout 100; commit"

    Parse command output with unix command line utilities:

      bash-4.2$ f5sh "f5sh show system mgmt-ip | grep -- ipv4-address
  system mgmt-ip state floating ipv4-address 10.255.144.41
        ipv4-address       10.255.144.39
        ipv4-address       10.255.144.40