Using security mechanisms in the Collector Configuration Console

To ensure that only authenticated and authorized users can modify the configuration data, the configuration interface uses the following mechanisms for security purposes.

To use security mechanisms

1. Authenticated sessions — You must log on before you can access the Configuration Console. The login information is stored in a file on the Collector server called collectorCfgAuth.xml located in the webAppRoot/WEB-INF/classes directory. This directory holds the file structure for the BMC Service Level Management (BMC SLM) Collector web application. It exists within the directory hierarchy of the application server, and is in a location dependant on the application server. For example,
   • For JBoss, the webAppRoot might be C:\Jboss-4.0.2\server\default\deploy\daytona.war.
     
   • For Tomcat, the webAppRoot might be C:\apache-tomcat-5.5.20\webapps\daytona.
   • For ServletExec, the webAppRoot might be C:\Program Files\New Atlanta\ServletExec ISAPI\webapps\default\daytona.
2. After authenticating, you are granted a session, which allows you to use all components of the configuration console. The session is invalidated by logging off, or after five minutes of inactivity. The default password is password. You can change this from the Administration tab after logging in.
3. Access control by IP address — You can restrict access to the configuration interface to users running on a particular set of IP addresses. This prevents sensitive configuration information (such as passwords) being sent across insecure sections of the network. The list of IP addresses that are accepted are stored in a file on the Collector server. By default, only "local host" is defined as an authorized client. You can change this from the Administration tab after logging on.

   Note

   If you do not have a supported browser installed on the same machine as the Collector, you will not be able to log on to the Collector Configuration Console until you perform the following steps.

   1. Open the file collectorCfgAuth.xml located in the webAppRoot/WEB-INF/classes directory of the Collector server.
   2. Edit the line host_localhost and change localhost to a host name or IP address of a machine that has a supported browser.
   3. Save the file.
      You should now be able to log on to the Collector Configuration Console using the browser on the machine just added.