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Cornelis Technical Documentation

5.4.1. Security Configuration

5.4.1.1. Securing the Default vFabric

Refer to Securing the Default vFabric.

5.4.1.2. Securing the Admin vFabric

Refer to Secure the Admin vFabric.

5.4.1.3. Securing Hosts

You can secure hosts by disabling the ability to send Management Datagrams (MAD) packets (a standard message format for manager–agent communication) on switches and switch ports. Refer to Disabling Ports.

Note

You can also secure vFabrics by securing all host nodes that are NOT Admin Nodes.

This is accomplished by creating the AdminNodes device groups file in /etc/opa-fm/dgs and adding one or more management host nodes to the group. Then, disable AllMgmtAllowed and enable AdminNodes under the Admin partition in the opafm_pp.xml file.

For detailed instructions, see Secure the Admin VFabric.

5.4.1.3.1. Disabling Ports

Note

The CN5000 Switch is also referred to as an Edge Switch.

You can secure one or more hosts by deactivating switch ports using the port disable <PORT_NAME> command.

The following example provides instructions for disabling a single port (host7).

  1. Determine to which switch and switch port host7 is connected.

    host7 is attached to switch edge002 on port 23.

    View host7 to see that MAD packets are allowed (Mgmt = True).

    [root@host1 ~]# ssh host7
    Last login: Thu Aug 15 10:18:47 2024 from 192.168.0.200
    [root@host7 ~]# opainfo | grep Mgmt
       LCRC         Act: 14-bit      En: 14-bit,16-bit,48-bit     Mgmt: True

    This host node is not secure. With management allowed, all commands can be run from host7.

  2. (OPTIONAL) Run a command to find the LID information from every host in the fabric and a command to view all the links.

    Note

    The following example shows partial results.

    [root@host7 ~]# opaextractlids
    Getting All Node Records...
    Done Getting vFabric Records
    0x0011750101743e91;1;FI;rh212 hfi1_0;0x0001
    0x0011750102703c47;0;SW;edge001;0x0002
    0x001175010174428a;1;FI;rh216 hfi1_0;0x0003
    0x0011750101743ed0;1;FI;rh217 hfi1_0;0x0004
    0x00117501017443a8;1;FI;rh218 hfi1_0;0x0005
    

    Since management is allowed, these commands produced the desired results.

  3. Go to the switch edge002.

    [root@host7 ~]# ssh admin@edge002
    admin@edge002's password:
    Welcome to the Cornelis CN5000 Switch CLI.
    Type 'list' for the list of commands.
  4. View the status of port 23 (cable23) using port show.

    Note

    Ports are named Cable01 – Cable48 on CN5000 Switches (also called Edge Switches) and as Leaf modules in Director Class Switches.

    Edge-> port show Cable23
    Cable23 FM_ENABLED: ENABLED

    The port is Enabled (default).

  5. Disable port 23, then bounce the port. 

    Bouncing the port is momentarily disruptive but only to that switch port and attached host.

    Edge-> port disable Cable23
    Edge-> port bounce Cable23
    Cable23 FM_ENABLED: DISABLED
    Disabled port Cable23!
    Enabled port Cable23!
  6. View the status of port 23.

    Edge-> port show Cable23
    Cable23 FM_ENABLED: DISABLED
  7. (OPTIONAL) Run the following commands to see how the disabled port appears in output:

    1. Exit out of the switch and look at Mgmt with opainfo command on host7.

      Edge-> exit
        Connection to edge002 closed by remote host.
      Connection to edge002 closed.
      
      [root@host7 ~]# opainfo | grep Mgmt
         LCRC          Act: 14-bit      En: 14-bit,16-bit,48-bit     Mgmt: False

      Management is now set to False, so Management Datagrams  (MAD) packets are not allowed. This is more secure.

    2. Run some opa commands to the Fabric:

      [root@rh227 ~]# opareport -o lids
      Getting All Node Records...
      Processed      0 of     41 Nodes...                                             SA
      SA PortInfo query Failed: FPROTECTION
      

      Most fabric commands are not allowed from a secured host node by the Subnet Administrator (SA).

To enable a port:

  1. Run port enable to enable the switch port 23.

    Edge-> port enable Cable23
    Cable23 FM_ENABLED: ENABLED
    Disabled port Cable23!
    Enabled port Cable23!
  2. View the status of the port.

    Edge-> port show Cable23
    Cable23 FM_ENABLED: ENABLED

5.4.1.4. Setting up Predefined Topology Verification Security

Note

Verify the cluster before enabling Predefined Topology Verification feature.

  1. Create a predefined topology input configuration file using one of the following commands:

    • opaxlattopology

    • opagentopology

    • opareport

  2. Edit the configuration file using one of the following methods:

    • Node GUIDs and Port Numbers

    • Node Descriptions and Port Numbers

For details, refer to Predefined Topology Verification Security

5.4.1.5. Replacing a Node with Predefined Topology Verification

This section describes how to replace a SuperNIC when using the Predefined Topology Verification feature. For more information, refer to Predefined Topology Verification.

For topology files based on node descriptions, the SuperNIC replacement process is straightforward: update the node description of the replacement node prior to adding to the cluster. No restart of FM is required, and the node will pass verification.

For topology files based on node GUIDs and port numbers, an FM Restart is required.

  1. The node to be replaced should have its node description updated to the correct name prior to adding the node to the cluster.

  2. Modify the input topology configuration file, replacing the old node GUID with the new node GUID. An alternative way to find the correct GUIDs to be replaced is to search the topology file for the replacement node description (assuming unique node descriptions).

    Note

    This modification must be done on every topology configuration file on each FM in the cluster. Otherwise, the FMs will detect this inconsistency upon restart, and will not participate in FM redundancy.

  3. Add the replacement node back to the cluster and restart all FMs. The newly replaced node should activate. If it does not, examine the logs for warnings indicating why the node did not activate; it may have been quarantined due to other reasons.

5.4.1.6. Setting User Query Permissions

Cornelis recommends that you set MgmtAllowed to Disabled for all nodes that are not management nodes. For more information, refer to User Query Permissions.