Understanding HP SIM 5.1 and 5.2 security (481362-003, January 2009)

Configuring managed systems
Manage Communications
The Manage Communications tool can be used to diagnose and repair communication problems
between HP SIM and managed systems. If communication problems are detected that might affect
identification, receiving events, running tools, or version control, they are listed for each system. You
can then reconfigure certain communication settings and credentials and install agents on target
systems.
Agent installation
In a Windows environment, the Initial ProLiant Support Pack Install tool can be used to install Systems
Management Homepage (SMH), which is pre-configured to trust HP SIM along with other settings.
Additionally, it can install and configure SSH (the Install OpenSSH tool can also be used).
Agent configuration
The Configure or Repair Agents tool can be used to install agents on the managed system, or just to
configure the systems. The Replicate Agent Settings tool replicates SSH settings from one system to
other systems.
Authorizations
An authorization in HP SIM defines which tools a user can operate against which systems. A system
list displays only systems for which the user is authorized. Similarly, only authorized tools are
displayed on the menu.
Prior to HP SIM 5.2, configuration rights defined what actions a user could perform within HP SIM.
For example, managing tasks, collections, events, discovery, reports, and so on. Many of these
actions are not individual tools contained in the Full Rights and Limited Rights toolboxes. The ability to
configure CMS security settings, such as user accounts, authorizations, tool boxes, certificates, SSH
keys, and so on, require the configure CMS security right.
Browser
SSL
All communication between the browser and the CMS or any managed server occurs using HTTPS
over SSL. Any navigation using HTTP (not using SSL) is automatically redirected to HTTPS.
Cookies
Although cookies are required to maintain a logged in session, only a session identifier is maintained
in the cookie. No confidential information is in the cookie. The cookie is marked as secure, so it is
only transmitted over SSL.
Passwords
Any password fields displayed by HP SIM do not display the password. Passwords between the
browser and the CMS are transmitted over SSL.