Authentication and Directory Servers

AAA Server Overview

Understanding the Role of AAA Servers in the Pulse Secure access management framework

AAA stands for authentication, authorization, and accounting. A AAA server is a database that stores user credentials - username and password - and, in some cases, group information or other user attributes. The authentication results and the group or user attribute information is used by the Pulse Secure access management framework for policy decisions.

In the Pulse Secure access management framework, the sign-in page, realm, and AAA server configurations are associated. They determine user access and user role. A user submits credentials through a sign-in page, which specifies a realm, which is associated with a AAA server. If the access request meets the realm's authentication policy, the system forwards the user's credentials to the associated authentication server. The authentication server's job is to verify the user's identity. After verifying the user, the authentication server sends approval. If the realm also uses the server as a directory/attribute server, the AAA server sends the user's group information or other user attribute information. The access management framework then evaluates the realm's role-mapping rules to determine the user roles that apply to the session.

The Pulse Secure access management framework supports the following types of AAA servers:

Local - You can create special purpose local databases to manually create user accounts, permit anonymous access, or manage access based on digital certificates.

External (standards-based) - You can integrate standards-based LDAP and RADIUS servers with the access management framework. In addition to using the backend server for authentication, you can use LDAP group and RADIUS attribute information in role-mapping rules.

External (other) - You can integrate compatible versions of popular third-party AAA servers with the access management framework. In addition to using the backend server for authentication, you can use Active Directory group information and SiteMinder attributes in role-mapping rules. In addition, you can use MDM device attributes in role mapping rules.

The following table is a reference of the AAA servers supported in Pulse Connect Secure deployments.

The following table lists the Supported AAA Servers:

Pulse Connect Secure

Local

"Local Authentication Server"**, "Anonymous Server", "Certificate Server", "SAML Server"***

**No special features to manage guest users.

***Supports an authentication server configuration when deployed as a SAML service provider. Different Connect Secure features support a local SAML server when deployed as a SAML identity provider.

External (standards-based)

"LDAP Server", "RADIUS Server"

External (other)

"Active Directory", "MDM Server", "NIS Server", "RSA ACE Server", "SiteMinder Server"

AAA Server Configuration Task Summary

To integrate an authentication server:

1.Configure the authentication server. Select Authentication > Authentication > Auth. Servers page and complete the authentication server configuration.

2.Create an authentication realm. Select Users > User Realms or Administrators > Admin Realms and select the authentication server when you complete the authentication realm configuration.

AAA Traffic Management

From 9.0R3 release, the Connect Secure Virtual appliances and the Pulse Secure Appliances allow the administrator to choose the communicating interface or the network for each authentication server.

This feature allows the AAA traffic across the following interfaces:

Physical Internal

Physical External

Physical Management

Virtual ports for Physical Interfaces

VLAN ports

Virtual Ports on VLAN Interfaces

This feature allows to connect to remote supported authentication servers through any interfaces based on the network Topology.

The following Authentication server types are supported:

LDAP

Active Directory

RADIUS

Siteminder

CRL and OCSP traffic flow

Configuring AAA Traffic Management Across Interfaces

1.Select Authentication > Auth Servers and configure service provider AAA configurations as needed.

 

2.Click Enable Auth Traffic Control. A new window appears.

 

3.Click Enable Traffic Decoupling to confirm. The page navigates to the Auth server page that displays the options to configure the AAA traffic interfaces.

 

4.Select Global setting to use same interface across all supported authentication servers or select Auth Server Level to select the interface for a specific authentication server for the AAA traffic. 

5.Select the required interface and port from the list.

For Clusters, select applicable interfaces and associated ports.

6.Click Save.

Upgrading from Previous Releases

Prior to 9.0R3, the AAA traffic was routed through the management port. This option was available on both the Default Network and the Administrative Network.

On upgrading to 9.0R3, the AAA traffic can be routed through Internal, External, Management, Virtual ports and VLAN ports. If Send AAA traffic via Management Port was enabled in pre-9.0R3, then by default, immediately after upgrade, the AAA traffic is routed through the management port for all authentication servers as a global setting. The selected interfaces may be modified as required using the Global Settings or the Auth Server Level settings.

Configuring AAA Traffic Management on Upgrade

Prior to 9.0R3 release, the Pulse Connect Secure Interface had the option "Send AAA traffic via Management Port" as shown in figure under System > Traffic Segregation. This option routes the AAA traffic through the Management port by default.

 

On upgrade to 9.0R3 release, if Send AAA traffic via Management Port was enabled in pre-9.0R3, then the following changes are observed:

The AAA traffic management options are available under Authentication > Auth. Severs.

The AAA traffic management is enabled by default.

The physical port is automatically set to Management port or default VLAN.

 

Using the Local Authentication Server

This topic describes the local authentication server.

Local Authentication Server Overview

This section provides an overview of the feature and its limitations.

Understanding the Local Authentication Server

The local authentication server is an authentication database that is built in to the system. Therefore, it is considered a "local" server in contrast to a third-party enterprise AAA server that is connected over the network.

Typically, you create local user accounts for temporary users who do not have accounts on your enterprise AAA servers. Temporary users include lab users or guests, but you might find the local authentication server useful to create temporary accounts for users who are normally verified by an enterprise AAA server that you plan to disable.

You also use the local authentication server to create accounts for administrator users, such as system administrators.

Although it is common practice to use the local authentication server for administrator accounts, it does not preclude you from using any of the supported third-party enterprise AAA servers in your administrator access management framework.

Configuring the Local Authentication Server

You can create multiple local authentication server instances. When you define a new local authentication server, you must give the server a unique name and configure options for passwords.

To create a local authentication server:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select Local Authentication and click New Server to display the configuration page.

3.Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

4.Save the configuration.

The following table lists the Local Authentication Server Configuration Guidelines

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name that is useful to you.

Password Options

Minimum length

Specify a number of characters. The valid range is 0-99. 6 is the default.

Maximum length

Specify a number of characters. The valid range is 0-99. 8 is the default. The maximum length cannot be less than the minimum length.

Minimum digits

Specify the number of digits required in a password. Do not require more digits than the value of the maximum length option.

Minimum letters

Specify the number of letters required in a password. Do not require more letters than the value of the maximum length option. If you enable the previous option, the combined total of the two options cannot exceed that of the value specified in the maximum length option.

Uppercase and lowercase required

Select this option if you want all passwords to contain a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters.

Require passwords to contain at least two letters if you also require a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters.

Different from username

Select this option if the password cannot equal the username.

Different from previous password

Select this option if a new password cannot equal the previous password.

Stored as cleartext

Select this option if you are using open authentication protocol sets. CHAP and EAP-MD5-Challenge work with local authentication servers only if you select this option.

Be aware of the security implications of storing passwords as cleartext.

Password Management

Allow users to change passwords

Select this option if you want users to be able to change their passwords.

In addition to selecting local authentication password management options, you must select the Enable Password Management option for the associated realm authentication policy.

Force password change

Select this option to specify the number of days after which a password expires. The default is 64 days.

Prompt users to change password

Select this option to specify when to prompt the user to change passwords.

Account Lockout

Enable account lockout for users

Select this option to manage user authentication failures for admin users of local authentication server.

Maximum wrong password attempts

Specify the number of consecutive wrong password attempts after which the admin user account will be locked. The default value is 3 retries.

Account Lockout period

Specify the time in minutes for which admin user account will remain locked. The default value is 10 minutes.

Creating User Accounts

You use the Users page to create local authentication server user accounts. A user account includes a username and password to be used for authentication, as well as other information used for records and account management.

To create a local user account:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select the local authentication server to which you want to add a user account.

3.Click the Users tab.

4.Click New to display the configuration page.

5.Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

6.Save the configuration.

The following table lists User Account Configuration Guidelines:

Settings

Guidelines

Username

Do not include "~~" in a username.

You cannot change a username after you create the account.

Full Name

Specify the user's full name.

Password

Specify a password. Make sure that the password you enter conforms to the password options specified on the local authentication server configuration page.

Confirm password

Confirm the password.

One-time use

Select this option to limit the user to one login. After one successful login, the user's login state is set to disabled, and the user receives an error message when attempting subsequent sign-ins. However, you can manually reset this option to allow the same user to log in again.

Enabled

Select this check box if it is not already selected.

If the one-time use option has been implemented, this option is listed as Disabled after the user has logged in successfully. If a permanent or one-time user is logged in and you disable this option, the user is immediately logged out of the system and receives an error message.

Require user to change password

Select this option to force users to change their passwords at the next login.

If you force the user to change passwords, you must also enable the local authentication password management options.

Managing User Accounts

You use the Users page to list, modify, and delete local authentication server user accounts.

 

To manage a user account:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Click the link for the authentication server you want to manage.

3.Click the Users tab to display the user accounts table.

The user accounts table includes entries for the accounts that have been created. The Last Sign-in Statistic column shows the last successful sign-in date and time for each user, the user's IP address, and the agent or browser type and version. The Status column for the user shows the account-locked warning icon if the user account is locked.

4.Use the controls to search for users and manage user accounts:

To search for a specific user, enter a username in the Show users named box and click Update.

You can use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard, where * represents any number of zero or more characters. For example, to search for all usernames that contain the letters jo, enter *jo*. The search is case-sensitive. To display the entire list of accounts again, type * or delete the field's contents and click Update.

To limit the number of users displayed on the page, enter a number in the Show N users box and click Update.

To edit the user account configuration, click the link in the Username column to display the Update Local User Account page.

To terminate the user session and delete the account, select the box next to the user account record and click Delete.

To unlock a user account, select the locked-out account and click Unlock. The account-locked warning icon will disappear after successful unlock.

To view the admin user access logs, select System > Log/Monitoring > Admin Access > Log.

Select a user to display the user account configuration page. You can use this page to modify the account settings, or to disable or quarantine the account.

Creating Administrator User Accounts

You use the Admin Users page to create a special admin user account that enables the account holder to manage the local authentication server users table. These special admin users can sign in to a special page that enables them to create, modify, and delete user accounts.

To create a special admin user account:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers > System Local.

2.Click the Admin Users tab to display the configuration page.

3.Specify a username, select an authentication realm, and click Add to create the administrator user.

4.Save the configuration.

Using the Admin User Sign-In Page to Manage the Local Authentication Users Table

The special admin users created using the feature shown in the previous section can manage the local authentication server accounts table. For example, if an admin user named adminuser is provisioned to manage user accounts for the Users realm, when adminuser signs into the Users realm sign-in page, a User Admin button appears on the toolbar at the top of the page. The following figure depicts shows the toolbar.

The following figure depicts the Sign-In Page Toolbar:

The special admin user can click the User Admin button to display the User Admin page, which shows the local authentication server users table.

The following figure depicts the User Admin Page: 

The special admin user can select accounts and delete them and can create user accounts. The same account management guidelines apply as when using the admin console for creating and modifying user records.

The following figure depicts the New Local User Configuration Page:

 

Using Active Directory

This topic describes integration with the Microsoft® Windows® platform Active Directory™ service.

Microsoft Windows Platform Active Directory Service Overview

This section describes support for using Pulse Connect Secure with the Active Directory AAA service.

Understanding Active Directory

Active Directory is a directory service used in Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows server operating systems. Enterprise servers that run Active Directory are called domain controllers. An Active Directory domain controller authenticates and authorizes users and computers in a Windows domain network.

When you use Active Directory as the authentication and authorization service for your Pulse Secure access management framework, users can sign in to Pulse Connect Secure using the same username and password they use to access their Windows desktops. You can also use Active Directory group information in role mapping rules.

From 9.1R1 onwards, Active Directory Legacy Mode configuration will not be supported. If you have an existing Active Directory authentication server using Legacy Mode, first migrate to Standard Mode and then upgrade PCS. For the detailed migration procedure, refer KB40430.

Active Directory Feature Support

Pulse Secure access management framework supports the following Active Directory features:

Honors trust relationships in Active Directory and Windows NT environments.

Supports Domain Local Groups, Domain Global Groups, and Universal Groups defined in the Active Directory forest.

Supports use of Kerberos, NTLMv2, and NTMLv1 authentication protocols.

Supports user principal name (UPN) format for usernames. This support is available for Web login.

Interoperability Requirements and Limitations

The following limitations apply to interoperability with Active Directory:

The Pulse Secure access management framework uses Active Directory security groups, not distribution groups. Security groups allow you to use one type of group for not only assigning rights and permissions, but also as a distribution list for e-mail.

Each Active Directory configuration you create for the Pulse Secure access management framework should use a different and unique machine account name.

If the current Active Directory domain controller is not reachable, the user or machine authentication requests fail for a few seconds (less than 2 minutes) before attempting to authenticate users with another domain controller in the Active Directory domain.

We do not support Active Directory implementations that use the equal sign operator (=) in a group name, such as: "\=THIRD FLOOR GROUP". The Pulse Secure access management framework authentication process involves search operations that use the equal sign operator (=) when parsing server catalogs to retrieve group names, usernames and domain names, as well as user_SID and domain_SID values. You might encounter unexpected behavior that can affect normal processing of authentication services if a group name configured on your Active Directory server includes an equal sign operator (=).

Active Directory versions Windows 2008 R2 and later use a dynamic port range. The default start port is 49152 and the default end port is 65535. Therefore, if there is a firewall between the Pulse Secure client service and the Active Directory Service, you must increase the remote procedure call (RPC) port range on the firewall. See Microsoft Knowledge Base article 929851.

The Pulse Secure password management feature, which enables users to change their Active Directory passwords through the Pulse Secure service Web server, is not supported for users of trusted domains that do not trust the domain specified in the Pulse Active Directory configuration.

Configuring Authentication and Authorization with Active Directory Service

To configure integration with Active Directory Service:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select Active Directory / Windows NT and click New Server to display the configuration page.

3.Select Active Directory mode and complete the configuration as described in The following table lists Active Directory Mode Settings

4.Save the configuration.

The following table lists Active Directory Mode Settings

Settings

Guidelines

Mode

 

Select Active Directory mode.

This table describes Active Directory mode.

Base Configuration

Name

Specify a name to identify the server within the system.

Domain

Specify the NetBIOS domain name for the Active Directory domain.

The system uses DNS to discover domain controllers in the Active Directory forest. It sends authentication requests to the domain controller at the closest site. Ensure that your DNS servers are configured to resolve the Active Directory domain controller fully qualified domain name (FQDN) and service (SRV) records.

 

Kerberos Realm

Specify the FQDN of the Active Directory domain. For example, if "pulsesecure" is the domain name (NetBIOS name), then pulsesecure.net is the Kerberos realm name.

Domain Join Configuration

Username

Specify a username that has permission to join computers to the Active Directory domain.

Use the "Delegate Control" workflow in Active Directory to assign the following user account permissions to the username or to a group to which the user belongs:

Write

Write All Properties

Change Password

Reset Password

Validate Write to DNS hostname

Read and write DNS host attributes

Delete Computer Objects

Create Computer Objects

Password

Specify the password for the special user.

Save Credentials

If this setting is not enabled, the credentials entered will be destroyed after successfully joining the domain.

This option is useful when managing clusters. For example, you might want to save the credentials for a cluster node you have yet to add. If you do not enable this option, you must manually enter the credentials when you add the new cluster node.

Container Name

Specify the container path in Active Directory in which to create the machine account. Changing this field triggers a domain rejoin action.

The default is Computers, which is a standard container created during installation of the AD server. The AD Computers container is the default location for new computer accounts created in the domain.

If desired, you may specify a different container or OU. To specify nested containers, use a forward slash ( / ) as the container separator. For example: outer OU/inner OU.

Do not use backslashes in the path. Using backslashes causes an Invalid DN Syntax error.

Computer Name

Specify the machine account name. The default computer name is derived from the license hardware in the following format: 0161MT2L00K2C0. We recommend the Computer Name string contain no more than 14 characters to avoid potential issues with the AD/NT server. Do not include the '$' character.

Update Join Status / Reset Join

The following colors are used to indicate status:

Gray. The Domain Join action has not been attempted. This is the default status that appears when you are using the page to create a new Active Directory configuration.

Yellow. Attempting to join the Active Directory domain. This is the default status that appears after saving configuration settings or when any domain join settings are changed in an existing configuration.

Green. The attempt was successful. This status indicates that this server can now be used to authenticate users.

Red. The attempt to join the Active Directory domain was not successful.

Click Update Join to get the latest join status of nodes. If the status appears persistently red, click Reset Join to reinitiate the domain join process. The Reset Join action requires Active Directory administrator credentials.

 

For cluster nodes, you might need to click Update Join multiple times to obtain the latest join status of nodes.

Transient network issues might also cause the join status indicator to appear red. Before restarting the join process, ensure that it is not caused by network issues. Make sure your DNS servers can resolve queries to the Active Directory domain controller and that the Active Directory credentials are valid and have the appropriate permissions.

Additional Options

Authentication Protocol

The system attempts authentication using the protocols you have enabled in the order shown on the configuration page. For example, if you have selected the check boxes for Kerberos and NTLMv2, the system sends the credentials to Kerberos. If Kerberos succeeds, the system does not send the credentials to NTLMv2. If Kerberos is not supported or fails, the system uses NTLMv2 as the next protocol in order.

Kerberos. Select this option to enable the Kerberos authentication protocol. Kerberos is the most secure method and is required for Kerberos single sign-on authentication. Kerberos must be enabled if you plan to use Pulse Secure client single sign-on or browser-based agentless single sign-on (SPNEGO).

Enable NTLM protocol. Select this option to enable NTLM if you plan to use any of the following features:

Machine authentication using, Pulse Secure client, or Windows native 802.1x supplicants.

MS-CHAP-based authentication protocols for any 802.1x supplicants.

User password management.

Role mapping rules based on group membership.

Trusted domain lookup

Contact trusted domains. Select this option to contact domain controllers of trusted domains directly without proxying authentication requests and group membership checks through the domain controller.

If this option is not selected:

Network contact with trusted domains is not permitted, but pass-through authentication using the primary domain is still permitted.

Trusted domain user's group lookup for Kerberos SSO.

Trusted domain user's password-based authentication does not work.

Only groups from the domain in which this system is a member are available for use in role mapping when a group search is performed in the server catalog window.

If you want to restrict trusted domain users and computers from logging in when this option is not selected, you can define a custom expression based on the ntdomain variable and use it in role mapping rules. For example, if Pulse Connect Secure belongs to the domain named Corporate, you can define a custom expression as ntdomain=Corporate and use the custom expression in the role mapping rule of the realm.

Domain Connections

Maximum simultaneous connections per domain. Enter the maximum number of simultaneous domain connections (1 to 10).

This field specifies the maximum number of simultaneous connections that the auth daemon should open to the domain controller of one domain. A value of greater than 1 can improve the scalability with simultaneous authentication requests. However, this field value should be judiciously used, especially if trusted domain setting is enabled. This value dictates how many authentication processes are created per domain. For example: if the maximum domain connection is configured as 4 and there are 5 trusted domains, there could be as many as 5*4+1 = 21 auth processes. Hence if there are many trusted domains, the domain connection value needs to be controlled by the administrator, failing which there could be too many auth processes created only for AD authentication purpose.

By default, this field value is set to 2 if trusted domain setting enabled. If trusted domain is not enabled, then the default value is set to 5.

If Contact trusted domains is enabled, a value above 6 may degrade overall system performance.

Machine account password change

Enable periodic password change of machine account. Select this option to change the domain machine account password for this configuration.

Change machine password frequency. Specify a frequency in days. For example, every 30 days.

User Record Synchronization

This feature is available only on Connect Secure.

Enable User Record Synchronization

Select this option to retain the bookmarks and individual preferences regardless of which system you log in to.

Logical Auth Server Name

Specify a logical authentication server name.

Save Changes

Click the button to save the changes made.

Active Directory IPv6 Support

Active Directory server for authentication and authorization for AD mode auth server in PCS supports both IPv6 and IPv4 based backend Active Directory servers. If Active Directory server is configured with IPv6 only, then PCS is forced to use IPv6. If IPv6 is disabled in the backend server or in PCS, then PCS is forced to use IPv4. In case of a dual network in both the PCS and backend server, PCS would use both the protocols IPv6 and IPv4 for different authentication protocols like Kerberos, NTLM, etc.

PCS DNS server preferred mode settings do not apply to AD mode auth server since, internal third-party Samba library selects the available networks based on DNS resolution and other runtime protocol checks.

All features supported in IPv4 for Active Directory auth server are supported via IPv6 interface also.

Displaying the User Accounts Table

To display user accounts:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Click the link for the authentication server you want to manage.

3.Click the Users tab to display the user accounts table.

The user accounts table includes entries for the accounts that have been created. The Last Sign-in Statistic column shows the last successful sign-in date and time for each user, the user's IP address, and the agent or browser type and version.

4.Use the controls to search for users and manage user accounts:

To search for a specific user, enter a username in the Show users named field and click Update.

You can use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard, where * represents any number of zero or more characters. For example, to search for all usernames that contain the letters jo, enter *jo*. The search is case-sensitive. To display the entire list of accounts again, type * or delete the field's contents and click Update.

To limit the number of users displayed on the page, enter a number in the Show N users field and click Update.

To terminate their user session and delete the account, select the check box next to the user account record and click Delete.

Troubleshooting the Active Directory Service

To troubleshoot the Active Directory Service:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers > AD Server name > Troubleshooting.

2.Select the appropriate functions described in the following table.

The following table lists the Active Directory Server Troubleshooting Functions

Function

Description

Basic Verification

Verifies whether the domain is properly joined and if the winbindd service is running. The number of winbindd processes is displayed, along with the ongoing CPU and memory usage for each process.

For example, if user authentication is slow or fails randomly, use this function to check the number of winbindd processes and the CPU, memory and file descriptor usage. Select Restart AD Services to correct faulty processes.

Test User Authentication

Prompts for a username and password and attempts to log in. If successful, the groups the user belongs to are displayed. Only the regular password authentication is done.

Test User Password Change

Prompts for a username and the old and new password for a user and attempts to change the password on the AD server.

List Domain Info

Lists each domain and all trusted domains. Selecting a domain lists each Domain Controller for the domain, its IP address, and whether it is reachable.

For example, if user authentication fails consistently and the domain is shown as successfully joined in the AD Server Settings page, the domain trust may be broken. Use this function to check the trusted domains.

Also, if the domain join fails consistently or user authentication to a trusted domain fails consistently, the domain might not be reachable or the DNS configuration may be incorrect. Use this function to verify whether the domains and trusted domain are reachable.

Change Machine Password

Sends a request to the domain controller to change the machine password. A confirmation prompt is displayed to confirm the change.

Restart AD Services

Restarts the winbindd process, which may restore proper authentication, specifically during load and longevity scenarios. A confirmation prompt is displayed to confirm the restart (users cannot log in during a restart.

Reset Join

Reinitiates the domain join process. A confirmation prompt is displayed to confirm the reset and allows you to clear the Samba cache and keytab files before the reset. This is the same function shown on the AD server's Settings page and requires Active Directory administrator credentials.

For example, if user group changes are not reflected in the user authentication, run this function with Clear Samba Cache enabled.

Samba Diagnostics Logs

Displays Diagnostic Logs page where you can download the Samba logs.

Load Output

Displays up to the last 500 lines of the troubleshooting output for the current session.

Save Output File

Saves all the troubleshooting messages for the current session.

Clear Output File

Erases all the troubleshooting messages saved in the output file (they cannot be retrieved).

JITC AAA Certification

Enabling JITC Mode

To enable the JITC Mode:

1.Navigate to System > Configuration > Security > Inbound SSL Options.

2.Click on Turn on JITC mode checkbox. 

3.Once Turn on JITC mode is enabled, Turn on NDcPP mode and Turn on FIPS mode are also automatically enabled.

4.Click Save Changes.

For more details about the deployment of PCS in the JITC Mode, refer to the PCS/PPS NDcPP and JITC Certification Deployment Guide.

Important Factors to Consider

Password Strengthening: When JITC is enabled, PCS does not allow an administrator to configure a password exactly same as previously configured 5 passwords. An error message is displayed in this case.

Notification for Unsuccessful Admin Login Attempts: With JITC Mode on, PCS shows a banner with the count of unsuccessful login attempts. This includes any change in the admin status that would have happened since the last successful login. Upon clicking on the banner, the administrator is directed to the status page, which provides more details about status or configuration change since last log-in. These configuration changes are cleared before the next login so that admin can see different set of configuration changes, if anything happened from the last login.

Re-authentication of Admin Users: PCS will force the administrator to re-authenticate with PCS whenever the following conditions occur:

Add Role

Delete Role

Modify the Role

Delete the Realm

Update the Realm

During DPE (Dynamic Policy Evaluation)

Configuration Change Notification: For details about configuration changes and status information since last login, go to System > Status >Admin Notification.

Understanding Multidomain User Authentication

This topic provides an overview of multidomain user authentication with Active Directory and Windows NT.

Multi-Domain User Authentication Overview

The Pulse Secure access management framework allows for multidomain Active Directory and Windows NT authentication. The system authenticates users in the domain that you configure, users in child domains, and users in all domains trusted by the configured domain.

Users in the default domain can sign into the system using just their username, or the default domain and the username in the format default-domain\username.

When you enable trusted domain authentication, users in trusted or child domains can sign in using the name of the trusted or child domain and the username in the format trusted-domain\username. Note that enabling trusted domain authentication adds to the server response time.

Windows NT User Normalization

To support multidomain authentication, the Pulse Secure access management framework uses "normalized" Windows NT credentials when it contacts an Active Directory or Windows NT4 domain controller for authentication. Normalized Windows NT credentials include both the domain name and the username: domain\username. Regardless of how the user signs in (either using just a username or using the domain\username format), the access management framework always processes the username in domain\username format.

When a user signs in using only their username, the access management framework normalizes their Windows NT credentials as default-domain\username. Authentication succeeds only if the user is a member of the default domain.

When a user signs in using the domain\username format, the access management framework attempts to authenticate the user as a member of the domain the user specifies. Authentication succeeds only if the user-specified domain is a trusted or child domain of the default domain. If the user specifies an invalid or untrusted domain, authentication fails.

Two variables, <NTUser> and <NTDomain>, allow you to individually refer to Windows NT domain and username values. The system populates these two variables with the Windows NT domain and username information.

In role mapping rules, when you specify USER = john, the system treats this rule semantically as NTUser = john AND NTDomain = defaultdomain.

Kerberos Support

We recommend you configure the Pulse Secure access management framework to use the Kerberos authentication protocol with Windows domain controllers. When a user logs in to the system, the system performs Kerberos authentication and attempts to fetch the Kerberos realm name for the domain controller, as well as all child and trusted realms, using LDAP calls.

You can use Kerberos differently. You can specify the Kerberos realm name when configuring an Active Directory authentication server. We do not recommend this method for two reasons:

You cannot specify more than one realm name. The system cannot then authenticate against child or trusted realms of the realm you specify.

If you misspell the realm name, the system cannot authenticate users against the proper realm.

Windows NT4 Support

The Pulse Secure access management framework does not support Kerberos-based authentication in Windows NT4 domain controllers. The system uses NTLM with a backend Windows NT4 domain controller.

Understanding Active Directory and Windows NT Group Information Support

This topic describes support for polling group information from Active Directory and Windows NT servers.

Active Directory Group Information Overview

The Pulse Secure access management framework supports user group lookup in Domain Local, Domain Global, and Universal groups in the default domain, child domains, and all trusted domains. The system obtains group membership using one of three methods that have different capabilities:

Group information in User's Security Context - Returns information about the user's Domain Global groups.

Group information obtained using LDAP search calls - Returns information about the user's Domain Global groups and about the user's Universal groups if the access management framework queries the Global Catalog Server.

Group information using native RPC calls - Returns information about the user's Domain Local Group.

With respect to role-mapping rules, the system attempts group lookup in the following order:

Checks for all Domain Global groups using the user's security context.

Performs an LDAP query to determine the user's group membership.

Performs an RPC lookup to determine the user's Domain Local group membership.

Windows NT4 Group Information Overview

The Pulse Secure access management framework supports group lookup in the Domain Local and Domain Global groups created in the default domain, as well as all child and other trusted domains. The system obtains group membership using:

Domain Global group information from the user's security context.

Domain Local information using RPC calls.

In the Windows NT4 environment, the system does not use LDAP-based search calls.

Join Domain for Active Directory-based Authentication Server Without Using a Domain Admin Account

With Active Directory on Windows Server, the system can join domain (for an Active Directory based Authentication server) without using a domain administrator account. For more details refer to KB2624.

Using the Anonymous Server

This topic describes integration with the anonymous server.

Anonymous Server Overview

This section describes support for using Pulse Connect Secure with the anonymous server.

Understanding the Anonymous Server

The anonymous server is a local authentication server that allows any user to access the system without providing a username and password.

Instead, when a user enters the URL of a sign-in page that is configured to authenticate against an anonymous server, the Pulse Secure access management framework bypasses the standard sign-in page and immediately displays the welcome page to the user.

Interoperability Requirements and Limitations

The following limitations apply to the anonymous server configuration and logging:

You can add only one anonymous server configuration.

You cannot create an administrator realm that uses the anonymous server. Anonymous administration is not allowed.

During configuration, you must choose the anonymous server as both the authentication server and the directory or attribute server in the Users > User Realms > General tab.

When creating role mapping rules through the Users > User Realms > Role Mapping tab, the Pulse Secure access management framework does not allow you to create mapping rules that apply to specific users (such as "Joe"), because the anonymous server does not collect username information. You can only create role mapping rules based on a default username (*), certificate attributes, or custom expressions.

For security reasons, you might want to limit the number of users who sign in through an anonymous server at any given time. To do this, use the option on the Users > User Realms > [Realm] > Authentication Policy > Limits tab (where [Realm] is the realm that is configured to use the anonymous server to authenticate users).

Configuring Authentication with the Anonymous Server

To configure authentication with the anonymous server:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select Anonymous Server and click New Server to display the configuration page.

3.Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

4.Save the configuration.

The following table lists the Anonymous Server Settings:

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name to identify the server within the system.

User Record Synchronization

This feature is available only on Connect Secure.

Enable User Record Synchronization

Select this option to retain the bookmarks and individual preferences regardless of which system you log in to.

Logical Auth Server Name

Specify a logical authentication server name.

Monitoring Anonymous User Sessions

The purpose of the anonymous server is to enable unauthenticated access. Therefore, the system does not maintain session tables, and the Anonymous Server configuration page does not have a corresponding Users tab. The system does maintain user access logs for anonymous access. The username is recorded in the user access log as "AnonUser1234". If the user is logging in using the agentless access method, the user access log records the host's IP address. You can view the User Access Log file by navigating to System > Log/Monitoring.

The following figure shows the User Access Log Page: 

Using the Certificate Server

This topic describes integration with the certificate server.

Certificate Server Overview

This section describes support for using Pulse Connect Secure with the certificate server.

Understanding the Certificate Server

The certificate server is a local server that allows user authentication based on the digital certificate presented by the user without any other user credentials.

When you use a certificate server, the user experience is similar to anonymous authentication. If the certificate is secured through a hardware or a software token or through a password, the certificate server authentication is very useful. The certificate contains the full distinguished name (DN) and the system extracts the values from the DN and uses it for role mapping rules, authentication policies, and role restrictions.

Feature Support

The Pulse Secure access management framework supports the following certificate server features:

Certificate directory services to retrieve user attributes in role mapping rules, authentication policies, and role restrictions.

Load CA-created certificates on the system.

Load multiple certificates from different CAs for use with different authentication realms.

Interoperability Requirements and Limitations

If you choose a certificate attribute with more than one value, the system uses the first matched value. For example, if you enter <certDN.OU> and the user has two values for the attribute (ou=management, ou=sales), the system uses the "management" value.

To use all values, add the SEP attribute to the variable. For example, if you enter <certDN.OUT SEP=":"> the system uses "management:sales".

Configuring Authentication with the Certificate Server

To configure authentication with the certificate server:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select Certificate Server and click New Server to display the configuration page.

3.Complete the configuration as described in the following table lists.

4.Save the configuration.

The following table lists Certificate Server Settings

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name to identify the server within the system.

User Name Template

Specify a username template. Specify how the system should construct a username. You may use any combination of certificate variables contained in angle brackets and plain text.

This value populates the <USER> and <USERNAME> session variables for use throughout the rest of the system configuration.

User Record Synchronization

This applies only to Connect Secure.

Enable User Record Synchronization

Select this option to retain the bookmarks and individual preferences regardless of which system you log in to.

Logical Auth Server Name

Specify a logical authentication server name.

Displaying the User Accounts Table

To display user accounts, refer to Displaying the User Accounts Table

Using an LDAP Server

This topic describes integration with the LDAP server.

LDAP Server Overview

This section describes support for using Pulse Connect Secure with the LDAP server.

Understanding LDAP Server

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) facilitates the access of online directory services. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) designed and specified LDAP as a better way to make use of X.500 directories, having found the original Directory Access Protocol (DAP) too complex for average Internet clients to use. LDAP is a relatively simple protocol for updating and searching directories running over TCP/IP.

LDAP directory consists of a collection of attributes with a name, known as a distinguished name (DN). Each of the entry's attributes, known as a relative distinguished name (RDN), has a type and one or more values. The types are typically mnemonic strings, such as CN for common name. The valid values for each field depend on the types.

The full DN is constructed by stringing together RDNs from most specific to least specific, separated by commas, as shown in the following example:

cn=Bob_Employee, ou= account_mgr, o=sales, dc=Acme,dc=com.

LDAP Feature Support

Pulse Secure access management framework supports the following LDAP features:

LDAP directory services to retrieve user attributes and group membership in role mapping rules

Encrypted connections to the LDAP server using LDAP over SSL (LDAPS) or Start Transport Layer Security (TLS)

Password management feature enabling users who access an LDAP server to manage their passwords using the policies defined on the LDAP server

Fine-grained password policy (FGPP) for Active Directory 2008

Interoperability Requirements and Limitations

The following limitations apply to interoperability with LDAP:

Backup LDAP servers must be the same version as the primary LDAP server. Also, we recommend that you specify the IP address of a backup LDAP server instead of its hostname, which might accelerate failover processing by eliminating the need to resolve the hostname to an IP address.

Configuring Authentication with an LDAP Server

The LDAP authentication configuration is enhanced in 9.1R3 to locate the nearest Microsoft domain controllers, which are spread across the globe, by resolving DNS SRV records.

To configure authentication with an LDAP server:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select LDAP Server and click New Server to display the configuration page.

3.Complete the configuration as described in the following table lists.

4.Save the configuration.

The following table lists LDAP Server Settings

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name to identify the server within the system.

Enable Domain Name (enabled)

Select this option if you want to fetch a list of servers from the DNS server.

Domain Name

When you Enable Domain Name, specify the LDAP Domain name that can be mapped to domain controllers by DNS service.

Enable Domain Name (disabled)

Clear this option if you want to manually enter all the domain controllers host names.

 

LDAP Server

Specify the LDAP server name or the IP address.

 

Backup LDAP Server1

(Optional) Specify the parameters for backup LDAP server1.

Default port number: 389 (unencrypted connection). The specified backup LDAP server is used for failover processing. The authentication request is first routed to the primary LDAP server, and then to the specified backup servers if the primary server is unreachable.

 

Backup LDAP Port1

Specify the parameters for backup LDAP port1.

 

Backup LDAP Server2

(Optional) Specify the parameters for backup LDAP server2.

 

Backup LDAP Port2

Specify the parameters for backup LDAP port2.

LDAP Port

Specify the LDAP port for the LDAP server.

Default port number: 389 (unencrypted connection)

Default port number: 636 (SSL connection)

LDAP Server Type

Select the backend LDAP server type from the following choices:

Generic

Active Directory

iPlanet

Novell eDirectory

Connection

Select one of the following options for the connection to the LDAP server:

Unencrypted - The device sends the username and password to the LDAP Directory Service in cleartext.

LDAPS - The device encrypts the data in the LDAP authentication session using the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol before sending it to the LDAP Directory Service.

Start TLS - The device allows both secure and plain requests against an LDAP server on a single connection.

 

If you select LDAPS or Start TLS, the Validate Certificate option is displayed for the configured LDAP server(s) and its referral servers. Select this option if the SSL connection uses digital certificate security.

If you enable validation for the referral servers, make sure your network DNS supports reverse lookup zone.

If you want to verify the server certificates, the root CA and Intermediate CAs must be imported under trusted server CAs.

Connection Timeout (seconds)

Specify the time to wait for connection to the primary LDAP server, and then to each backup LDAP server.

Default: 15 seconds

Search Timeout (seconds)

Specify the time to wait for search results from a connected LDAP server.

Test Connection

(Optional) To verify the connection between Pulse Secure client and LDAP servers, click the Test Connection button.

We recommend using the Test Connection function only after saving changes on the LDAP Server Configuration page.

Authentication required?

Authentication required to search LDAP

Select this option to require authentication when performing search or password management operations.

 

If you use Active Directory, you must select the Authentication required to search LDAP check box and provide the full DN and password of primary and backup administrator accounts that can reach Active Directory.

You can enable password management on any LDAP server.

This feature enables users who authenticate through an LDAP server to manage their passwords through the system using the policies defined on the LDAP server. To enable password management on any LDAP server, you must provide primary and backup administrator accounts (with write privileges to the directory) for the administrator DN and backup administrator DN.

Admin DN

Specify the administrator DN for queries to the LDAP directory.

Password

Specify the password for the LDAP server.

Backup Admin DN

Specify the backup administrator DN for queries to the LDAP directory, as a fallback when primary Admin DN fails (due to account expiration). The interaction with LDAP directory stops when both primary and backup administrator accounts fail.

Backup Admin Password

Specify the backup administrator password for the LDAP server.

Finding user entries

Base DN

Specify the base DN under which the users are located. For example, dc=sales,dc=acme, dc=com.

Filter

Specify a unique variable that can be used to do a fine search in the tree. For example, samAccountname=<username> or cn=<username>.

Include <username> in the filter to use the username entered on the sign-in page for the search.

Specify a filter that returns 0 or 1 user DNs per user; the device uses the first DN returned if more than 1 DN is returned.

Remove Domain from Windows users names?

Strip domain from Windows username

Select this option to pass the username without the domain name to the LDAP server.

Determining group membership

Base DN

Specify the base DN to search for user groups.

Filter

Specify a unique variable which can be used to do a fine search in the tree. For example, samAccountname=<username> or cn=<GROUPNAME>.

Member Attribute

Specify all the members of a static group. For example, member or uniquemember (iPlanet specific).

Reverse group search

Select this option to start the search from the member instead of the group. This option is available only for Active Directory server types.

Query Attribute

Specify an LDAP query that returns the members of a dynamic group. For example, memberURL.

Nested Group Level

Specify how many levels within a group to search for the user.

The higher the number, the longer the query time, so we recommend that you specify to perform the search no more than two levels deep.

Nested Group Search

Select one of the following options:

Nested groups in Server Catalog - This option is faster because it can search within the implicit boundaries of the nested group.

Search all nested groups - With this option, the device searches the Server Catalog first. If the device finds no match in the catalog, then it queries LDAP to determine if a group member is a subgroup.

Displaying the User Accounts Table

To display user accounts, refer to Displaying the User Accounts Table

Using the LDAP Password Management Feature

This topic describes support and limitations for LDAP password management.

LDAP Password Management Feature Overview

The password management feature enables users who access an LDAP server to manage their passwords through the Pulse Secure access management framework using the policies defined on the LDAP server. For example, if a user tries to sign in to the system with an LDAP password that is about to expire, the system notifies the user through the interface, and then passes the user's response back to the LDAP server without requiring the user to sign in to the LDAP server separately.

Users, administrators, and help desk administrators who work in environments where passwords have set expiration times may find the password management feature very helpful. If users are not informed that their passwords are about to expire, they can change them themselves through the system rather than call the help desk.

Once this feature is enabled, the system performs a series of queries to determine user account information, such as when the user's password was last set, whether the account is expired, and so on. The Pulse Secure access management framework does this by using its internal LDAP or Samba client. Many servers, such as Microsoft Active Directory or Sun iPlanet, offer an Administrative Console to configure account and password options.

LDAP-based password management works with the following types of LDAP servers:

Microsoft Active Directory. For Active Directory, password policy attributes can be configured in the user entry container level or any organization level above the user container. If these attributes are configured at multiple levels, the level closest to the user node takes precedence. The password management feature is not supported on the Active Directory Global Catalog because password policy attributes are not fully populated in the Active Directory Global Catalog.

For Active Directory 2008, the Pulse Secure access management framework supports the Fine-Grained Password Policy (FGPP) configured in the AD user container.

Generic LDAP servers such as OpenLDAP

Sun Microsystems iPlanet

Novell eDirectory

The system relies on the back-end server to pinpoint the cause of error when a password change operation fails. However, although LDAP servers may report errors accurately to human operators, they do not always do so when communicating programmatically to systems. Therefore, reported errors might be generic or cryptic.

The system does not support customized password policies.

Enabling LDAP Password Management

To enable password management, you must first create an instance of the LDAP server. Next, you associate the LDAP server with the applicable realms. Finally, you select the enable password management feature at the realm level.

LDAP Password Management Support

The Pulse Secure access management framework supports password management with the following LDAP directories:

Microsoft Active Directory/Windows NT

Sun Microsystems iPlanet

Novell eDirectory

The following table lists Supported Password Management Functions describes supported password management functions, their corresponding function names in the individual LDAP directories, and any additional relevant details. These functions must be set through the LDAP server itself before the system can pass the corresponding messages, functions, and restrictions to end users.

The Active Directory attribute names shown are specific to the Domain Security Policy object. Similar attributes for the corresponding functions are used for the Active Directory 2008 Fine-Grained Password Policy. Refer to Microsoft documentation for details.

When authenticating against a generic LDAP server, the system supports only authentication and allows users to change their passwords. Password management functions are not supported when the CHAP family protocols are used for authentication. All functions are available when the JUAC protocol is used for authentication (Policy Secure only).

The following table lists Supported Password Management Functions

Function

Active Directory

iPlanet

eDirectory

Authenticate user

unicodePwd

userPassword

userPassword

Allow user to change password if enabled

Server tells us in bind response (uses ntSecurityDescriptor)

If passwordChange == ON

If passwordAllowChange == TRUE

Log out user after password change

Yes

Yes

Yes

Force password change at next login

If pwdLastSet == 0

If passwordMustChange == ON

If pwdMustChange == TRUE

Expired password notification

userAccountControl== 0x80000

If Bind Response includes OID
2.16.840.1.113730.3.4.4 == 0

Check date/time value

Password expiration notification (in X days/hours)

if pwdLastSet - now() < maxPwdAge - 14 days
(Read from domain attributes)

If Bind Response includes control OID 2.16.840.1.113730.3.4.5 (contains date/time)

(The system displays warning if less than 14 days)

If now() - passwordExpirationTime< 14 days

(The system displays warning if less than 14 days)

Disallow authentication if "account disabled/locked

userAccountControl== 0x2 (Disabled)

accountExpires

userAccountControl == 0x10 (Locked)

lockoutTime

Bind ErrorCode: 53 "Account Inactivated"

Bind Error Code: 19 "Exceed Password Retry Limit"

Bind ErrorCode: 53 "Account Expired"

Bind ErrorCode: 53 "Login Lockout"

Honor "password history

"Server tells us in bind response

Server tells us in bind response

Server tells us in bind response

Enforce "minimum password length

"If set, the system displays message telling user minPwdLength

If set, the system displays message telling user passwordMinLength

If set, the system displays message telling user passwordMinimumLength

Disallow user from changing password too soon

If pwdLastSet - now() < minPwdAge, then we disallow

If passwordMinAge > 0,
then if now() is earlier than passwordAllowChangeTime, then we disallow

Server tells us in bind response

Honor "password complexity

"If pwdProperties == 0x1, then enabled. Complexity means the new password does not contain username, first or last name, and must contain characters from 3 of the following 4 categories: English uppercase, English lowercase, Digits, and Non-alphabetic characters (ex. !, $, %)

Server tells us in bind response

Server tells us in bind response

Note the following expected behavior:

When you select the User must change password after reset option on the iPlanet server, you must also reset the user password before this function takes effect. This issue is a limitation of iPlanet.

The system displays a warning about password expiration only if the password is scheduled to expire in 14 days or less. The system displays the message during each sign-in attempt. The warning message contains the remaining number of days, hours, and minutes that the user has to change the password before it expires on the server. The default value is 14 days, but you can change it on the password configuration page of the admin console.

LDAP Password Management for Windows AD Versions

Note the following expected behavior:

Changes on the Active Directory domain security policy can take 5 minutes or longer to propagate among Active Directory domain controllers. Additionally, this information does not propagate to the domain controller on which it was originally configured for the same time period. This issue is a limitation of Active Directory.

When changing passwords in Active Directory using LDAP, the system automatically switches to LDAPS, even if LDAPS is not the configured LDAP method. To support LDAPS on the Active Directory server, you must install a valid SSL certificate into the server's personal certificate store. The certificate must be signed by a trusted CA, and the CN in the certificate's Subject field must contain the exact hostname of the Active Directory server, (for example: adsrv1.company.com). To install the certificate, select the Certificates Snap-In in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

The Account Expires option in the User Account Properties tab only changes when the account expires, not when the password expires. Microsoft Active Directory calculates the password expiration using the Maximum Password Age and Password Last Set values retrieved from the User object and Fine-Grained Password Policy objects or the Domain Security Policy LDAP objects.

The system displays a warning about password expiration only if the password is scheduled to expire in 14 days or less. The system displays the message during each sign-in attempt. The warning message contains the remaining number of days, hours, and minutes that the user has to change the password before it expires on the server. The default value is 14 days, but you can change it on the password configuration page of the admin console.

Troubleshooting LDAP Password Management

When you troubleshoot, provide any pertinent system logs, server logs, configuration information, and a TCP trace from the system. If you are using LDAPS, switch to the "Unencrypted" LDAP option LDAP server configuration while taking the LDAP TCP traces.

Configuring LDAP Search Attributes for Meeting Creators

Use options in the Meetings tab to specify individual LDAP attributes that a meeting creator may use to search for users when scheduling a meeting.

To configure Pulse Collaboration search attributes:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Click an LDAP server name (or create an LDAP server and then save it), and then choose the Meetings tab.

3.In the User Name field, enter the username attribute for this server. For example, enter SamAccountName for an Active Directory server or uid for an iPlanet server.

4.In the Email Address field, enter the e-mail attribute for this server.

5.In the Display Name, Attributes field, enter any additional LDAP attributes whose contents you want to allow meeting creators to view (optional). (For example, to help the meeting creator easily distinguish between multiple invitees with the same name, you may want to expose an attribute that identifies the departments of individual users.) Enter the additional attributes one per line using the format: DisplayName,AttributeName. You may enter up to 10 attributes.

6.Click Save Changes.

Using an MDM Server

This topic describes integration with the mobile device management (MDM) servers.

Understanding MDM Integration

MDM vendors provide enrollment and posture assessment services that prompt employees to enter data about their mobile devices. When the user installs the MDM application on the device and completes enrollment, the MDM pushes the device certificate to the device. After enrollment, the MDM maintains a database record that includes information about the enrollee-attributes related to device identity, user identity, and posture assessment against MDM policies.

The Pulse Secure access management framework MDM authentication server configuration determines includes details on how the system communicates with the MDM Web RESTful API service and how it derives the device identifier from the certificates presented by endpoints.

After you have configured the MDM authentication server, you can configure a realm that uses the MDM data for authorization, and you can use MDM device attributes in the role mapping rules that are the basis for your network access and resource access policies.

Feature Support

The Pulse Secure device access management framework supports integration with the following MDM solutions:

Pulse Workspace

AirWatch

MobileIron

Microsoft Intune

Configuring an MDM Server

The authentication server configuration is used by the system to communicate with the MDM. In the device access management framework, the MDM server is used as the device authorization server.

To configure the authentication server:

1.Select Authentication > Auth Servers to navigate to the authentication server configuration pages.

2.Select MDM Server and click New Server to display the configuration page.

3.Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

4.Save the configuration.

The following table lists Authentication Server Configuration Guidelines

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name for the configuration.

Type

Select one of the following options:

Pulse Workspace

AirWatch

MobileIron

Microsoft Intune

Pulse Connect Secure has to be registered with Pulse One for using Pulse Workspace as an MDM auth server.

Server (Applicable to AirWatch and MobileIron)

Server Url

Specify the URL for the MDM server. This is the URL the MDM has instructed you to use to access its RESTful Web API (also called a RESTful Web service).

You must configure your firewalls to allow communication between these two nodes over port 443.

Viewer Url

Specify the URL for the MDM report viewer. This URL is used for links from the Active Users page to the MDM report viewer.

Request Timeout

Specify a timeout period (5-60 seconds) for queries to the MDM server. The default is 15 seconds.

Server (Applicable to Microsoft Intune)

Tenant ID

Specify Azure AD Tenant ID.

Client ID

Specify Web application ID that has been registered in Azure AD.

Client Secret

Specify Secret key of the web application registered in azure AD.

Request Timeout

Specify a timeout period (5-60 seconds) for queries to the MDM server. The default is 15 seconds.

Administrator (Applicable to AirWatch and MobileIron)

Username

Specify the username for an account that has privileges to access the MDM RESTful Web API.

Password

Specify the corresponding password.

Tenant Code

AirWatch only. Copy and paste the AirWatch API tenant code.

Device Identifier

Device identity

Policy Secure only.

Select an option on whether to require that the MDM certificate is presented by the endpoint when signing in:

Require - Require that the device certificate pushed to client devices during enrollment be used at sign-in. If this option is selected, and the client device does not have a certificate, authorization fails. Use this option when you require endpoints to adhere to your certificate security requirements.

Use Certificate if present - Use the certificate to derive the device ID if the certificate is presented at sign-in, but do not reject authentication if the certificate is not present. You can use this option in conjunction with a role mapping rule and a remediation VLAN to identify devices that have not perfected MDM enrollment.

Always Use MAC address - In some cases, the MDM certificate might be configured without a device identifier. When the endpoint uses an 802.1x framework to authenticate, Policy Secure can obtain the MAC address from the RADIUS return attribute callingStationID. The system can then use the MAC address as the device identifier.

The Always Use MAC address option is not present in Connect Secure. A device certificate is required to determine device identity.

ID Template

Construct a template to derive the device identifier from the certificate attributes. The template can contain textual characters as well as variables for substitution. The variables are the same as those used in role mapping custom expressions and policy conditions. Enclose variables in angle brackets like this <variable>.

For example, suppose the certificate DN is: CN=<DEVICE_UDID>, uid=<USER_ID>, o=Company. With this configuration, the certificate could identify both the user and the device. In this example, the device ID template is <certDN.CN>.

ID Type

Select the device identifier type that matches the selection in the MDM SCEP certificate configuration:

UUID - The device Universal Unique Identifier. This is the key device identifier supported by MobileIron MDM.

Serial Number - The device serial number.

UDID - The device Unique Device Identifier. This is the key device identifier supported by AirWatch MDM.

IMEI - The device unique identifier. IMEI (15 decimal digits: 14 digits plus a check digit) or IMEISV (16 digits) includes information on the origin, model, and serial number of the device. This is the key device identifier supported by Microsoft Intune.

Display the Active Users Page

The Active Users page lists data about current sessions, including access to realms that use the MDM server for device authorization.

To display the Active Users page, select Systems > Active Users.

The following figure shows the Active Users page for Pulse Connect Secure. 

Click the icon in the Device Details column to navigate to the MDM report viewer page for the device.

Using an NIS Server

This topic describes integration with the NIS server.

NIS Server Overview

This section describes support for using Pulse Connect Secure with the NIS server.

Understanding NIS Server

Network Information Service (NIS) is an authentication server that allows a central server to manage password authentication, hosts, services, and so on.

When you use an NIS server as the authentication and authorization service for your Pulse Secure access management framework, users can sign in to Pulse Connect Secure using the same username and password that is used for the NIS server.

Feature Support

Pulse Secure access management framework supports the following NIS server features:

Password management feature enables users who access an NIS server to manage their policies defined on the NIS server.

Integrates NIS map data for passwords, groups, and hosts with corresponding objects in Active Directory.

Allows migration of NIS domains to Active Directory.

Interoperability Requirements and Limitations

The following limitations apply when defining and monitoring an NIS server instance:

You can only use NIS authentication with the system if your passwords are stored on the NIS server using Crypt or MD5 formats.

You can only add one NIS server configuration to the system, but you can use that configuration to authenticate any number of realms.

The username submitted to the system cannot contain two consecutive tilde symbols (~~).

Configuring Authentication with an NIS Server

To configure authentication with the NIS server:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select NIS Server and click New Server to display the configuration page.

3.Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

4.Save the configuration.

The following table lists NIS Server Settings

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name to identify the server within the system.

NIS Server

Specify the name or IP address of the NIS server.

NIS Domain

Specify the domain name for the NIS server.

User Record Synchronization

This feature is available only on Connect Secure.

Enable User Record Synchronization

Select this option to retain the bookmarks and individual preferences regardless of which system you log in to.

Logical Auth Server Name

Specify a logical authentication server name.

Displaying the User Accounts Table

To display user accounts, refer to the steps in Displaying the User Accounts Table section.

Using a RADIUS Server

This topic describes integration with the RADIUS server.

RADIUS Server Overview

This section describes support for using an external RADIUS server.

Understanding RADIUS Server

A Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server is a type of server that allows you to centralize authentication and accounting for users.

The following authentication schemes are supported:

Access-Request - The user enters the username and password to request access to RADIUS server.

Access-Accept - The user is authenticated.

Access-Reject - The user is not authenticated and is prompted to reenter the username and password, or access is denied.

Access-Challenge - A challenge is issued by the RADIUS server. The challenge collects additional data from the user.

Feature Support

Pulse Secure access management framework supports the following RADIUS features:

RADIUS authentication.

RADIUS attributes that can be used in role mapping.

RADIUS directory services to retrieve user attributes in role-mapping rules.

RADIUS accounting to track the services and the network resources used.

RADIUS Disconnect messages. This feature is applicable for Connect Secure.

Using Challenge Expressions

The Pulse Secure access management framework supports the RSA Authentication Manager using the RADIUS protocol and a SecurID token (available from Security Dynamics). If you use SecurID to authenticate users, they must supply a user ID and the concatenation of a PIN and a token value.

When you define a RADIUS server, the Pulse Secure access management framework allows administrators to use hard-coded (default) challenge expressions that support Defender 4.0 and some RADIUS server implementations (such as Steel-Belted RADIUS and RSA RADIUS) or to enter custom challenge expressions that allow the system to work with many different RADIUS implementations and new versions of the RADIUS server, such as Defender 5.0. The system looks for the response in the Access-Challenge packet from the server and issues an appropriate Next Token, New PIN, or Generic Passcode challenge to the user.

Using CASQUE Authentication

CASQUE authentication uses a token-based challenge/response authentication mechanism employing a CASQUE player installed on the client system. Once configured with CASQUE authentication, the RADIUS server issues a challenge with a response matching the custom challenge expression (:([0-9a-zA-Z/+=]+):). The system then generates an intermediate page that automatically launches the CASQUE player installed on the user's system.

PassGo Defender

If you are using a PassGo Defender RADIUS server, the user sign-in process is as follows:

1.The user is prompted for and enters a username and password.

2.The username and encrypted password are sent over the network to the RADIUS server.

3.The RADIUS server sends a unique challenge string to the system. The system displays this challenge string to the user.

4.The user enters the challenge string in a Defender token and the token generates a response string.

5.The user enters the response string on the system and clicks Sign In.

Using RADIUS Attributes

The following table describes the RADIUS attributes that are supported in RADIUS role-mapping:

Attribute

Description

ARAP-Challenge-Response

Contains the response to the challenge of a dial-in client. Sent in an Access-Accept packet with Framed-Protocol of ARAP.

ARAP-Features

Includes password information that the network access server (NAS) must send to the user in an ARAP feature flags packet. Sent in an Access-Accept packet with Framed- Protocol of ARAP.

ARAP-Password

Appears in an Access-Request packet containing a Framed-Protocol of ARAP. Only one of User-Password, CHAP-Password, or ARAP-Password must be included in an Access-Request, or one or more EAP-Messages.

ARAP-Security

Identifies the ARAP security module to be used in an Access-Challenge packet.

ARAP-Security-Data

Contains the actual security module challenge or response, and is in Access-Challenge and Access-Request packets.

ARAP-Zone-Access

Indicates how to use the ARAP zone list for the user.

Access-Accept

Provides specific configuration information necessary to begin delivery of service to the user.

Access-Challenge

Sends the user a challenge requiring a response, and the RADIUS server must respond to the Access-Request by transmitting a packet with the Code field set to 11 (Access-Challenge). Access Challenge Response is not qualified over IPv6

Access-Reject

Transmits a packet with the Code field set to 3 (Access-Reject) if any value of the received Attributes is not acceptable.

Access-Request

Conveys information specifying user access to a specific NAS, and any special services requested for that user.

Accounting-Request

Conveys information used to provide accounting for a service provided to a user.

Accounting-Response

Acknowledges that the Accounting-Request has been received and recorded successfully.

Acct-Authentic

Indicates how the user was authenticated, whether by RADIUS, the NAS itself, or another remote authentication protocol.

Acct-Delay-Time

Indicates how many seconds the client has been trying to send this record.

Acct-Input-Gigawords

Indicates how many times the Acct-Input-Octets counter has wrapped around 2^32 over the course of this service being provided.

Acct-Input-Octets

Indicates how many octets have been received from the port during the current session.

Acct-Input-Packets

Indicates how many packets have been received from the port during the session provided to a Framed User.

Acct-Interim-Interval

Indicates the number of seconds between each interim update in seconds for this specific session.

Acct-Link-Count

Indicates the count of links known to have been in a given multilink session at the time the accounting record is generated.

Acct-Multi-Session-Id

Indicates a unique Accounting ID to make it easy to link together multiple related sessions in a log file.

Acct-Output-Gigawords

Indicates how many times the Acct-Output-Octets counter has wrapped around 2^32 during the current session.

Acct-Output-Octets

Indicates how many octets have been sent to the port during this session.

Acct-Output-Packets

Indicates how many packets have been sent to the port during this session to a Framed User.

Acct-Session-Id

Indicates a unique Accounting ID to make it easy to match start and stop records in a log file.

Acct-Session-Time

Indicates how many seconds the user has received service.

Acct-Status-Type

Indicates whether this Accounting-Request marks the beginning of the user service (Start) or the end (Stop).

Acct-Terminate-Cause

Indicates how the session was terminated.

Acct-Tunnel-Connection

Indicates the identifier assigned to the tunnel session.

Acct-Tunnel-Packets-Lost

Indicates the number of packets lost on a given link.

CHAP-Challenge

Contains the Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) challenge sent by the NAS to a PPP CHAP user.

CHAP-Password

Indicates the response value provided by a PPP CHAP user in response to the challenge.

Callback-Id

Indicates the name of a location to be called, to be interpreted by the NAS.

Callback-Number

The dialing string to be used for callback.

Called-Station-Id

Allows the NAS to send the phone number that the user called, using Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS) or similar technology.

Calling-Station-Id

Allows the NAS to send the phone number that the call came from, using Automatic Number Identification (ANI) or similar technology.

Class

Sent by the server to the client in an Access-Accept and then sent unmodified by the client to the accounting server as part of the Accounting-Request packet, if accounting is supported.

Configuration-Token

Used in large distributed authentication networks based on proxy.

Connect-Info

Sent from the NAS to indicate the nature of the user's connection.

Event-Timestamp

Records the time that this event occurred on the NAS, in seconds since January 1, 1970 00:00 UTC.

Filter-Id

Indicates the name of the filter list for this user.

Framed-AppleTalk-Link

Indicates the AppleTalk network number used for the serial link to the user, which is another AppleTalk router.

Framed-AppleTalk-Network

Indicates the AppleTalk Network number which the NAS can probe to allocate an AppleTalk node for the user.

Framed-AppleTalk-Zone

Indicates the AppleTalk Default Zone to be used for this user.

Framed-Compression

Indicates the compression protocol to be used for the link.

Framed-IP-Address

Indicates the address to be configured for the user.

Framed-IP-Netmask

Indicates the IP netmask to be configured for the user when the user is a router to a network.

Framed-IPv6-Pool

Contains the name of an assigned pool used to assign an IPv6 prefix for the user.

Framed-IPv6-Route

Indicates the routing information to be configured for the user on the NAS.

Framed-IPX-Network

Indicates the IPX Network number to be configured for the user.

Framed-MTU

Indicates the maximum transmission unit to be configured for the user, when it is not negotiated by some other means (such as PPP).

Framed-Pool

Indicates the name of an assigned address pool used to assign an address for the user.

Framed-Protocol

Indicates the framing to be used for framed access.

Framed-Route

Indicates the routing information to be configured for the user on the NAS.

Framed-Routing

Indicates the routing method for the user, when the user is a router to a network.

Idle-Timeout

Sets the maximum number of consecutive seconds of idle connection allowed to the user before termination of the session or prompt.

Keep-Alives

Uses SNMP instead of keepalives.

Login-IP-Host

Indicates the system with which to connect the user when the Login-Service Attribute is included.

Login-IPv6-Host

Indicates the system with which to connect the user when the Login-Service Attribute is included.

Login-LAT-Group

Contains a string identifying the LAT group codes that this user is authorized to use.

Login-LAT-Node

Indicates the node with which the user is to be automatically connected by LAT.

Login-LAT-Port

Indicates the port with which the user is to be connected by LAT.

Login-LAT-Service

Indicates the system with which the user is to be connected by LAT.

Login-Service

Indicates the service to use to connect the user to the login host.

Login-TCP-Port

Indicates the TCP port with which the user is to be connected when the Login-Service Attribute is also present.

MS-ARAP-Challenge

Only present in an Access-Request packet containing a Framed-Protocol Attribute with the value 3 (ARAP).

MS-ARAP-Password-Change-Reason

Indicates the reason for a server-initiated password change.

MS-Acct-Auth-Type

Represents the method used to authenticate the dial-up user.

MS-Acct-EAP-Type

Represents the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) type used to authenticate the dial-up user.

MS-BAP-Usage

Describes whether the use of BAP is allowed, disallowed, or required on new multilink calls.

MS-CHAP-CPW-1

Allows the user to change password if it has expired.

MS-CHAP-CPW-2

Allows the user to change password if it has expired.

MS-CHAP-Challenge

Contains the challenge sent by a NAS to a MS-CHAP user.

MS-CHAP-Domain

Indicates the Windows NT domain in which the user was authenticated.

MS-CHAP-Error

Contains error data related to the preceding MS-CHAP exchange.

MS-CHAP-LM-Enc-PW

Contains the new Windows NT password encrypted with the old LAN Manager password hash.

MS-CHAP-MPPE-Keys

Contains two session keys for use by the Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption (MPPE).

MS-CHAP-NT-Enc-PW

Contains the new Windows NT password encrypted with the old Windows NT password hash.

MS-CHAP-Response

Contains the response value provided by a PPP MS-CHAP user in response to the challenge.

MS-CHAP2-CPW

Allows the user to change password if it has expired.

MS-CHAP2-Response

Contains the response value provided by an MS- CHAP-V2 peer in response to the challenge.

MS-CHAP2-Success

Contains a 42-octet authenticator response string.

MS-Filter

Transmits traffic filters.

MS-Link-Drop-Time-Limit

Indicates the length of time (in seconds) that a link must be underutilized before it is dropped.

MS-Link-Utilization-Threshold

Represents the percentage of available bandwidth utilization below which the link must fall before the link is eligible for termination.

MS-MPPE-Encryption-Policy

Signifies whether the use of encryption is allowed or required.

MS-MPPE-Encryption-Types

Signifies the types of encryption available for use with MPPE.

MS-MPPE-Recv-Key

Contains a session key for use by the MPPE.

MS-MPPE-Send-Key

Contains a session key for use by the MPPE.

MS-New-ARAP-Password

Transmits the new ARAP password during an ARAP password change operation.

MS-Old-ARAP-Password

Transmits the old ARAP password during an ARAP password change operation.

MS-Primary-DNS-Server

Indicates the address of the primary domain name server (DNS) server to be used by the PPP peer.

MS-Primary-NBNS-Server

Indicates the address of the primary NetBIOS name server (NBNS) server to be used by the PPP peer.

MS-RAS-Vendor

Indicates the manufacturer of the RADIUS client machine.

MS-RAS-Version

Indicates the version of the RADIUS client software.

MS-Secondary-DNS-Server

Indicates the address of the secondary DNS server to be used by the PPP peer.

MS-Secondary-NBNS-Server

Indicates the address of the secondary DNS server to be used by the PPP peer.

Message-Authenticator

Signs Access-Requests to prevent spoofing Access-Requests using CHAP, ARAP, or EAP authentication methods.

NAS-IP-Address

Indicates the identifying IP address of the NAS that is requesting authentication of the user, and must be unique to the NAS within the scope of the RADIUS server.

NAS-IPv6-Address

Indicates the identifying IPv6 Address of the NAS that is requesting authentication of the user, and must be unique to the NAS within the scope of the RADIUS server.

NAS-Identifier

Contains a string identifying the NAS originating the Access-Request.

NAS-Port

Indicates the physical port number of the NAS that is authenticating the user.

NAS-Port-Id

Contains a text string that identifies the port of the NAS that is authenticating the user.

NAS-Port-Type

Indicates the type of the physical port of the NAS that is authenticating the user.

Password-Retry

Indicates how many authentication attempts a user is allowed to attempt before being disconnected.

Port-Limit

Sets the maximum number of ports to be provided to the user by the NAS.

Prompt

Indicates to the NAS whether it should echo the user's response as it is entered, or not echo it.

Proxy-State

Indicates that a proxy server can send this attribute to another server when forwarding an Access-Request. The attribute must be returned unmodified in the Access-Accept, Access-Reject or Access-Challenge.

Reply-Message

Indicates that the text that can be displayed to the user.

Service-Type

Indicates the type of service the user has requested, or the type of service to be provided.

Session-Timeout

Sets the maximum number of seconds of service to be provided to the user before termination of the session or prompt.

State

Indicates that the packet must have only zero or one State Attribute. Usage of the State Attribute is implementation dependent.

Telephone-number

Using the Calling-Station-Id and Called-Station-Id RADIUS attributes, authorization and subsequent tunnel attributes can be based on the phone number originating the call, or the number being called.

Termination-Action

Indicates the action the NAS should take when the specified service is completed.

Tunnel-Assignment-ID

Indicates to the tunnel initiator the particular tunnel to which a session is to be assigned.

Tunnel-Client-Auth-ID

Specifies the name used by the tunnel initiator during the authentication phase of tunnel establishment.

Tunnel-Client-Endpoint

Contains the address of the initiator end of the tunnel.

Tunnel-Link-Reject

Indicates the rejection of the establishment of a new link in an existing tunnel.

Tunnel-Link-Start

Marks the creation of a tunnel link.

Tunnel-Link-Stop

Marks the destruction of a tunnel link.

Tunnel-Medium-Type

Indicates the transport medium to use when creating a tunnel for those protocols (such as L2TP) that can operate over multiple transports.

Tunnel-Medium-Type

Indicates the transport medium to use when creating a tunnel for those protocols (such as L2TP) that can operate over multiple transports.

Tunnel-Password

Specifies a password used to access a remote server.

Tunnel-Preference

Indicates that if RADIUS server returns more than one set of tunneling attributes to the tunnel initiator, you should include this attribute in each set to indicate the relative preference assigned to each tunnel.

Tunnel-Private-Group-ID

Indicates the group ID for a particular tunneled session.

Tunnel-Reject

Marks the rejection of the establishment of a tunnel with another node.

Tunnel-Server-Auth-ID

Specifies the name used by the tunnel terminator during the authentication phase of tunnel establishment.

Tunnel-Server-Endpoint

Indicates the address of the server end of the tunnel.

Tunnel-Start

Marks the establishment of a tunnel with another node.

Tunnel-Stop

Marks the destruction of a tunnel to or from another node.

Tunnel-Type

Indicates the tunneling protocol(s) to be used (in the case of a tunnel initiator) or the tunneling protocol in use (in the case of a tunnel terminator).

User-Name

Indicates the name of the user to be authenticated.

User-Password

Indicates the password of the user to be authenticated, or the user's input following an Access-Challenge.

Understanding RADIUS Accounting

You can configure the device to send session start and stop messages to a RADIUS accounting server. The device sends a user-session start message after the user successfully signs in and the device maps to a role.

Whenever a user session is terminated, the device sends a user-session stop message to the accounting server. A user session is terminated whenever the user:

Manually signs out

Times out because of either inactivity or exceeding the maximum session length

Is denied access because of Host Checker role-level restrictions

Is manually forced out by an administrator as a result of dynamic policy evaluation

If users are signed into a device cluster, the RADIUS accounting messages might show the users signing in to one node and signing out of another.

The following table describes the attributes that are common to start and stop messages. The next table describes the attributes that are unique to start messages. The SiteMinder Server Settings describes the attributes that are unique to stop messages.

The following table lists the Attributes Common to Start and Stop Messages

Attribute

Description

User-Name (1)

Specifies the string that the device administrator specifies during RADIUS server configuration.

NAS-IP-Address (4)

Specifies the device's IPv4 address.

NAS-IPV6-Address

Specifies the device's IPv6 address.

NAS-Port (5)

The device sets this attribute to 0 if the user signed in using an internal port, or 1 if an external port is used.

Framed-IP-Address (8)

Specifies the user's source IPv4 address.

Framed-IPv6-Address

Specifies the user's source IPv6 address.

NAS-Identifier (32)

Specifies the configured name for the device client under the RADIUS server configuration.

Acct-Status-Type (40)

The device sets this attribute to 1 for a start message, or 2 for a stop message in a user-session or a sub-session.

Acct-Session-Id (44)

Specifies the unique accounting ID that matches start and stop messages corresponding to a user-session or to a sub-session.

Acct-Multi-Session-Id (50)

Specifies the unique accounting ID that you can use to link together multiple related sessions. Each linked session must have a unique Acct-Session-Id and the same Acct-Multi-Session-Id.

Acct-Link-Count (51)

Specifies the count of links in a multilink session at the time the system generates the accounting record.

The following table lists Start Attributes

Attribute

Description

Acct-Authentic (45)

The device sets this attribute to:

RADIUS - if the user is authenticated to a RADIUS server.

Local - if the user is authenticated to a local authentication server.

Remote - if the user is authenticated through any other RADIUS server.

The following table lists Stop Attributes

Attribute

Description

Acct-Session-Time (46)

Specifies the duration of the user-session or the sub-session.

Acct-Terminate-Cause (49)

The device uses one of the following values to specify the event that caused the termination of a user session or a sub-session:

User Request (1) - User manually signs out.

Idle Timeout (4) - User is idle and times out.

Session Timeout (5) - User's maximum session times out.

Admin Reset (6) - User is forced out from active users page.

Interoperability Requirements and Limitations

You must configure the third-party RADIUS server to communicate with the Pulse Secure access management framework.

On the RADIUS server, configure the following settings:

Hostname.

Network IP address.

Client type, if applicable. If this option is available, select Single Transaction Server or its equivalent.

Type of encryption for authenticating client communication. This choice should correspond to the client type.

Shared secret.

The following are the requirements and limitations for Interim update feature:

If you want a server to receive interim accounting messages, you can statically configure an interim value on the client, in which case, the locally configured value overrides any value that might be included in the RADIUS Access-Accept message.

The octet count reported in the accounting messages is the cumulative total since the beginning of the user session.

The interim update byte count is only supported based on a user session, not on SAM or NC sessions.

Configuring Authentication with a RADIUS Server

To configure authentication with the RADIUS server:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select RADIUS Server and click New Server to display the configuration page.

3.Complete the configuration as described in The following table lists RADIUS Server Settings.

4.Save the configuration.

The following table lists RADIUS Server Settings

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name to identify the server within the system.

NAS-Identifier

Specify the name that identifies the Network Access Server (NAS) client to the RADIUS server.

If you do not specify the NAS identifier, the value specified in the Hostname field on the System > Network > Overview page of the administrator console is used.

If you use the RADIUS proxy feature, the NAS-Identifier field is not used. Proxy passes on the entire RADIUS packet including the NAS identifier from the client.

Primary Server

Radius Server

Specify the name or IP address of the RADIUS server.

Authentication Port

Specify the authentication port value for the RADIUS server.

Default port number: 1812, 1645 (legacy servers)

NAS-IP-Address

Specify the NAS IP address.

If you leave this field empty, the internal IP address is passed to RADIUS requests.

You can also fill this field with IPv6 address.

If you configure the NAS IP address, then the system passes the value regardless of which cluster node sends the requests.

If you use the RADIUS proxy feature, this field is not used.

Proxy passes on the entire RADIUS packet including the NAS IP address from the client.

Timeout (seconds)

Specify the interval of time to wait for a response from the RADIUS server before timing out the connection.

Retries

Specify the number of times to try to make a connection after the first attempt fails.

Users authenticate using tokens or one-time passwords.

Select this option to prompt the user for a token instead of a password.

For example, you can use this option to dynamically prompt for a password or token based on sign-in policies by configuring two instances of the same authentication server. You can use one instance for wireless users with this option enabled and that prompts the user for a token, and another instance for wired users with this option disabled and that prompts the user for a password.

If you are using RADIUS proxy feature, this option is not used.

Backup Server (required only if Backup server exists)

Radius Server

Specify the secondary RADIUS server.

The authentication request is first routed to the primary RADIUS server, then to the specified backup server if the primary server is unreachable.

Accounting messages are sent to the RADIUS server by each cluster node without consolidation.

RADIUS accounting follows these assumptions:

If the cluster is active/passive, all users are connected to one node at a time.

If the cluster is active/active and does not use a balancer, users are connected to different nodes but are static.

If the cluster is active/active and uses a balancer, the balancer usually enforces a persistent source IP. In this case, users are always connected to the same node.

RADIUS does not support load balancing.

Authentication Port

Specify the authentication port.

Shared Secret

Specify the shared secret.

Accounting Port

Specify the accounting port.

Radius Accounting

User-Name

Specify the user information to the RADIUS accounting server.

You can enter any of the applicable session variables. Applicable variables include those that are set the time after the user signs in and maps to a role.

The default variables for this field are as follows:

USER: Logs the username to the accounting server.

REALM: Logs the realm to the accounting server.

ROLE SEP=",": Logs the list of comma-separated roles assigned to the user.

ROLE: Logs the role to the accounting server.

If you assign the user to more than one role, the system separates them with commas.

Interim Update Interval (minutes)

Select this option to achieve more precise billing for long-lived session clients and during network failure.

 

If you are using the RADIUS proxy feature, the fields in this section are not used.

The minimum interim update interval is 15 minutes. The data statistics (bytes in and bytes out) for RADIUS accounting might not be sent for a J-SAM/W-SAM/NC session if the session is less than 30 seconds long and the applications keep the connections open all the time.

Send Interim Updates for sub sessions created inside parent sessions

Enable this checkbox to send interim updates for sub sessions (child sessions) created inside parent sessions.

Use VPN Tunnel assigned IP Address for FRAMED-IP-ADDRESS/FRAMED-IPV6-ADDRESS attribute value in RADIUS Accounting

Select the Use NC assigned IP Address for FRAMED-IP-ADDRESS/FRAMED-IPV6-ADDRESS attribute value in Radius Accounting check box to use the IP address returned from Connect Secure for the Framed-IP-Address attribute. Two IP addresses are recorded: one prior to authenticating with Connect Secure, and one returned by VPN Tunneling after authentication. Select this option to use the VPN Tunneling IP address for the FRAMED-IP-ADDRESS/FRAMED-IPV6-ADDRESS attribute instead of the pre-authenticated (original) IP address. Framed IPv6 addresses based attribute fetching and parsing:

NAS-IPv6-Address

Login-IPv6-Host

Radius Disconnect

This feature is applicable for Connect Secure

Enable processing of Radius Disconnect Requests

Select this option to process Radius Disconnect Requests. The Radius Disconnect requests received from the backend Radius server will terminate sessions that match the attributes in the request.

You must not configure multiple RADIUS authentication servers with the same backend server details. Radius Disconnect over IPv6 is not qualified.

The Radius attributes that are used for session identification are:

Framed-IP-Address (for sessions with VPN Tunnel only)

Acct-Session-Session-Id

Acct-Multi-Session-Id

User-Name

Next Token

Specify the appropriate Next Token.

New PIN

Specify the New PIN.

Generic Login

Specify the Generic Login challenge to the user.

Custom Radius Rules

This feature is applicable for Connect Secure

(Optional) Click New Radius Rule to add a custom challenge rule that determines the action to take for an incoming packet. When a user enters his or her username and password, the initial authorization request is sent to the server. The server may respond with a Challenge or Reject packet. In the Add Custom Radius Challenge Rule window, you select the packet type (Challenge or Reject) and then specify what action to take. For example, you can show a login page with a specific error message to the user, or automatically send an ACCESS-REQUEST packet back to the server.

To create a custom challenge rule:

Select the incoming packet type:

Access Challenge - sent by the RADIUS server requesting more information in order to allow access

Access Reject - sent by the RADIUS server rejecting access

Specify an expression to evaluate, based on the Radius attribute, and click Add. If you specify more than one expression, the expressions are "ANDed" together. To remove an expression, click the delete icon next to the expression.

Choose the action to take by selecting one of the following radio buttons:

show NEW PIN page - user must enter a new PIN for the token

show NEXT TOKEN page - user must enter the next tokencode

show GENERIC LOGIN page - display an additional page to the user in response to an Access Challenge sent by the server. Sometimes a Radius server returns a Challenge packet and requires the user to enter additional information to continue the login process. For example, a server receives the initial username and password and sends an SMS message to the user's mobile phone with a one-time password (OTP). The user enters the OTP in the generic login page.

show user login page with error - display the standard login page with an embedded error message. This option lets you bypass the standard message string sent by Connect Secure and display a custom error message to the user. Enter your custom message in the Error Message text box. There is no maximum character limit for this message.

send ACCESS REQUEST with additional attributes - send an ACCESS-REQUEST packet with the specified attribute/value pair(s). Select an attribute, enter its value and click Add. To delete an attribute, click the delete icon next to the attribute/value pair.
You must set User-Password to <PASSWORD> otherwise an "Invalid username or password" message appears.

Click Save Changes to save your edits, then click Close to close this window.

Your custom rules appear in the table under the Custom Radius Authentication Rule section. To delete a rule, select the check box next to the rule and click Delete.

Displaying the User Accounts Table

To display user accounts, refer to the steps found in Displaying the User Accounts Table section

Using an ACE Server

This topic describes integration with an ACE Server (now named RSA Authentication Manager).

RSA Authentication Manager Overview

This section describes support for using Pulse Connect Secure with an ACE Server (now named RSA Authentication Manager).

Understanding RSA Authentication Manager

RSA Authentication Manager (formerly known as ACE/Server) is an authentication and authorization server that allows user authentication based on credentials from the RSA SecurID® product from RSA Security Inc.

When you use RSA Authentication Manager as the authentication and authorization service for your Pulse Secure access management framework, users can sign in to Pulse Connect Secure using the same username and password stored in the backend server.

The following table describes RSA SecurID hardware token and software token user sign-in methods.

Method

Action

Using a hardware token and the standard system sign-in page

The user browses to the standard system sign-in page, and then enters the username and password (consisting of the concatenation of the PIN and the RSA SecurID hardware token's current value). The system then forwards the user's credentials to the authentication server.

Using a software token and the custom SoftID system sign-in page

The user browses to the SoftID custom sign-in page. Then, using the SoftID plug-in, the user enters the username and PIN. The SoftID plug-in generates a passphrase by concatenating the user's PIN and token and passes the passphrase to the authentication server.

If the RSA Authentication Manager positively authenticates the user, the user gains access to the system. Otherwise, the RSA Authentication Manager:

Denies the user access to the system.

Prompts the user to generate a new PIN (New PIN mode) if the user is signing in to the system for the first time. Users see different prompts depending on the method they use to sign in.

If the user signs in using the SoftID plug-in, then the RSA prompts the user to create a new pin; otherwise Pulse Connect Secure prompts the user to create a new PIN.

Prompts the user to enter the next token (Next Token mode) if the token entered by the user is out of sync with the token expected by RSA Authentication Manager. Next Token mode is transparent to users signing in using a SoftID token. The RSA SecurID software passes the token through the system to RSA Authentication Manager without user interaction.

Redirects the user to the standard system sign-in page (SoftID only) if the user tries to sign-in to the RSA SecurID Authentication page on a computer that does not have the SecurID software installed.

Feature Support

Pulse Secure access management framework supports the following RSA Authentication Manager features:

New PIN mode

Next-token mode

Data Encryption Standard (DES)/ Secure Dial-In (SDI) encryption

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption

Slave Authentication Manager support

Name locking

Clustering

Interoperability Requirements and Limitations

The following limitations apply when defining and monitoring an RSA Authentication Manager instance:

You can only add one RSA Authentication Manager configuration to the system, but you can use that configuration to authenticate any number of realms.

You cannot customize the load balancing algorithm.

When you enter the New PIN or Next Token mode, enter the required information within three minutes. Otherwise, the system cancels the transaction and notifies the user to reenter the credentials.

The system can handle a maximum of 200 RSA Authentication Manager transactions at any given time. A transaction only lasts as long as is required to authenticate against the RSA Authentication Manager.

For example, when a user signs into the system, the RSA Authentication Manager transaction is initiated when the user submits the request for authentication and ends once the RSA Authentication Manager has finished processing the request. The user may then keep his or her session open, even though the RSA Authentication Manager transaction is closed.

Configuring Authentication with RSA Authentication Manager

To configure authentication with an ACE server:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select ACE Server and click New Server to display the configuration page. Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

3.Save the configuration.

The following table lists the ACE Server Settings

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name to identify the server within the system.

ACE Port

Specify the default port of the authentication server.

If no port is specified in the sdconf.rec file, the default port is used.

Configuration File

Current config file

Specify the RSA Authentication Manager configuration file.

You must update this file on the device anytime you make changes to the source file.

Imported on

Display the date on which the config file is imported.

Import new config file

Use the Choose File button to upload the sdconf.rec configuration file.

Node Verification File

Node

Save the configuration to redisplay the configuration page. The updated page includes a section that lists a timestamp for the negotiation of the node secret between the system and the backend RSA server. The negotiation and verification automatically occur after first successful login. Do not expect entries in the table until at least one user has authenticated successfully.

User Record Synchronization

This feature is available only on Connect Secure.

Enable User Record Synchronization

Select this option to retain the bookmarks and individual preferences regardless of which system you log in to.

Logical Auth Server Name

Specify a logical authentication server name.

Enabling RSA Risk Based Authentication (RBA) Support with PCS Cluster

RSA SecurID Risk-Based Authentication is a token less, multi-factor enterprise authentication solution. PCS integration with Risk based authentication works with the usage of custom sign in pages.

1.Open the PCS login page.

2.PCS immediately delegates authentication to RSA server by redirecting the user RSA Authentication Manager (AM) server to authenticate.

3.User is now prompted for step-up authentication based on the risk score. For example: The user is challenged to answer enter additional security questions if the user logs in from a different endpoint.

4.Once successfully authenticated to RSA AM, the user is redirected back to PCS with a one-time token key, validated by PCS.

5.Each agent in RSA AM is linked to an agent ID in the integration file. Download this file from RSA AM and add to custom sign-in page package.

6.In case of cluster (for example 2 node cluster) two integration files (node1.js and node2.js) are required in the custom sign-in page package and it can be used in LoginPage.thml.

For Example:

If the cluster node names are "node1" & "node2", add the similar lines inside the body (before the end) of LoginPage.thtml.

<% IF loginNode == "node1" %>

<script src='<% Home %>/node1.js' type="text/javascript"></script>

<% ELSE %>

<script src='<% Home %>/node2.js' type="text/javascript"></script>

<% END %>

<script>window.onload=redirectToIdP;</script>

7.In case of standalone PCS, the above conditional check with loginNode is not required. If the integration file name is am_integration.js, then add the integration file as part of custom sign-in page package and the below changes in LoginPage.thtml in Custom signin page would be sufficient.

<script src='<% Home %>/am_integration.js' type="text/javascript"></script>

<script>window.onload=redirectToIdP;</script>

Also, all the related LoginPage-*.thtml (like LoginPage-ipad.thtml in Custom) needs similar changes to reflect the RBA login experience for browser-based login from different devices.

Displaying the User Accounts Table

To display user accounts, refer to the steps found in the Displaying the User Accounts Table section.

Using the SAML Server

This topic describes the local SAML authentication server.

SAML Server Overview

This section describes support for using the local Connect Secure SAML authentication server.

Understanding SAML

SAML is an XML-based framework for communicating user authentication, entitlement, and attribute information. The standard defines the XML-based assertions, protocols, bindings, and profiles used in communication between SAML entities. SAML is used primarily to implement Web browser single sign-on (SSO). SAML enables businesses to leverage an identity-based security system like Connect Secure to enforce secure access to web sites and other resources without prompting the user with more than one authentication challenge.

For complete details on the SAML standard, see the OASIS web site:

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=security

SAML Feature Support

When deployed as SAML service provider, Pulse Connect Secure runs a local SAML server that relies on the SAML identity provider authentication and attribute assertions when users attempt to sign in to Connect Secure. Note that authentication is only part of the Pulse Connect Secure security system. The access management framework determines access to the system and protected resources.

Connect Secure supports :

HTTP Redirect binding for sending AuthnRequests

HTTP Redirect binding for sending/receiving SingleLogout requests/responses

HTTP POST and HTTP Artifact bindings for receiving SAML responses

RequestedAuthnContext context class specifications

Interoperability Requirements and Limitations

Before you begin:

Check to see whether the SAML identity provider implements SAML 2.0 or SAML 1.1.

Check to see whether the SAML identity provider uses HTTP POST or HTTP Artifact bindings for SAML assertions.

Check to see whether the SAML identity provider has published a SAML metadata file that defines its configuration. If the SAML identity provider metadata file is available, configuration is simpler and less prone to error.

Complete the system-wide SAML settings if you have not already done so. Select System > Configuration > SAML > Settings. For details, see Configuring Global SAML Settings.

Add metadata for the SAML identity provider to the metadata provider list if you have not already done so. Select System > Configuration > SAML. For details, see Managing SAML Metadata Files

The sign-in URL for which a session needs to be established for Connect Secure as a service provider is identified by the RelayState parameter (HTTP URL parameter for artifact and HTML form parameter for POST.) In a service provider initiated case, the system populates RelayState as an HTTP URL parameter while sending AuthnRequest. In the IdP-Initiated scenario (Connect Secure is a service provider and there is a third-party IdP), the IdP must be configured to set the appropriate Sign-in URL of Connect Secure in the RelayState parameter of the HTML form containing the SAML response. For more information, see the SAML 2.0 specification.

Configuring Authentication with the SAML Server

To configure the SAML server:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select SAML Server and click New Server to display the configuration page.

3.Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

4.Save the configuration.

The following table lists SAML Service Provider Profile

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name to identify the server instance.

Settings

SAML Version

Select 2.0 or 1.1, depending on the SAML version used by the SAML IdP.

SA Entity Id

This value is prepopulated. It is generated by the system, based on the value for the Host FQDN for SAML setting on the System > Configuration > SAML > Settings page.

Configuration Mode

Select Manual or Metadata. If a metadata file or location is available from the SAML identity provider, use the metadata option to make configuration simpler and less prone to error. To upload or set the location for the published metadata file, select System > Configuration > SAML and click the New Metadata Provider button.

Identity Provider Entity ID

The identity provider entity ID is sent as the Issuer value in the assertion generated by the SAML identity provider.

If you use the metadata option, this setting can be completed by selecting the identity provider entity ID from the list. The list is populated by the identity provider entities defined in metadata files added to the System > Configuration > SAML page.

If you complete this setting manually, specify the Issuer value in assertions generated by the SAML identity provider. Typically, you ask the SAML identity provider administrator for this setting.

Identity Provider Single Sign On Service URL

The identity provider SSO service URL is a URL provisioned by the SAML identity provider. The setting is required to support service-provider-initiated SSO. If missing, the system cannot successfully redirect the user request.

If you use the metadata option, this setting can be completed by selecting the SSO service URL from the list. The list is populated by the identity provider entities defined in metadata files added to the System > Configuration > SAML page.

If you complete this setting manually, ask the SAML identity provider administrator for this setting.

User Name Template

Specify how the system is to derive the username from the assertion. If the field is left blank, it uses the string received in the NameID field of the incoming assertion as the username.

If you choose a certificate attribute with more than one value, the system uses the first matched value. For example, if you enter <certDN.OU> and the user has two values for the attribute (ou=management, ou=sales), the system uses "management". To use all values, add the SEP attribute to the variable. For example, if you enter <certDN.OUT SEP=":">, the system uses "management:sales". The attributes received in the attribute statement in the incoming assertion are saved under userAttr. These variables can also be used with angle brackets and plain text. If the username cannot be generated using the specified template, the login fails. If the NameID filed of the incoming assertion is of type X509Nameformat, then the individual fields can be extracted using system variable "assertionNameDN".

Currently supported NameIDs are - EMAIL, X509_SUBJECT, WIN_DOMAIN_QUALIFIED. If a SAML request is received with a different NameId format, then processing of the request fails with unsupported NameId format error message.

Allowed Clock Skew (minutes)

Specify the maximum allowed difference in time between the system clock and the SAML identity provider server clock.

SAML is a time sensitive protocol. The time-based validity of a SAML assertion is determined by the SAML identity provider. If the SAML identity provider and SAML service provider clocks are askew, the assertion can be determined invalid, and you will receive the following error:

"SAML Transferred failed. Please contact your system administrator. Detail: Failure: No valid assertion found in SAML response."

We recommend you use NTP to ensure the clocks are synchronized and that you set an Allowed Clock Skew value that accommodates any expected or permissible skew.

Support Single Logout

Single logout is a mechanism provided by SAML for logging out a particular user from all the sessions created by the identity provider. Select this option if the system must receive and send a single logout request for the peer SAML identity provider.

If you use the metadata option, the Single Logout Service URL setting can be completed by selecting the SLO service URL from the list. The list is populated by the identity provider entities defined in metadata files added to the System > Configuration > SAML page. The system sends Single Logout requests to this URL.

In addition, if you use the metadata option, the Single Logout Response URL setting is completed based on your selection for Single Logout Service URL. If the identity provider has left this setting empty in its metadata file, the system sends the Single Logout response to the SLO service URL.

If you complete these settings manually, ask the SAML identity provider administrator for guidance.

The Support Single Logout service for the identity provider must present a valid certificate.

SSO Method

Artifact

When configured to use the Artifact binding, the system contacts the Artifact Resolution Service (ARS) to fetch the assertion using SOAP protocol. If the ARS is hosted on a HTTPS URL, then the certificate presented by the ARS is verified by the system. For this verification to pass successfully, the CA of the server certificate issued to the identity provider ARS must be added to the trusted server CA on the system.

Complete the following settings to configure SAML using the HTTP Artifact binding:

Source ID. Enter the source ID for the identity provider ARS. Source ID is Base64-encoded, 20-byte identifier for the identity provider ARS. If left blank, this value is generated by the system.

Source Artifact Resolution Service URL. For metadata-based configuration, this field is completed automatically from the metadata file and is not configurable. For manual configurations, enter the URL of the service to which the SP ACS is to send ArtifactResolve requests. ArtifactResolve requests are used to fetch the assertion from the artifact received by it.

SOAP Client Authentication. Select HTTP Basic or SSL Client Certificate and complete the related settings. If you use an SSL client certificate, select a certificate from the device certificate list.

Select Device Certificate for Signing. Select the device certificate the system uses to sign the AuthnRequest sent to the identity provider SSO service. If you do not select a certificate, the system does not sign AuthnRequest.

Select Device Certificate for Encryption. Select the device certificate the system uses to decrypt encrypted data received in the SAML response. The public key associated with the device certificate is used by the identity provider for encryption.

POST

When configured to use the POST binding, the system uses a response signing certificate to verify the signature in the incoming response or assertion. The certificate file must be in PEM or DER format. The certificate you select should be the same certificate used by the identity provider to sign SAML responses.

Complete the following settings to configure SAML using the HTTP POST binding:

Response Signing Certificate. If you use the metadata-based configuration option, select a certificate from the list. The list is populated by the identity provider entities defined in metadata files added to the System > Configuration > SAML page.

If you configure these settings manually, browse to and upload the certificate to be used to validate the signature in the incoming response or assertion.

If no certificate is specified, the certificate embedded in the response is used.

Enable Signing Certificate status checking. Select this option to check the validity of the signing certificate before verifying the signature. This setting applies to any certificate used for signature verification. If this option is enabled, the response will be rejected if the certificate is revoked, expired, or untrusted. If this option is selected, the certificate CA must be added to the Trusted Client CA store.

If this option is not enabled, then the certificate is used without any checks.

Select Device Certificate for Signing. Select the device certificate the system uses to sign the AuthnRequest sent to the identity provider SSO service. If you do not select a certificate, the system does not sign AuthnRequest.

Select Device Certificate for Encryption. Select the device certificate the system uses to decrypt encrypted data received in the SAML response. The public key associated with the device certificate is used by the identity provider for encryption.

 

 

Authentication Context Classes

Use the Add and Remove buttons to select authentication context classes to be sent in the authentication requests to the SAML identity provider. These are included in the RequestedAuthnContext element.

In the OASIS standard, an authentication context is defined as "the information, additional to the authentication assertion itself, that the relying party may require before it makes an entitlements decision with respect to an authentication assertion."

This feature supports all authentication context classes specified in the SAML 2.0 OASIS Authn Context specification.

For example, if you select X509, the system sends the following context:

<samlp:RequestedAuthnContext>

<saml:AuthnContextClassRef xmlns:saml="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion">

urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:X509</saml:AuthnContextClassRef>

</samlp:RequestedAuthnContext>

In response, the SAML IdP sends the context data along with the authentication results. The system stores the context data in the session cache and as a system variable named samlAuthnContextClass. The system variable can be used in role mapping rules and resource policy detailed rules.

Specify a comparison attribute within the RequestedAuthnContext element. The comparison attribute specifies the relative strengths of the authentication context classes specified in the request and the authentication methods offered by a SAML IdP. The following values defined in the SAML 2.0 OASIS core specification can be selected:

exact - Requires the resulting authentication context in the authentication statement to be the exact match of at least one of the authentication contexts specified.

minimum - Requires the resulting authentication context in the authentication statement to be at least as strong as one of the authentication contexts specified.

maximum - Requires the resulting authentication context in the authentication statement to be stronger than any one of the authentication contexts specified.

better - Requires the resulting authentication context in the authentication statement to be as strong as possible without exceeding the strength of at least one of the authentication contexts specified.

Select the same value that is configured on the SAML IdP. If none is specified in the SAML IdP configuration, the implicit default is exact.

Service Provider Metadata Settings

Metadata Validity

Enter the number of days the metadata is valid. Valid values are 0 to 9999. 0 specifies the metadata does not expire.

Do Not Publish SA Metadata

Select this option if you do not want to publish the metadata at the location specified by the Entity ID field.

Download Metadata

This button appears only after you have saved the authentication server configuration. Use this button to download the metadata of the current SAML service provider.

User Record Synchronization

Enable User Record Synchronization

Allow users to retain their bookmarks and individual preferences regardless of which device they log in to.

Logical Auth Server Name

Specify the server name if you have enabled user record synchronization.

Displaying the User Accounts Table

To display user accounts, refer to the steps found in "Displaying the User Accounts Table

Using a SiteMinder Server

This topic describes integration with the SiteMinder server.

SiteMinder Server Overview

This section describes support for using Pulse Connect Secure with the SiteMinder server.

Understanding SiteMinder Server

CA SiteMinder server is an authentication and authorization server.

When you configure the Pulse Secure access management framework to authenticate users with a SiteMinder policy server, the system passes the user's credentials to SiteMinder during authentication. Once SiteMinder receives the credentials, it may use standard username and password authentication, RSA Authentication Manager SecurID tokens, or client-side certificates to authenticate the credentials.

The system also passes a protected resource URL to SiteMinder during authentication to determine which SiteMinder realm it should use to authenticate the user. When the system passes the protected resource URL, SiteMinder authorizes the user's URL against the realm that is associated with the resource and allows the user to seamlessly access any resources whose protection levels are equal to or less than the URL that was passed.

Feature Support

The Pulse Secure access management framework supports the following SiteMinder features:

Single Sign-on Using SMSESSION Cookies

Automatic Sign-In

Authentication Schemes

Single Sign-on Using SMSESSION Cookies

The Pulse Secure access management framework enables single sign-on (SSO) to SiteMinder-protected resources using SMSESSION cookies. An SMSESSION cookie is a security token that encapsulates SiteMinder session information. Depending on your configuration, either the SiteMinder Web agent or the system creates an SMSESSION cookie and then posts the cookie to the following locations, so the user does not have to reauthenticate to access additional resources.

Pulse Secure access management framework - If the user tries to access a SiteMinder resource within the session (for example, from the system file browsing page), the system passes its cached SMSESSION cookie to the Web agent for authentication.

The user's Web browser - If the user tries to access a SiteMinder resource from outside the session (for example, when using a protected resource on a standard agent), SiteMinder uses the cached SMSESSION cookie stored in the user's Web browser to authenticate/authorize the user.

Automatic Sign-In

If you enable the Automatic Sign-In option, the system can use an SMSESSION cookie generated by another agent to enable single sign-on from a SiteMinder resource. When a user accesses the system sign-in page with an SMSESSION cookie, the system verifies the SMSESSION cookie. Upon successful verification, the system establishes a session for the user. You can use the following authentication mechanisms when you enable automatic sign-in through the system:

Custom agent - The system authenticates the user against the policy server and generates a SMSESSION cookie. When you select this option, you can enable SSO on other SiteMinder agents that use the same policy server. To enable SSO on these agents, update each of them to accept third-party cookies. If you select this option and the user enters his system session with an SMSESSION cookie, the system attempts automatic sign-in when the user enters the session.

HTML form post - The system posts credentials to a standard Web agent that you have already configured. The Web agent then creates SMSESSION cookies. If you select this option, you cannot use SecurID New Pin and Next Token modes or client-side certificate authentication. If you select this option and the user enters his session with an SMSESSION cookie, the system attempts automatic sign-in when the user enters the session.

Delegated authentication - The system delegates authentication to a standard agent. If this option is enabled, the system tries to determine the FCC URL associated with the protected resource. The system then redirects the user to the FCC URL with the system sign-in URL as the target. Upon successful authentication, the user is redirected back to the system with an SMSESSION cookie and the system does an automatic sign-in for the user.

Authentication Schemes

The Pulse Secure access management framework works with the following types of SiteMinder authentication schemes:

Basic username and password authentication - The user's name and password are passed to the SiteMinder policy server. The policy server authenticates them to another server for authentication.

RSA Authentication Manager SecurID token authentication - The SiteMinder policy server authenticates users based on a username and password generated by an RSA Authentication Manager SecurID token.

Client-side certificate authentication - The SiteMinder policy server authenticates users based on their client-side certificate credentials. If you choose this authentication method, the Web browser displays a list of client certificates from which users can select. If you choose to authenticate users with this method, you must import the client certificate through the System > Certificates > Trusted Client CAs tab.

Interoperability Requirements and Limitations

The following requirements and limitations apply:

The Automatic Sign - in feature is not supported for administrator roles. This feature is only available for end users.

If you use the Authenticate using custom agent option, update all other Web agents to accept the device generated cookie, and apply a software patch to all other Web agents.

Pulse Policy Secure supports SiteMinder server version 6.0, version 5.5, and version 12.0. If you run older agents than the supported agents, you might experience cookie validation problems, including crossed log entries and intermittent user timeouts.

You can choose which SiteMinder server version you want to support when you create a server instance. You can choose version 5.5, which supports both versions 5.5 and 6.0, or you can choose version 6.0, which supports only version 6.0, or version 12.0. There is no difference in the SiteMinder authentication server functionality based on which version you select. This option only controls the version of the SDK to use. We recommend you match the compatibility mode with the version of the policy server.

When you use SiteMinder to authenticate, the primary and backup policy servers must run the same SiteMinder server software version. A mixed deployment (where the primary server runs a different server software version than the backup) is not supported.

SiteMinder does not store the IP address in the SMSESSION cookie, and therefore cannot pass it to the system.

SiteMinder sends the SMSESSION cookie to the system as a persistent cookie. To maximize security, the system resets the persistent cookie as a session cookie once authentication is complete.

When you use SiteMinder to authenticate, the Pulse Secure access management framework disregards any system session and idle timeouts and uses session and idle timeouts set through the SiteMinder realm instead.

When you use SiteMinder to authenticate, users must access the system using a fully qualified domain name. This is because the SiteMinder SMSESSION cookie is only sent for the domain for which it is configured. If users access the system using an IP address, they might receive an authentication failure and will be prompted to authenticate again.

You can update all of your standard Web agents to the appropriate Siteminder Agent Quarterly Maintenance Release (QMR) to accept the cookies. If you are running SiteMinder version 5 Web agents, use the QMR5 hot fix. The system is compatible with version 5.x and later SiteMinder agents. Older versions of SiteMinder agents are susceptible to cookie validation failures.

You can set the Accept Third Party Cookie attribute (AcceptTPCookie) to yes in the Web agent's configuration file (webagent.conf) or to 1 in the Windows Registry for the IIS Web server. The location of the attribute depends on the SiteMinder version and Web server you are using. Refer to the documentation provided with your SiteMinder server.

Configuring the Back-End SiteMinder Server

The following sections do not give complete SiteMinder configuration instructions-they are only intended to help you make SiteMinder work with the Pulse Secure access management framework. For in-depth SiteMinder configuration information, refer to the documentation provided with your SiteMinder policy server.

Configuring the SiteMinder Agent

Configuring the Authentication Scheme

Configuring the SiteMinder Domain

Configuring the SiteMinder Realm

Configuring a Rule or Response Pair to Pass Usernames

Configuring the SiteMinder Agent

A SiteMinder agent filters user requests to enforce access controls. For instance, when a user requests a protected resource, the agent prompts the user for credentials based on an authentication scheme and sends the credentials to a SiteMinder policy server. A Web agent is simply an agent that works with a Web server. When configuring SiteMinder to work with the Pulse Secure access management framework, you must configure the system as a Web agent in most cases.

If you select the Delegate authentication to a standard agent option, you must set the following options in the agent configuration object of the standard Web agent to host the FCC URL:

<EncryptAgentName=no>

<FCCCompatMode=no>

To configure the system as a Web agent on the SiteMinder policy server:

1.In the SiteMinder Administration interface, click the System tab.

2.Right-click Agents and select Create Agent.

3.Enter a name for the Web agent and a description. You must enter this name when creating a SiteMinder realm.

4.Select the Support 5.x agents option for compatibility with the system.

5.Under Agent Type, select SiteMinder and then select Web Agent from the list. This setting is required for compatibility with the system.

6.Under IP Address or Hostname, enter the name or IP address of the system.

7.In the Shared Secret box, enter and confirm a secret for the Web agent. Note that you must enter this secret when configuring the system.

8.Click OK.

Configuring the Authentication Scheme

Within SiteMinder, an authentication scheme is a way to collect user credentials and determine the identity of a user. You may create different authentication schemes and associate different protection levels with each. For example, you may create two schemes - one that authenticates users based solely on the users' client-side certificates and provides them a low protection level, and a second that uses RSA Authentication Manager SecurID token authentication and provides users a higher protection level.

To configure a SiteMinder authentication scheme:

1.In the SiteMinder Administration interface, select the System tab.

2.Right-click Authentication Schemes and select Create Authentication Scheme.

3.Enter a name for the scheme and (optionally) a description. You must enter this name when configuring the SiteMinder realm.

4.Under Authentication Scheme, select one of the following options:

Basic Template

HTML Form Template

SecurID HTML Form Template - If you are using SecurID authentication, you must choose SecurID HTML Form Template (instead of SecurID Template). Choosing this option enables the Policy Server to send ACE sign-in failure codes.

X509 Client Cert Template

X509 Client Cert and Basic Authentication

You must select HTML Form Template to handle reauthentication.

If you select X509 Client Cert Template or X509 Client Cert and Basic Authentication, you must import the certificate through System > Certificates > Trusted Client CAs.

5.Enter a protection level for the scheme. Note that this protection level carries over to the SiteMinder realm that you associate with this scheme.

6.Select Password Policies Enabled for this Authentication Scheme if you want to reauthenticate users who request resources with a higher protection level than they are authorized to access.

7.Select Scheme Setup tab, and enter the options required by your authentication scheme type.

If you want the system to reauthenticate users who request resources with a higher protection level than they are authorized to access, you must enter the following settings:

Under Server Name, enter the hostname (for example, sales.yourcompany.net).

Select the Use SSL Connection check box.

Under Target, enter the sign-in URL defined plus the parameter "ive=1" (for example, /highproturl?ive=1). The system must have a sign-in policy that uses */highproturl as the sign-in URL and only uses the corresponding SiteMinder authentication realm.

Clear the Allow Form Authentication Scheme to Save Credentials check box.

Leave Additional Attribute List empty.

8.Click OK.

If you change a SiteMinder authentication scheme on the policy server, you must flush the cache using the Flush Cache option on the Advanced tab.

Configuring the SiteMinder Domain

Within SiteMinder, a policy domain is a logical grouping of resources associated with one or more user directories. Policy domains contain realms, responses, and policies. When configuring the Pulse Secure access management framework to work with SiteMinder, you must give user access to a SiteMinder resource within a realm, and then group the realm into a domain.

To configure a SiteMinder domain:

1.Select the System tab, right-click Domains and select Create Domain, or click Domains and select an existing SiteMinder domain.

2.Add a realm to the domain.

Configuring the SiteMinder Realm

Within SiteMinder, a realm is a cluster of resources within a policy domain grouped together according to security requirements. When configuring SiteMinder to work with the Pulse Secure access management framework, you must define realms to determine which resources the users might access.

To configure a SiteMinder Realm:

1.In the SiteMinder Administration interface, select the Domains tab.

2.Expand the domain that you created.

3.Right-click Realms and select Create Realm.

4.In the Agent field, select the Web agent that you created.

5.In the Resource Filter field, enter a protected resource. This resource inherits the protection level specified in the corresponding authentication scheme.

For the default protection level, enter /ive-authentication. You must enter this resource when configuring the system. If you use sign-in policies with nondefault URLs such as */nete or */cert, you must have corresponding resource filters in the SiteMinder configuration.

6.From the Authentication Schemes list, select the scheme that you created.

7.Click OK.

Configuring a Rule or Response Pair to Pass Usernames

Within SiteMinder, you can use rules to trigger responses during authentication or authorization. A response passes DN attributes, static text, or customized active responses from the SiteMinder policy server to a SiteMinder agent. When you configure SiteMinder to work with the Pulse Secure access management framework, you must create a rule that triggers when a user successfully authenticates. Then, you must create a corresponding response that passes the user's username to the system Web agent.

To create a new rule:

1.In the SiteMinder Administration interface, select the Domains tab.

2.Expand the domain that you created and then expand Realms.

3.Right-click the realm that you created and select Create Rule under Realm.

4.Enter a name and (optionally) description for the rule.

5.Under Action, select Authentication Events and then select OnAuthAccept from the drop-down list.

6.Select Enabled.

7.Click OK.

To create a new response:

1.In the SiteMinder Administration interface, select the Domains tab.

2.Expand the domain that you created.

3.Right-click Responses and select Create Response.

4.Enter a name and (optionally) a description for the response.

5.Select s and then select the Web agent.

6.Click Create.

7.From the Attribute list, select WebAgent-HTTP-Header-Variable.

8.Under Attribute Kind, select Static.

9.Under Variable Name, enter IVEUSERNAME.

10.Under Variable Value, enter a username.

11.Click OK.

Configuring Authentication with a SiteMinder Server

To configure authentication with SiteMinder server:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select SiteMinder Server and click New Server.

3.Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

4.Save the configuration.

After you have saved the configuration, the page that is redisplayed includes an Advanced tab.

5.Click the Advanced tab to display the configuration page.

6.Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

7.Save the configuration.

The following table lists SiteMinder Server Settings

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name to identify the server within the system.

Policy Server

Specify name or IP address of the policy server.

Backup Server(s)

(Optional) Specify a comma-delimited list of backup policy servers.

Failover Mode?

Select one of the following failover mode options:

Yes - The device uses the main policy server unless it fails.

No - The device does the load balancing among all the specified policy servers.

Agent Name

Specify the agent name configured on the policy server.

Secret

Specify the shared secret configured on the policy server. The value is case sensitive.

Compatible with

Select a SiteMinder server version.

5.5 Policy Servers - Supports version 5.5 and version 6.0. This is the default.

6.0 Policy Servers - Supports only version 6.0 of the SiteMinder server API.

12.0 Policy Servers - Supports only version 12.0.

On logout, redirect to

Specify a URL to which users are redirected when they sign out of the device (optional). If you leave this field empty, users see the default sign-in page.

The On logout, redirect to setting is included in the product release for backwards-compatibility. We strongly recommend that you use the customizable sign-in pages feature instead.

Protected Resource

Specify a default protected resource. If you do not create sign-in policies, the system uses this default URL to set the user's protection level for the session. The system also uses this default URL if you select the Automatic Sign-In option. If your users are signing in to the "*" URL (default device sign-in page), enter any URL ("/ive-authentication" is the default) to set the protection level to the default value. If you do create sign-in policies, the device uses those sign-in policies instead of this default URL.

You must enter a forward slash (/) at the beginning of the resource. For example, enter /local-authentication.

Resource Action

Displays the resource action configured on the back-end SiteMinder server.

Users authenticate using tokens or one-time passwords

Select this option if you want the device to prompt the user for a token instead of a password; that is, if users submit tokens or one-time use passwords to the device.

For example, you can use this option to dynamically prompt for a password or token based on sign-in policies by configuring two instances of the same authentication server. You can use one instance for wireless users who have this option enabled and it prompts the user for a token, and another instance for wired users who have this option disabled and it prompts the user for a password.

This feature is available only on Policy Secure.

Server Catalog

Use the Server Catalog button to display the Server Catalog in a new window. Add the SiteMinder user attributes (such as the cookiename) that you want to use for role mapping.

SMSESSION cookie settings

When sending cookies to the end-user's browser

Specify the cookie domain for either the end user or the device. A cookie domain is a domain in which the user's cookies are active. For example, the system sends cookies to the user's browser in this domain.

Multiple domains should use a leading period and be comma-separated. For example, .sales.myorg.com, .marketing.myorg.com.

Domain names are case-sensitive. You cannot use wildcard characters. For example, if you define ".pulsesecure.net" the user must access the device as "http://ive.pulsesecure.net" to ensure that his SMSESSION cookie is sent back to the device.

Select HTTPS to send cookies securely if other Web agents are set up to accept secure cookies, or HTTP to send cookies non-securely.

Cookie Domain and Protocol When the Cookie is Set on the Device

Enter the valid Internet domain for the cookie and where the browser of the user sends cookie contents. This cookie domain should be the same as the host domain. For example, jnpr.net

Select HTTPS to send cookies securely if other Web agents are set up to accept secure cookies, or HTTP to send cookies non-securely.

SiteMinder authentication settings

Automatic Sign In

Select this option to automatically sign in users with a valid SMSESSION cookie. Then, select the authentication realm to which the users are mapped. If you select this option, note that:

If the protection level associated with a user's SMSESSION cookie is different from the protection level of the realm, the protection level associated with the cookie is used.

This option uses SMSESSION cookie, which is already present in the browser to enable single sign-on.

This option provides a single sign-on experience for users.

This option enables users to sign in using a standard Siteminder Web Agent that generates an SMSESSION cookie.

When you select this option, you must also configure the following suboptions:

To assign user roles, use this user authentication realm - Select an authentication realm for automatically signed-in users. The users are mapped to a role based on the role mapping rules defined in the selected realm.

If Automatic Sign In fails, redirect to - Enter an alternative URL for users who sign in through the automatic sign-In mechanism. The users are redirected to the specified URL if the authentication fails and if there is no redirect response from the SiteMinder policy server. If you leave this field empty, users are prompted to sign back in.

Authenticate using custom agent

Select this option if you want to authenticate using the custom Web agent. Using this option, the system generates the SMSESSION cookie, just like any other Web agent configured within the organization.

Authenticate using HTML form post

Select this option if you want to post user credentials to a standard Web agent that you have already configured rather than contacting the SiteMinder policy server directly.

If you select this option, the Web agent contacts the policy server to determine the appropriate sign-in page to display to the user.

To configure the system to "act like a browser" that posts credentials to the standard Web agent, you must enter the following information.

Target - Specify the target URL.

Protocol - Specify the protocol for communication between the system and the specified Web agent. Select HTTP for non-secure communication. Select HTTPS for secure communication.

Webagent - Specify the name of the Web agent to obtain SMSESSION cookies. An IP address is not allowed for this field. (Specifying the IP address as the Web agent prevents some browsers from accepting cookies.)

Port - Specify the port for the protocol. Enter port 80 for HTTP or port 443 for HTTPS.

Path - Specify the path of the Web agent's sign-in page. The path must start with a backslash (/) character. In the Web agent sign-in page URL, the path appears after the Web agent.

Parameters - Specify the post parameters to be sent when a user signs in. Common SiteMinder variables that you can use include _ _USER_ _, _ _PASS_ _, and _ _TARGET_ _. These variables are replaced by the username and password entered by the user on the Web agent's sign-in page and by the value specified in the Target field. These are the default parameters for login.fcc-if you have made customizations, you may need to change these parameters.

Delegate authentication to a standard agent

Select this option to delegate authentication to a standard agent. When the user accesses the system sign-in page, the FCC URL associated with the protected resource's authentication scheme is determined. The system redirects the user to that URL, setting the system sign-in URL as the target. After successfully authenticating with the standard agent, an SMSESSION cookie is set in the user's browser and the user is redirected back. The system then automatically signs in the user and establishes a session.

You must enable the Automatic Sign-In option to use this feature. If you enable this option and a user already has a valid SMSESSION cookie when trying to access a resource, the system tries to automatically sign in using the existing SMSESSION cookie. If the cookie is invalid, the SMSESSION cookie and corresponding system cookies are cleared and a "timeout" page is displayed. The system successfully delegates authentication when the user clicks the sign back in option. If you select this option, your authentication scheme must have an associated FCC URL.

SiteMinder authorization settings

This feature is available only on Connect Secure.

Authorize requests against SiteMinder policy server

Use SiteMinder policy server rules to authorize user Web resource requests. If you select this option, make sure that you create the appropriate rules in SiteMinder that start with the server name followed by a forward slash, such as: www.yahoo.com/, www.yahoo.com/*, and www.yahoo.com/r/f1.

If authorization fails, redirect to

Specify an alternative URL that users are redirected to if the device fails to authorize and no redirect response is received from the SiteMinder policy server. If you leave this field empty, users are prompted to sign back into the device.

If you are using an authorization-only access policy, you must enter an alternative URL in this field regardless of whether the Authorize requests against SiteMinder policy server option is selected. Users are redirected to this URL when an access denied error occurs.

Resource for insufficient protection level

Specify a resource on the Web agent to which the users are redirected when they do not have the appropriate permissions.

Ignore authorization for files with extensions

Specify the file extensions corresponding to file types that do not require authorization.

Enter the extensions of each file type that you want to ignore, separating each with a comma. For example, enter .gif, .jpeg, .jpg, .bmp to ignore various image types. You cannot use wildcard characters (such as *, *.*, or .*) to ignore a range of file types.

User Record Synchronization

This feature is available only on Connect Secure.

Enable User Record Synchronization

Select this option to retain the bookmarks and individual preferences regardless of which system you log in to.

Logical Auth Server Name

Specify a logical authentication server name.

The following table lists the SiteMinder Advanced Configuration Options

Settings

Guidelines

Poll Interval (seconds)

Specify the interval at which the system polls the SiteMinder policy server to check for a new key.

Max. Connections

Control the maximum number of simultaneous connections that the system is allowed to make to the policy server. The default setting is 20.

Max. Requests/ Agent

Control the maximum number of requests that the policy server connection handles before the system ends the connection. If necessary, tune to increase performance. The default setting is 1000.

Idle Timeout (minutes)

Control the maximum number of minutes a connection to the policy server may remain idle (the connection is not handling requests) before the system ends the connection. The default setting of "none" indicates no time limit.

Authorize while Authenticating

Specify that the system should look up user attributes on the policy server immediately after authentication to determine if the user is truly authenticated.

For example, if your SiteMinder server authenticates users based on an LDAP server setting, you can select this option to indicate that the system should authenticate users through the SiteMinder server and then authorize them through the LDAP server before granting them access. If the user fails authentication or authorization, the user is redirected to the page configured on the policy server.

Enable Session Grace Period

Eliminate the overhead of verifying a user's SMSESSION cookie each time the user requests the same resource by indicating that the system should consider the cookie valid for a certain period of time.

If you do not select this option, the system checks the user's SMSESSION cookie on each request. Note that the value entered here does not affect session or idle timeout checking.

Validate cookie every N seconds (seconds)

Specify the time period for the system to eliminate the overhead of verifying a user's SMSESSION cookie each time the user requests the same resource by indicating that the system should consider the cookie valid for a certain period of time.

Ignore Query Data

Specify that the system does not cache the query parameter in its URLs. Therefore, if a user requests the same resource as is specified in the cached URL, the request should not fail.

Accounting Port

Specify that the value entered in this field must match the accounting port value entered through the Policy Server Management Console in the Web UI. By default, this field matches the policy server's default setting of 44441.

Authentication Port

Specify that the value entered in this field must match the authentication port value entered through the Policy Server Management Console. By default, this field matches the policy server's default setting of 44442.

Authorization Port

Specifies that the value entered in this field must match the authorization port value entered through the Policy Server Management Console. By default, this field matches the policy server's default setting of 44443.

Agent Configuration Settings

Overlook Session for Methods

Compare the request method to the methods listed in this parameter. If a match is found, Web Agent does not create a new or update an existing SMSESSION cookie, nor will it make any updates to the cookie provider for that request.

You can enter multiple methods; use a comma to separate method names.

If Overlook Session for Methods parameter is set but not Overlook Session for URLs, then all requests that match the methods defined in this parameter are processed (SMSESSION cookie creation/update is blocked).

If both Overlook Session for Methods and Overlook Session for URLsparameters are set, both the method and the URL of the request are matched before proceeding. Then, all URLs with specified methods are processed (SMSESSION cookie creation/update is blocked).

Overlook Session for URLs

Compare the request URL to the URLs listed in this parameter. If a match is found, Web Agent does not create a new or update an existing SMSESSION cookie, nor will it make any updates to the cookie provider for that request.

Specify a relative URL. For example: If the URL is http://fqdn.host/MyDocuments/index.html, enter /MyDocuments/index.html

If Overlook Session for URLs is set but not Overlook Session for Methods, then all requests, regardless of the methods, matching the URLs defined in this parameter are processed (SMSESSION cookie creation/update is blocked).

If both Overlook Session for Methods and Overlook Session for URLsparameters are defined, both the method and the URL of the request are matched before proceeding. Then, all URLs with specified methods are processed (SMSESSION cookie creation/update is blocked).

SiteMinder caching

Flush Cache

Select this option to delete the resource cache, which caches resource authorization information for 10 minutes.

Displaying the User Accounts Table

To display user accounts, refer to the steps in Displaying the User Accounts Table

Using a Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP) Authentication Server

This topic describes the Pulse Connect Secure's integration with the Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP) Authentication Servers.

TOTP Authentication Server Overview

This section describes support for using the Local/Remote Pulse Connect Secure TOTP authentication server.

Understanding TOTP

Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) algorithm as defined in RFC6238 is an authentication mechanism where a one-time password (a.k.a token) is generated by the authentication server and client from a shared secret key and the current time. PCS can act as TOTP authentication server. Any third-party TOTP applications (for example, Windows Authenticator or Google Authenticator) available on the mobile and desktop client platforms generate TOTP tokens. The TOTP authentication option is natively available on PCS without any additional products or license requirements. Customers can use TOTP authentication as part of their MFA policy, and strengthen their authentication mechanism for secure access scenarios.

Interoperability Requirements and Limitations

Before you begin:

TOTP authentication server users' configuration is automatically synchronized within all nodes in a single cluster. If there are multiple clusters behind a DNS load-balancer, then the admin has to manually perform binary export/import user's configuration to all the nodes in different clusters.

TOTP feature is configurable across clusters.

First time users have to register a new TOTP user-account via web. End-users cannot use Pulse Desktop applications and Pulse Mac applications for new user registration.

Pre-9.0R3 users with more than one TOTP account will get reset when the system software is upgraded to PCS 9.0R3 or later. In such case, users have to re-register with TOTP.

Two standalone nodes or separate clusters can be synced. For now, binary import/export of user configuration option can be used.

For the users who are already using custom sign-in pages:

For TOTP authentication to work, existing custom sign-in pages need to include following sign-in pages:

TotpAuthRegister.thtml

TotpAuthRegister-mobile-webkit.thtml

TotpAuthRegister-ipad.thtml

TotpAuthRegister-stdaln.thtml

TotpAuthTokenEntry.thtml

TotpAuthTokenEntry-mobile-webkit.thtml

TotpAuthTokenEntry-ipad.thtml

TotpAuthTokenEntry-stdaln.thtml

These files can be downloaded from sample custom sign-in pages URL: https://<<PCS>>/dana-admin/download/sample.zip?url=/dana-admin/auth/custompage.cgi?op=Download&samplePage=sample

Configuring Authentication with a TOTP Authentication Server

 

Configuring the TOTP Authentication Server Settings

To configure the TOTP server as Local:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Select Time based One-Time Password (TOTP) Server and click New Server to display the configuration page.

3.Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

4.Save the configuration.

The following figure depicts the TOTP Authentication Server Page - Local: 

The following table lists the TOTP Auth Server Settings - Local

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name to identify the server within the system.

Server Type

TOTP server can be configured as local or remote. Select Local.

Local: TOTP context is created locally and user database is maintained locally on the same device.

Time Skew

Specify maximum time difference between Pulse Connect Secure and end user device while authenticating a user's token. (minimum: 1 minute, maximum: 5 minutes).

Number of attempts allowed

Specify maximum number of consecutive wrong attempts allowed after which account will be locked (minimum: 1 attempt, maximum: 5 attempts).

Custom message for registration page

Specify a custom message which can be shown on new TOTP user registration web-page.

Allow Auto Unlock

When checked, locked account will be automatically unlocked after specified period. (minimum: 10 minutes, maximum: 90 days)

Allow new TOTP user registration to happen via external port

When unchecked (default), new TOTP user registrations will happen only via internal port

Accept TOTP authentication from remote PCS devices

When checked, REST access to this TOTP server is allowed from other Pulse Connect Secure devices.

Display QR code during user registration

When checked, displays QR code during user registration.

Disable generation of backup codes

When unchecked, generates backup codes.

To configure the TOTP server as Remote:

5.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

6.Select Time based One-Time Password (TOTP) Server and click New Server to display the configuration page. See Figure 16.

7.Complete the configuration as described in the following table.

8.Save the configuration.

If PCS is configured to use Remote TOTP server, then the remote PCS should have a valid certificate issued by a Trusted CA.

The following figure depicts the TOTP Authentication Server Page - Remote: The following table lists TOTP Auth Server Settings - Remote

Settings

Guidelines

Name

Specify a name to identify the server within the system.

Server Type

TOTP server can be configured as local or remote. Select Remote.

Remote: In this configuration, authentication checks take place on the remote TOTP server. The user local device (PCS to which user is logging in) will act merely as a proxy between the user's client device and TOTP server. The communication to the remote device happens on REST API.

Allow new TOTP user registration to happen via external port

If this option is not selected, new TOTP user registrations happen only via company intranet network.

Host Name/IP

Specify remote host name or IP address where the TOTP server is configured. The IP address or host name must match the common name mentioned in the remote TOTP server certificate.

TOTP Server Name

This is the name of the TOTP server configured on the Remote TOTP server.

REST API Login

Enter the REST API login name.

REST API Password

Enter the REST API password.

REST Authentication Realm

Enter the realm name, which refers to the realm that should be used for authenticating the REST user (using the auth. server mapped to the Realm).

WARNING: In 9.1R1 this field is mandatory. If the realm field is not entered, user logins fail after upgrade to 9.1R1.

Test Connection

This button is used to validate the connection to the remote TOTP server.

Customer needs to upload proper certificate to the Remote TOTP server. Wildcard certificate is also supported.

Configuring Admin/User Realm to Associate a TOTP Authentication Server as Secondary Authentication Server

For example, to configure a user realm:

1.Select Users > User Realms > New User Realm.

2.Complete the settings for the user-realm.

3.Check the Enable additional authentication server option.

4.Under Additional Authentication Server, select any already created TOTP authentication-server from the Authentication #2 dropdown, as shown in the following figure.

Whenever admin selects TOTP authentication-server as the additional authentication server, then the Username: Predefined as <USER> and Password: specified by user in sign-in page options are set by default.

5.Click on Save Changes.

The following figure depicts Configuring Admin/User Realm to Associate a TOTP Auth. Server as Secondary Auth. Server: 

Using Google Authenticator Application to Register to a TOTP Server

The admin can associate an end-user to a realm that has a secondary authentication server configured as TOTP authentication server.

For first time registration via web, perform the following steps:

For example: Admin associates an end-user User1 to a user-realm that has the TOTP authentication-server configured as the secondary authentication-server.

When User1 for the first time, performs a log in to the above configured user-realm:

1.After successful authentication with primary authentication-server, User1 is shown the TOTP registration page. See the following figure.

2.User1 is given a TOTP registration key in text form/QR image form and 10 backup codes. User saves 10 backup codes in a safe place for using it later during authentication when end-user device (where Google Authenticator app is installed) is not available (in emergency).

3.Now, User1 opens the device where Google Authenticator app is installed, then either scans the QR image (or) manually adds a new user (for example: GA-User1) by entering the above given secret registration key.

4.The Google-Authentication app (for GA-User1) generates a new 6-digit number called as a token once in every 30 seconds.

5.Enter the current token in the registration page. Click on Sign In. On successful authentication with that token, User1 will be taken to his/her home page.

The following figure depicts First Time Registration to a TOTP Server:

 

For already registered user, perform the following steps:

1.The already-registered user (For example: User1), whose realm was associated with secondary authentication server configured as TOTP authentication server, accesses PCS URL via web (User1 has already registered TOTP user in Google Authenticator app.)

2.After successful authentication with primary authentication server, user1 is shown TOTP Token entry page as seen in Figure 19.

3.User1 opens Google Authentication app that was installed in mobile (or PC), enters the current token to the Authentication Code. If mobile is not available, user can enter any of the unused backup codes.

4.On successful authentication with the token, User1 can enter any of the unused backup codes.

A backup code can be used only once to successfully authenticate with the TOTP authentication server. Once used, the same backup code cannot be reused.

The following figure depicts the Google Authentication Token: 

Displaying the User Accounts Table

To display user accounts:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Click the link for the authentication server you want to manage.

3.Click the Users tab to display the user accounts table. The user accounts table includes entries for the accounts that have been created. See the following figure.

The "Last Attempted" column shows the last time and date a user attempted to log in.

The "Last Successful Login" shows the last successful sign-in date and time for each user.

Under the "User Information" column, there are details available for a user's "Realm", "Primary AuthServer" and the "Status" columns

There are 3 possible states for the "Status" column:

Active: TOTP user's account is in use (that is user has used this account less than stale period of this TOTP authentication server)

Locked: TOTP user account has been locked due to maximum number of wrong login attempts

Unregistered: TOTP user has seen registration page, but yet to complete the registration by entering the correct token in the registration page.

4.Use the controls to search for users and manage user accounts:

To search for a specific user, enter a username in the Show users named field and click Update.

You can use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard, where * represents any number of zero or more characters. For example, to search for all usernames that contain the letters jo, enter *jo*. The search is case-sensitive. To display the entire list of accounts again, type * or delete the field's contents and click Update.

To limit the number of users displayed on the page, enter a number in the Show N user's field and click Update.

To unlock a user, select the specific user and click Unlock.

To reset a user's credentials, select the specific user and click Reset.

The following figure depicts Displaying the User Accounts Table: 

To unlock a TOTP user's account:

1.Go to the Users tab. The list of users is displayed.

2.Select the user whose account you choose to unlock.

3.Click on the Unlock button.

The following figure depicts Unlocking a User:

To reset a TOTP user's account:

1.Go to the Users tab. The list of users is displayed.

2.Select the user whose account you choose to reset.

3.Click on the Reset button. This removes the user entry from the table.

The following figure depicts Resetting a User:

Viewing/Generating Backup Codes

To view/generate TOTP backup codes after successful log in to a TOTP server via web:

1.User successfully authenticates to primary auth-server and TOTP auth-server via web.

2.Click on the Preference option on the top of the page.

3.In the Preference page, under TOTP Backup codes, click on either View or Generate to obtain user's TOTP backup codes.

The following figure depicts View/Generate Backup Codes: 

 

Exporting/Importing TOTP Users

To export/import TOTP users:

1.Select Authentication > Auth. Servers.

2.Click the link for the authentication server you want to manage.

3.Click the Users tab to display the user accounts table. The user accounts table includes entries for the accounts that have been created. See the following figure.

4.Use the Export and Import buttons located at the bottom of the user accounts table to export and import TOTP users data.