Veritas Flex Appliance Getting Started and Administration Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): Appliances (5.1, 5.0)
Platform: Flex Appliance OS
  1. Product overview
    1.  
      Introduction to Veritas Flex Appliance
    2.  
      Flex Appliance terminology
    3.  
      About the Flex Appliance documentation
  2. Release notes
    1.  
      Flex Appliance 5.0 new features, enhancements, and changes
    2.  
      Flex Appliance 5.1 new features, enhancements, and changes
    3.  
      Supported update paths to this release
    4.  
      Operational notes
    5.  
      Flex Appliance 5.0 release content
    6.  
      Flex Appliance 5.1 release content
  3. Getting started
    1.  
      Initial configuration guidelines and checklist
    2.  
      Performing the initial configuration
    3.  
      Adding a node
    4.  
      Accessing and using the Flex Appliance Shell
    5.  
      Accessing and using the Flex Appliance Console
    6.  
      Setting the date and time for appliance nodes
    7.  
      Common tasks in Flex Appliance
  4. Managing network settings for instances
    1.  
      Creating a network bond
    2.  
      Editing a network bond
    3.  
      Deleting a network bond
    4.  
      Configuring or editing a network interface
    5. Managing the appliance Fibre Channel ports
      1.  
        Viewing the devices that are connected to the Fibre Channel ports
  5. Managing users
    1.  
      Overview of the Flex Appliance default users
    2. Managing Flex Appliance Console users and tenants
      1.  
        Adding a tenant
      2.  
        Editing a tenant
      3.  
        Removing a tenant
      4.  
        Adding a local user to the Flex Appliance Console
      5.  
        Connecting a remote user domain to the Flex Appliance Console
      6.  
        Editing a remote user domain in the Flex Appliance Console
      7.  
        Importing a remote user or user group to the Flex Appliance Console
      8.  
        Managing single sign-on (SSO)
      9.  
        Managing identity providers (IDPs)
      10.  
        Importing a single sign-on user or user group to the Flex Appliance Console
      11.  
        Managing user authentication with smart cards or digital certificates
      12.  
        Changing a local user password in the Flex Appliance Console
      13.  
        Expiring local user passwords in the Flex Appliance Console
      14.  
        Unlocking a user account in the Flex Appliance Console
      15.  
        Managing open sessions
      16.  
        Removing user or service accounts from the Flex Appliance Console
    3.  
      Changing the password policy
    4.  
      Changing the hostadmin user password in the Flex Appliance Shell
    5.  
      Changing the sysadmin user password in the Veritas Remote Management Interface
    6. Managing multifactor authentication
      1.  
        Configuring or reconfiguring multifactor authentication
      2.  
        Enforcing multifactor authentication
      3.  
        Resetting multifactor authentication
      4.  
        Disabling multifactor authentication
    7. Using Flex Appliance Console accounts for API automation
      1.  
        Managing personal API tokens
      2.  
        Managing service accounts
  6. Using Flex Appliance
    1. Managing the repository
      1.  
        Adding files to the repository
      2.  
        Removing files from the repository
    2.  
      Creating application instances
    3.  
      Managing application instances from Flex Appliance and NetBackup
    4. Managing application instances from Flex Appliance
      1.  
        Resizing instance storage
      2.  
        Editing instance network settings
      3.  
        Assigning Fibre Channel ports to an instance
      4.  
        Unassigning Fibre Channel ports from an instance
      5. Managing application add-ons on instances
        1.  
          Installing application add-ons
        2.  
          Uninstalling application add-ons
        3.  
          Changing the application add-on installation order
        4.  
          Updating an application add-on to a newer revision
      6.  
        Viewing instance performance metrics
      7.  
        Clearing a configuration error status on an application instance
      8.  
        Deleting an application instance
    5. Upgrading application instances
      1.  
        Warnings and considerations for instance rollbacks
    6.  
      Updating an application instance to a newer revision
    7. About Flex Appliance updates
      1.  
        Updating Flex Appliance
      2.  
        Updating the firmware
  7. Remote replication
    1.  
      About remote replication
    2.  
      Pairing appliances for remote replication
    3.  
      Creating a replica
    4. Managing remote replication
      1.  
        Remote replication best practices
      2.  
        Monitoring remote replication
      3.  
        Editing the replication network
      4.  
        Repairing a lost connection between paired appliances
      5.  
        Pausing and resuming replication
      6.  
        Resolving discrepancies between an active and a replica instance
      7.  
        Changing the replication role of an instance
      8.  
        Unlinking active and replica instances
      9.  
        Forgetting a paired appliance
  8. Appliance security
    1.  
      Security overview
    2. About lockdown mode
      1.  
        Changing the lockdown mode
    3.  
      Using a sign-in banner
    4.  
      Using an external certificate
    5. Using network access control
      1.  
        Changing the SSH port
    6.  
      Recommended settings for the remote management (IPMI) port
  9. Monitoring the appliance
    1.  
      Registering an appliance
    2. Configuring alerts
      1. About AutoSupport and Call Home
        1.  
          Configuring Call Home
      2.  
        Configuring email alerts
      3.  
        Configuring SNMP alerts
      4.  
        Setting the threshold values for disk usage alerts
    3.  
      Monitoring the appliance from the System Health Insights portal
    4. Viewing the hardware status
      1.  
        Viewing node information
      2.  
        Viewing storage shelf information on a Veritas 53xx Appliance
      3.  
        Viewing storage shelf information on a Veritas 52xx Appliance
    5.  
      Viewing hardware faults
    6.  
      Viewing system data
    7.  
      Clearing the hardware status
    8.  
      Forwarding logs
    9.  
      Providing access for external monitoring
    10.  
      Revoking access for external monitoring
  10. Reconfiguring the appliance
    1.  
      Reconfiguring the appliance network
    2.  
      Changing DNS or Hosts file settings
    3.  
      Shutting down the appliance
    4.  
      Performing a factory reset
    5.  
      Performing a reimage
    6.  
      Recovering storage data after a factory reset or a reimage
    7.  
      Performing a storage reset
    8.  
      Removing a node
    9.  
      Viewing or resetting the storage shelf order on a Veritas 52xx Appliance
  11. Troubleshooting guidelines
    1.  
      General troubleshooting steps
    2.  
      Unlocking access in lockdown mode
    3. Gathering logs
      1.  
        Deleting logs

Managing identity providers (IDPs)

You can configure single sign-on (SSO) with any identity provider (IDP) that uses the SAML 2.0 protocol and AD or LDAP directory services. You can add up to three IDPs to the appliance but can use only one at a time.

Note:

The date and time of the appliance, the IDP, and the browser must be synchronized. Veritas recommends that the date and time are set using NTP.

Use the following procedures to manage your IDPs.

Adding an IDP

To add an IDP

  1. Sign in to the Flex Appliance Console as a security administrator and click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the page, then click Single sign-on.
  2. Under Appliance service provider URL, copy or download the appliance metadata file. Upload that file to your IDP and add the appliance as a service provider. For more specific instructions, see the following articles on the Veritas Support website:
  3. From the IDP, download and save the IDP metadata XML file.
  4. Gather the following information for the IDP:

    • Name: A name of your choosing to identify the IDP.

    • User field: The SAML attribute name that is mapped to the user attribute of the remote user domain. For example, userPrincipalName, displayName, identifier, uid, etc.

    • Group field: The SAML attribute name that is mapped to the group attribute of the remote user domain. For example, memberOf, role, etc.

  5. From the Single sign-on page on the Flex Appliance Console, click Add.
  6. Upload the IDP metadata file. Once the file has uploaded successfully, click View details and verify the certificate subject values and SHA-256 fingerprints.
  7. Fill in the other required fields, then click Save.
  8. If you have added only one IDP, enable SSO to start using it. See Enabling or disabling SSO.

    If you have added more than one IDP, the first IDP is used by default. Switch to the new IDP if necessary. See Switching to a different IDP.

Editing an IDP

To edit an IDP

  1. If you need to change the IDP metadata XML file, download the file from the IDP.
  2. Sign in to the Flex Appliance Console as a security administrator and click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the page, then click Single sign-on.
  3. Click the name of the IDP, then click Edit.
  4. Make the required changes. If you uploaded a new IDP metadata file, click View details and verify the certificate subject values and SHA-256 fingerprints.
  5. When you are done, click Save.
Switching to a different IDP

To switch to a different IDP

  1. Sign in to the Flex Appliance Console as a security administrator and click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the page, then click Single sign-on.
  2. If you have not done so already, add the IDP that you want to use. See Adding an IDP.
  3. Make sure that SSO is enabled. Then select the IDP that you want to use and click Use.
Removing an IDP

To remove an IDP

  1. Sign in to the Flex Appliance Console as a security administrator and click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the page, then click Single sign-on.
  2. Select the IDP that you want to remove and click Remove.

    Note:

    If you have more than one IDP, you cannot remove the one that is in use unless you remove the others first. If you have only one IDP or have already removed the others, you must disable SSO before you can remove it.

More Information

Enabling or disabling SSO