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RE: More BCP: revenge of RS232 and CLIs



That all looks pretty good to me.  I would add one thing, however, and that is a
recommendation (not requirement) for the console to have some form of fall-back
authentication that does not require functioning IP or depend on external servers.
something like this:

n.n.n Non-IP Console Supports Independent Authentication

  Requirement: The Non-IP console interface SHOULD support an authentication
       mechanism which does not require functional IP or depend on external
       services.  This authentication mechanism MAY be disabled until a
       failure of other preferred mechanisms is detected.  In the event of
       fallback AUTHENTICATION, the interface MUST either implement a locally
       defined AUTHORIZATION profile or consider all commands to be AUTHORIZED.

  Justification: It does little good to have a non-IP dependent console interface
       on a device if you cannot get into the device with it when the network
       is not working.

  Warnings: There are many ways to implement this which would provide reduced
       security for the device.  This mechanism SHOULD be implemented as a
       fallback if the preferred authentication method is not "LOCAL".

  Example: Some devices which use TACACS or RADIUS for authentication will
       fall back to a local account if the TACACS or RADIUS server does not
       reply to an authentication request.

Owen

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