User manual

Sensorsoft Alert User Manual
Security Considerations
IMPORTANT - If you are planning to expose your Alert appliance to the Internet, Sensorsoft
recommends that you do so through a separate firewall device that is capable of protecting your
network from various hacker attacks, including SYN flooding, Ping of Death, IP Spoofing, etc. These
types of attacks may cause Sensorsoft Alert to respond unexpectedly, or cause it to fail.
Multi-Level User Access
Your Alert appliance offers two levels of user access to allow some users to view only current monitored
item information, while allowing other users to fully administer Alert.
IMPORTANT - Sensorsoft recommends that you only login to the Alert web interface using the ruser
account when accessing Alert over the Internet. This will protect your admin password from being
sent as clear text, as is described in the section Password Encryption.
Password Encryption
Your Alert appliance stores both its admin and ruser passwords in encrypted form to ensure that the
passwords cannot be easily read without the use of the decryption algorithm.
IMPORTANT - Passwords are not encrypted as they are traversing the network from your web
browser to the Alert appliance. An individual or hacker that is sniffing the network will be able to
read this information as clear text.
User Definable Web Server Port
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has defined TCP port 80 as the international standard
TCP port for web servers. If you are using the Sensorsoft Alert appliance on the Internet you may wish to
change this port to add an increased layer of security. You have the option to set this port from 1 to 65535,
but Sensorsoft recommends that you choose a port between 1024 and 65535, as ports 1 through 1023 are
reserved for other “well known” protocols. To change the web server port number of your Alert appliance,
follow the procedure below:
1. Connect to the Alert appliance through Secure Shell or through the serial console. If the Alert
appliance has not been configured with valid IP settings, then you must connect to it through the serial
console (See the section Connecting to the Alert Serial Console).
2. Login as: root
3. At the command prompt, type stopalert and then press Enter.
4. Using vi, set the desired port number in the file /etc/websport.conf.
5. After editing /etc/websport.conf, close vi to return to the command prompt.
6. At the command prompt, type saveconf and then press Enter.
7. At the command prompt, type reboot and then press Enter. The Alert appliance will now reboot and
will be online in one minute. After the Alert appliance has rebooted, its web interface will be
accessible through the newly defined port.
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