Manual Chapter : WANJet User Guide version 4.0: Managing the WANJet Appliance - 6

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WANJet

  • 4.0.0
Manual Chapter

6

Managing the WANJet Appliance


WANJet appliance authentication settings

To maintain the security of the WANJet appliance settings, the Web UI is password-protected, while the LCD menu on the front of the appliance is PIN-protected. You can change the password and/or PIN code at any time. F5 Networks recommends that you immediately change the password and PIN code from the defaults and then change them regularly (once a month, for example) thereafter.

Changing the Web UI password

The admin user account password is the only local account that you can use to access the Web UI. You can use remote accounts to access the Web UI; however, you cannot change the passwords for remote accounts from the WANJet Password screen. For more details, refer to Configuring remote authentication , following.

Important

Since there is only one local password for the Web UI, be sure to warn all other users that you are changing the password (unless they are using remote authentication).

To change the WANJet Web UI password

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Security and click Password.
    The WANJet Password screen displays.
  2. In the Old Password box, type the old password.
    • Note: If you did not change the default password during the initial configuration, leave this box blank.
  3. In the New Password box, type the new password.
    As a general rule, passwords should consist of at least 6 characters and include a mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. A blank password is not allowed.
  4. In the Confirm Password box, retype the new password.
    This must match the password that you typed in the New Password box.
  5. Click the Save button to save the new setting.
    A confirmation screen displays.
  6. Click Yes to confirm the new password.

Configuring remote authentication

You can choose to authenticate WANJet appliance users against the WANJet appliance's local database, or against a RADIUS remote authentication server.

To configure the WANJet appliance for local authentication

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Security and click Remote Authentication.
    The WANJet Remote Authentication screen displays.
  2. Click the button next to No Remote Authentication.
  3. Click the Save button.

To configure the WANJet appliance for remote RADIUS authentication

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Security and click Remote Authentication.
    The WANJet Remote Authentication screen displays.
  2. Click the button next to RADIUS.
  3. In the box under Server, type the IP address for the RADIUS server.
  4. In the box under Secret, type the server's shared secret.
    This is the key that authenticates RADIUS transactions between the client (the local WANJet appliance, in this case) and the RADIUS server.
  5. In the box under Timeout, type the number of seconds that the WANJet appliance should wait after sending a RADIUS request. After this time has expired, WANJet appliance stops waiting for a response. F5 Networks recommends that you use the value of 3.
  6. In the box under NRetry, type the number of times that you want the WANJet appliance to send a RADIUS request to the server before giving up. F5 Networks recommends that you use the value of 3.
    • Note: If you type a value in the Timeout box, you must also enter a value in the NRetry box. If you set the values too high, it could take a long time to determine that the server is not responding to a login attempt. This problem will be compounded if you are using more than one RADIUS server.
  7. Click the Add button to store the new information.
  8. Repeat Step 2 through 7 for any additional RADIUS servers.
    • Note: Once you have added server details, you cannot edit them. You must delete and the information and add it again.
  9. Click the Save button.
    The Remote Authentication screen refreshes with the RADIUS server details that you added.
Note

After you configure the WANJet appliance to use remote RADIUS authentication, you can view diagnostic RADIUS reports. For more information, see Connectivity for details about this report. For information about RADIUS protocol, refer to http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2865.txt.

Changing the WANJet LCD PIN code

There is no default PIN code for the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) on the WANJet appliance.

To create or change the LCD PIN code

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Security and click LCD PIN.
    The LCD PIN screen displays.
  2. In the Old PIN box, type the old PIN.
    This is a four-digit number.
  3. In the New PIN box, type the new PIN.
    This must be a four-digit number.
  4. In the Confirm PIN box, retype the new PIN.
    It must match the PIN that you typed in the New PIN box.
  5. Click the Save button.

Granting Web UI access

You can restrict or allow access to the WANJet appliance's Web UI, and the SNMP reports residing on it, to specific WANJet appliances or subnets as follows:

  • Allow all addresses (default)
    Provide access to all WANJet appliances or subnets residing on the network.
  • Allow Listed Addresses
    Provide access to specified WANJet appliances or subnets.
  • Deny Listed Addresses
    Prevent access for specified WANJet appliances or subnets, while allowing access from all other WANJet appliances or subnets residing on the network.

Once configured, if a restricted WANJet appliance attempts to access the Web UI, the browser returns a 404: Page Not Found error.

Note

To ensure that only specific users access the Web UI, you can create a password for the Web UI and provide this password only to approved personnel. See Changing the Web UI password .

To allow specific IP addresses access to the Web UI

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Security and click IP Access Control.
    The WANJet IP Access Control screen displays.
  2. Select Allow Listed Addresses.
  3. In the box, specify IP addresses from which you want to allow access to the Web UI. At a minimum, specify the IP addresses for the following:
  4. Click the Save button.

To deny specific IP addresses access to the Web UI

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Security and click IP Access Control.
    The WANJet IP Access Control screen displays.
  2. Select Deny Listed Addresses.
  3. In the box, specify the addresses that you want to deny access to the Web UI.
  4. Click the Save button.

Time settings

Time management for the WANJet appliance involves setting the time zone and synchronizing all linked WANJet appliances. Synchronizing the time settings is one of the most frequent administrative management tasks that you perform.

The setting options include:

  • Timezone
    When you initially configure a WANJet appliance, you must set the time zone and the first day of the week.
  • Time Server
    With this option, you can choose a time server to use for automatic time synchronization for the WANJet appliances.
  • Time
    With this option, you can set the current time manually for the WANJet appliance.

Setting the time zone

Use the following procedure to set the time zone and the first day of the week for the WANJet appliance.

To set the time zone

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Configuration and click Time.
    The WANJet Time Settings screen displays.
  2. From the Current location menu in the Timezone section, choose the closest geographical location to your site.
  3. From the First Day of the Week menu, choose a day.
  4. Click the Change timezone button to save the changes.

Repeat these steps for every WANJet appliance in your network.

Synchronizing time automatically

You can use a specific time server to synchronize the WANJet appliances's time automatically. The IP addresses of several commonly used time servers are provided, or you can specify the address of another time server.

Note

For information about time servers, refer to www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/clock2a.html.

To use a time server to synchronize time automatically

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Configuration and click Time.
    The WANJet Time Settings screen displays.
  2. From the Host/Address menu in the Time Server section, choose the IP address for a commonly used time server.
    Alternatively, choose User Specified and in the box, type the IP address for a preferred time server.
  3. Click the Sync time button to save the changes.

Repeat these steps for every WANJet appliance in your network.

Setting the time manually

You can adjust the time on your WANJet appliances manually through the Web UI, instead of synchronizing with a time server.

To set the date and time manually

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Configuration and click Time.
    The WANJet Time Settings screen displays.
  2. From the current Day, Month, Year, Hour, Minute and Second menus in the Time section, choose the appropriate options.
  3. Click the Set time button to save the changes.

Repeat these steps for every WANJet appliance in your network.

Shutting down and restarting the WANJet appliance

Shutting down WANJet appliance stops all data processing. You can shut down or restart the WANJet appliance from the Web UI or the LCD panel.

Important

Notify your users before you shut down or restart a WANJet appliance, as network performance will be affected.

To shut down the WANJet appliance using the Web UI

  1. In the navigation pane, expand System and click Shutdown & Restart.
    The WANJet Shutdown & Restart screen displays.
  2. Click the Shutdown WANJet.
    A confirmation request appears.
  3. Click the OK button to shut down the WANJet appliance.

To shut down the WANJet appliance using the LCD panel

  1. On the front LCD panel of the WANJet appliance, press the X (Cancel) button to activate the main menu.
  2. Press the ¸ (Enter) button to display the Setup menu.
  3. From the menu, choose Shutdown.
  4. Press the ¸ (Enter) button.
    A confirmation message displays.
  5. Press the ¸ (Enter) button to shutdown the appliance, or press X to cancel and escape the menu sequence.
Note

You can turn off the WANJet appliance completely by pressing the On/Off button located on the back of the appliance, after you shut it down using the LCD panel.

To restart the WANJet appliance using the Web UI

  1. In the navigation pane, expand System and click Shutdown & Restart.
    The WANJet Shutdown & Restart screen displays.
  2. Click the Restart WANJet button.
    A confirmation message displays.
  3. Click the OK button to restart the WANJet appliance.

To restart the WANJet appliance using the LCD Panel

  1. On the front LCD panel of the WANJet appliance, press the X (Cancel) button to activate the main menu.
  2. Press the ¸ (Enter) button to display the Setup menu.
  3. From the menu, choose Restart.
  4. Press the ¸ (Enter) button.
    A confirmation message displays.
  5. Press ¸ to restart the WANJet appliance, or press X to cancel and escape the menu sequence.

Booting from an alternative image

You can have up to two WANJet appliance images on the same flash memory card. If something goes wrong with the first installation, you can boot from the alternative image.

Important

When you reboot from the second image, you must reconfigure all of the default WANJet appliance settings. The WANJet appliance does not work normally until you configured the changes. Therefore, before you complete the following steps, identify the required configuration changes and notify all network users.

To boot the WANJet appliance from the alternative WANJet image

  1. In the navigation pane, expand System and click Upgrade & Boot Menu.
    The WANJet Boot Menu screen displays the WANJet appliance's version and build number for each image. The active versions has a green button next to it and the inactive image has a red button next to it.
  2. Click the Make Active button next to the image you want to activate.
    A confirmation request displays.
  3. Click the Yes button.

Backup and recovery

F5 Networks recommends that you create backups of your current WANJet settings on a regular basis. You should also perform a backup before making any major changes to the settings. This makes it easy to restore the system in the event of a failure. Backing up your current content is one of the most frequent administrative management tasks that you perform.

To create a backup file of the current WANJet appliance settings

  1. In the navigation pane, expand System and click Backup & Restore.
    The WANJet Configuration Backup & Restore screen displays.
  2. Click the word here.
    The browser opens a File Download window for you to save the backup file to your local computer. This default backup file is Settings-<ServerName>.NTCL.
  3. Save the file to your local hard drive.
  4. Rename the backup file to identify the specific WANJet appliance you are backing up, and the current date.

To restore a saved backup of WAN Optimizer settings

  1. In the navigation pane, expand System and click Backup & Retstore.
    The WANJet Configuration Backup & Restore screen displays.
  2. From the WANJet Configuration Restore section, click the Browse button to locate the backup file that you want to upload. The WANJet appliance's backup files end with the extension .NTCL.
  3. Click the Upload button.
    The Web UI refreshes to the home page, and the backup settings are now in effect.

Upgrading the WANJet appliance software

You can easily upgrade the installed software on the WANJet appliance using the Web UI.

Important

Before you perform an upgrade, you must stop the current WANJet appliance processing session. F5 Networks recommends that you upgrade during a time that will be the least disruptive to network users. Before upgrading, inform all network users that the appliance will not be available.

To upgrade the WANJet appliance's software version

  1. Verify that a disk image of the new version of the WANJet software is accessible from the local computer on which you are viewing the Web UI (on CD-ROM, for example).
  2. In the navigation pane, expand System and click Upgrade & Boot Menu.
    The WANJet Boot Menu screen displays.
  3. Click the Upgrade button.
    A confirmation request displays.
  4. Click the OK button to continue.
  5. Click the Browse button and locate the upgrade file on your computer.
  6. Upload the upgrade file to the WANJet appliance.
  7. Click Upgrade WANJet.
    The WANJet appliance restarts automatically when the upgrade process is complete.