Users

Overview

Two user roles are available:

  • viewer for use in operational mode where the configuration cannot be changed, only commands to troubleshoot or monitor are available.

    This is the default role for new users.

  • admin for use in configuration mode, with full access.

Three user accounts are provided by default:

Account

Default password

Description

admin

admin

The standard account for configuration. It has the admin role.

viewer

viewer

A restricted account for monitoring purposes. It has the viewer role.

root

6windos

Provides the ability to log into the Linux subsystem as superuser. Note that any configuration or customization of the Virtual Service Router in this mode is out of the support scope, may break the system, and will be lost after an update.

Warning

For security reasons, it is recommended to change the default passwords of preconfigured users. See Changing Passwords.

Two default users are created when booting the system for the first time: admin and viewer. Their default passwords are admin and viewer, respectively.

The admin account has the admin role, which means that it has permissions to edit the configuration and run privileged commands.

The viewer acccount has the viewer role, which means that it has permissions to view the configuration but not to edit it and run standard commands.

Warning

For obvious security reasons, you MUST change the passwords of these users.

You may even want to completely disable the default admin and viewer users, by setting default-users-enabled to false:

vsr running config# system auth default-users-enabled false
vsr running config# commit
Configuration applied.

In this case, you must configure a user with the admin role, else you will lose access to the CLI.

Changing Passwords

CLI users

To change the admin user password, go in the system auth user admin context:

vsr running config# system auth user admin
vsr running user admin# password
Enter value for password> **********
vsr running user admin# commit
Configuration applied.

For security reasons, the password is not stored in clear-text in the configuration. A hash is stored instead.

vsr running user admin# show config
user admin
    password $5$Ndx/QlMS5Anp7LTq$Lws2OmAm0SO.cBmPBGtdpwnfdAM4hDM4AdSO4ncXjS/

It is also possible to directly set the password as a hashed value. To generate a hashed password on a Linux machine, use mkpasswd, which is provided in the whois package:

root@host:~# mkpasswd -m SHA-256
Password: **********
$5$Ndx/QlMS5Anp7LTq$Lws2OmAm0SO.cBmPBGtdpwnfdAM4hDM4AdSO4ncXjS/

root user

Changing the password for the root user is done through the Linux shell:

root@vsr:~# passwd
Enter new UNIX password: ********
Retype new UNIX password: ********
passwd: password updated successfully

Creating Users

To create a new user, go into the config system auth context, and add a new user with the following commands:

vsr running user admin# ..
vsr running auth# user john
vsr running user john# role admin
vsr running user john# password
Enter value for password> **********
vsr running user john# commit
Configuration applied.

Let’s display what has been sent to the NETCONF server:

vsr running user john# show config xml absolute
<config xmlns="urn:6wind:vrouter">
  <system xmlns="urn:6wind:vrouter/system">
    <auth xmlns="urn:6wind:vrouter/system/auth">
      <user>
        <name>john</name>
        <role>admin</role>
        <password>$5$iqsVCbCmIYRF.Sht$lCwP.HDLxtTnzz33uXX7ZdTR6xdSdnUoabRMxHYXjI9</password>
      </user>
    </auth>
  </system>
</config>

Now that the configuration is applied, let’s see the state of our user:

vsr running user john# show state
user john
    password $5$iqsVCbCmIYRF.Sht$lCwP.HDLxtTnzz33uXX7ZdTR6xdSdnUoabRMxHYXjI9
    role admin
    ..

The user john has the admin role. This means he can edit the configuration, read protected nodes (such as passwords) and run privileged commands.

Configuring SSH Authorized Keys

SSH authentication can be used to login to Virtual Service Router without a password.

This requires to configure one or more authorized-key.

Generating a key pair

First, you need to generate a key pair on a remote machine.

user@my-laptop:~$ ssh-keygen -t ecdsa
Generating public/private ecdsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/user/.ssh/id_ecdsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): ********
Enter same passphrase again: ********
Your identification has been saved in /home/user/.ssh/id_ecdsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/user/.ssh/id_ecdsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:UrMHdqPxmoeV8DNYRtL0Il5cWAFfzZn7PHy4j2enH5A robobuild@ubuntu1604es
The key's randomart image is:
+---[ECDSA 256]---+
|        .o+++..oo|
|         +o+ . oo|
|        O O o   .|
|       + ^ +  .. |
|      . S O  E.o.|
|       . * o  oo+|
|        + .    oo|
|         .    ..=|
|              o*+|
+----[SHA256]-----+

Configuring an authorized-key for CLI users

Copy the public key file contents into the configuration:

user@my-laptop:~$ cat ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa.pub
ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNTYAAABBBH2hK42JHtTYU1XRw2Zu4xCriM7CIXBl19p1/1qkapobkS6yCnwauqTEveBw1GOjwuTADvqQVozBoaLbY3KGmsI= user@my-laptop

vsr running user john# authorized-key "ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNTYAAABBBH2hK42JHtTYU1XRw2Zu4xCriM7CIXBl19p1/1qkapobkS6yCnwauqTEveBw1GOjwuTADvqQVozBoaLbY3KGmsI= user@my-laptop"
vsr running user john# commit
Configuration applied.

Warning

NEVER copy the private key contents. Only the PUBLIC key.

Configuring an authorized-key for root user

This is done from the Linux shell. Copy the public key file contents into the /root/.ssh/authorized_keys file:

user@my-laptop:~$ cat ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa.pub
ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNTYAAABBBH2hK42JHtTYU1XRw2Zu4xCriM7CIXBl19p1/1qkapobkS6yCnwauqTEveBw1GOjwuTADvqQVozBoaLbY3KGmsI= user@my-laptop

root@vsr:~# cat >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNTYAAABBBH2hK42JHtTYU1XRw2Zu4xCriM7CIXBl19p1/1qkapobkS6yCnwauqTEveBw1GOjwuTADvqQVozBoaLbY3KGmsI= user@my-laptop
<Ctrl+D>
root@vsr:~# chmod 600 /root/.ssh/authorized_keys

Checking the connection

After which you may check that the remote authentication works without a password:

user@my-laptop:~$ ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa john@vsr
The authenticity of host 'vsr (10.0.0.58)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:nNerPB16BKwHmcex5IVKS7YMVt4VuaVavH3LId7uI6Q.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'vsr,10.0.0.58' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
Enter passphrase for key '/home/user/.ssh/id_ecdsa': ********
Welcome to Virtual Service Router - 3.5

vsr>

Note

If you did set a passphrase on your private key, you will need to enter it.

See also

The command reference for details.