HPE6-A78 Exam Dumps - HP Aruba-ACNSA Questions and Answers

ArubaOS-Switches can use sFlow technology to sample network traffic and send the samples to a collector, such as ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM), for analysis. sFlow can be configured to capture various types of traffic, including HTTP, which typically contains User-Agent strings that can be used for device fingerprinting and classification.

To support the requirement for using HTTP User-Agent strings to classify endpoints, the switches would need to be configured to send sFlow samples containing HTTP traffic to CPPM. CPPM would then analyze these samples and use the User-Agent strings to classify the devices.

Therefore, the correct action to configure ArubaOS-Switches would involve:

Configuring CPPM as the sFlow collector on the switches.

Enabling sFlow on the edge ports that connect to endpoints.

This approach allows the network traffic to be analyzed by CPPM without requiring any additional mirroring or redirection of traffic, which would be resource-intensive and potentially disruptive to network performance.

The image indicates that there is an issue with the user role assignment, which is key to network access in ArubaOS. If the user role name sent by CPPM doesn't match any of the roles defined in the ArubaOS, then the user will be assigned a default or incorrect role that does not have the necessary permissions, thus leading to the connection errors and lack of Internet access. Ensuring that the role names are consistent between CPPM and ArubaOS can resolve this issue.

To meet the requirements for configuring an ArubaOS-CX switch for integration with ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM), it is necessary to set the AAA authentication login method for SSH to use the “radius” server-group, with “local” as a backup. This ensures that when an admin attempts to SSH into the switch, the authentication request is first sent to CPPM via RADIUS. If CPPM is unavailable, the switch will fall back to using local authentication12.

Here’s why the other options are not correct:

Option B is incorrect because configuring a CPPM username and password on the switch that matches a CPPM admin account is not required for SSH login; rather, the switch needs to be configured to communicate with CPPM for authentication.

Option C is incorrect because while CPPM will send Aruba-Admin-Role Vendor-Specific Attributes (VSAs), the switch does not need to have port-access roles created with the same names; it needs to interpret the VSA to assign the correct role.

Option D is incorrect because disabling SSH on the default VRF and enabling it on the mgmt VRF is not related to the authentication process with CPPM.

Therefore, the correct answer is A, as setting the AAA authentication login method for SSH to the “radius” server-group with “local” as backup is a key step in ensuring that the switch can authenticate admins through CPPM while providing a fallback method12.

When vulnerabilities are identified in systems, it is crucial for administrators to act immediately to mitigate the risk of exploitation by attackers. The appropriate response involves applying fixes, such as software patches or configuration changes, to close the vulnerability. This proactive approach is necessary to protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of the system resources and data. It's important to prioritize these actions based on the severity and exploitability of the vulnerability to ensure that the most critical issues are addressed first.

If Access-Reject records are not showing up in the CPPM Access Tracker, one action you can take is to ensure that the CPPM cluster settings are configured to display Access-Rejects. Cluster-wide settings in CPPM can affect which records are visible in Access Tracker. Ensuring that these settings are correctly configured will allow you to view all relevant authentication records, including Access-Rejects.

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) relies on a trusted root Certification Authority (CA) to issue certificates. Devices and users must trust the root CA for the PKI to be effective. If a root CA certificate is not pre-installed or manually chosen to be trusted on a device, any certificates issued by that CA will not be inherently trusted by the device.

In the context of an Aruba Mobility Controller (MC) configuration, a client will receive the default role assignment if they have passed 802.1X authentication and the authentication server did not send an Aruba-User-Role Vendor Specific Attribute (VSA). The default role is assigned by the MC when a client successfully authenticates but the authentication server provides no specific role instruction. This behavior ensures that a client is not left without any role assignment, which could potentially lead to a lack of network access or access control. This default role assignment mechanism is part of Aruba's role-based access control, as documented in the ArubaOS user guide and best practices.

In this scenario, a new HPE Aruba Networking Mobility Controller (MC) and campus APs (CAPs) are deployed, with a WLAN configured for 802.1X authentication using HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) as the RADIUS server. A client test fails, and no record of the authentication attempt appears in ClearPass Access Tracker. However, a ping from the MC to CPPM is successful, confirming basic network connectivity between the MC and CPPM.

The absence of a record in Access Tracker indicates that CPPM did not receive the RADIUS authentication request from the MC, or the request was rejected at a low level before being logged in Access Tracker. Access Tracker typically logs all RADIUS authentication attempts (successful or failed), so the lack of a record suggests a configuration or connectivity issue at the RADIUS level.

Option C, "Check CPPM Event Viewer," is correct. The CPPM Event Viewer logs system-level events, including RADIUS-related errors that might not appear in Access Tracker. For example, if the MC’s IP address is not configured as a Network Access Device (NAD) in CPPM, or if the shared secret between the MC and CPPM does not match, CPPM may reject the RADIUS request before it reaches Access Tracker. The Event Viewer will log such errors (e.g., "RADIUS authentication attempt from unknown NAD"), providing insight into why the request was not processed.

Option A, "Renew CPPM's RADIUS/EAP certificate," is incorrect because the issue is that CPPM did not receive or process the authentication request (no record in Access Tracker). If there were a certificate issue (e.g., an expired or untrusted certificate), the request would still reach CPPM, and Access Tracker would log a failure with a certificate-related error.

Option B, "Check connectivity between CPPM and a backend directory server," is incorrect because the issue occurs before CPPM processes the authentication request. If CPPM cannot contact a backend directory server (e.g., Active Directory), the authentication attempt would still be logged in Access Tracker with a failure reason related to the directory server.

Option D, "Reset the user credentials," is incorrect because the issue is not related to the user’s credentials. The authentication request never reached CPPM, so the credentials were not evaluated.

The HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager 6.11 User Guide states:

"If an authentication attempt does not appear in Access Tracker, it indicates that the RADIUS request was not received by ClearPass or was rejected at a low level before being logged. The Event Viewer (Monitoring > Event Viewer) should be checked for system-level errors, such as ‘RADIUS authentication attempt from unknown NAD’ or shared secret mismatches. For example, if the Network Access Device (NAD) IP address of the Mobility Controller is not configured in ClearPass, or if the shared secret does not match, the request will be dropped, and an error will be logged in the Event Viewer." (Page 301, Troubleshooting RADIUS Issues Section)

Additionally, the HPE Aruba Networking AOS-8 8.11 User Guide notes:

"When troubleshooting 802.1X authentication issues, verify that the Mobility Controller can communicate with the RADIUS server. If a ping is successful but no authentication records appear in the RADIUS server’s logs (e.g., ClearPass Access Tracker), check the RADIUS server’s system logs (e.g., ClearPass Event Viewer) for errors related to NAD configuration or shared secret mismatches." (Page 498, Troubleshooting 802.1X Authentication Section)

In SNMPv3, security is paramount and each SNMP entity (client or agent) needs to have a user with a security name (username) and optionally, a security level which determines whether authentication and encryption are used. When configuring SNMPv3 users on network infrastructure devices, it is essential to match the username, authentication (auth) algorithm, authentication key (auth key), privacy (priv) algorithm, and privacy key (priv key) exactly as they are configured on the SNMP server to ensure successful communication.

This is because the SNMPv3 security model relies on a combination of a username and a pair of keys (authentication and privacy keys) to uniquely identify and secure communication between the agent and the manager. The keys are used to verify the integrity (auth key) and confidentiality (priv key) of the messages. Using the same algorithms ensures that the messages can be properly encrypted and decrypted on both ends.

HPE Aruba Networking AOS-CX switches support TACACS+ for administrative authentication, where ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) can act as the TACACS+ server. When an admin authenticates, CPPM sends a TACACS+ response that includes attributes such as the TACACS+ privilege level and vendor-specific attributes (VSAs) like Aruba-Priv-Admin-User.

In this scenario, CPPM sends:

TACACS+ privilege level = 15: In TACACS+, privilege level 15 is the highest level and typically grants full administrative access (equivalent to a superuser or administrator role).

Aruba-Priv-Admin-User = 1: This Aruba-specific VSA indicates that the user should be granted the highest level of administrative access on the switch.

On AOS-CX switches, the privilege level 15 maps to the administrator role, which provides full read-write access to all switch functions. The Aruba-Priv-Admin-User = 1 attribute reinforces this by explicitly assigning the admin role, ensuring the user has unrestricted access.

Option A, "The user receives auditors access," is incorrect because auditors typically have read-only access, which corresponds to a lower privilege level (e.g., 1 or 3) on AOS-CX switches.

Option B, "The user receives no access," is incorrect because the authentication was successful, and CPPM sent a response granting access with privilege level 15.

Option D, "The user receives operators access," is incorrect because operators typically have a lower privilege level (e.g., 5 or 7), which provides limited access compared to an administrator.

The HPE Aruba Networking AOS-CX 10.12 Security Guide states:

"When using TACACS+ for administrative authentication, the switch interprets the privilege level returned by the TACACS+ server. A privilege level of 15 maps to the administrator role, granting full read-write access to all switch functions. The Aruba-Priv-Admin-User VSA, when set to 1, explicitly assigns the admin role, ensuring the user has unrestricted access." (Page 189, TACACS+ Authentication Section)

Additionally, the HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager 6.11 User Guide notes:

"ClearPass can send the Aruba-Priv-Admin-User VSA in a TACACS+ response to specify the administrative role on Aruba devices. A value of 1 indicates the admin role, which provides full administrative privileges." (Page 312, TACACS+ Enforcement Section)