Completing the initial setup (hardware appliances)

You must configure basic network, host, and user settings, and you must upload a license file to activate the appliance, before you can install a Tanium Appliance role.

Requirements

Configure temporary bootstrap network settings

The Tanium Appliance Quick Start Guide describes how to install the appliance into a machine room and configure bootstrap network settings so that you can make a remote SSH connection and complete the setup and appliance role installation from your desk. The Quick Start steps are repeated here to give context to the starting point for your initial workflows. You do not need to complete them twice.

Before you begin

• Connect a keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) to the console port.
• Obtain an IPv4 address from your network administrator and be prepared to specify the IP address, subnet mask (dotted-decimal), and default gateway IP address.

Configure the temporary settings

1. Power on the appliance.

   The boot and start-up processes take a few minutes.

2. When prompted to log in, specify the user name tanuser and the default password Tanium1.
3. When prompted, indicate that you want to configure temporary settings.
4. Specify the IPv4 address, subnet mask, and default gateway IP address.

   The TanOS console confirms that the settings are applied and logs you out.

Remote access to TanOS

Network and host settings enable the appliance to establish connections with other computers in your local network and with other servers and hosts on the Internet. Specify appropriate settings for the network in which the appliance is deployed.

• Your local "management computer" must be connected to a subnet that can reach the appliance IP address.
• Your management computer must have an SSH client application or terminal emulator that can make a client connection to the appliance.
• You must have an SSH client such as PuTTY to log into the TanOS console. For PuTTY, use version 0.71 or later.
• You must have an SSH key generator such as PuTTYgen to generate keys for the tancopy user.
• You must have an SFTP client such as WinSCP to copy files to and from the appliance. For WinSCP, use version 5.15.2 or later.

Watch the tutorial on setting up WinSCP for the Tanium Appliance on the Tanium Community website.

Configure network and host settings

1. Make an SSH connection to the appliance IP address that was configured in the previous step.

2. When prompted to log in, specify the user name tanadmin and the default password Tanium1.
3. When prompted, indicate that you want to complete the initial configuration.
4. Use the spacebar to page through the end-user license agreement (EULA); enter your email address to accept it.

   The email address is stored locally only. It is not used externally for any reason.

5. Specify network and host configuration settings. Time zone is set to UTC automatically.
6. When prompted, specify whether you want to enable and configure the tanfactory user. The tanfactory user is a special account that has one capability—performing a factory reset.
7. When prompted, enter the one-time password that is displayed on the screen for the tanadmin and tanuser users.
8. Make a note of the one-time password. You must provide it the next time you log in. At that time, you will be prompted to specify a new password.

   The console displays a notice that the initial configuration workflow has been completed and that the session will be terminated.

Configure user access

TanOS has a few built-in user accounts that you use to access the appliance operating system and perform tasks.

Before you install a Tanium Appliance role, you must configure new passwords or add SSH keys to authenticate access for the following accounts:

• tanuser: Can make an SSH connection with SSH key authentication or password authentication to the TanOS console and access temporary settings and status menus only.
• tanadmin: Can make an SSH connection with SSH key authentication or password authentication to the TanOS console and access all menus. Any user with the tanadmin role is a highest-level administrator in TanOS.
• tancopy: Can make an SFTP connection with SSH key authentication to TanOS and copy files to and from the /incoming and /outgoing directories.

Tanium strongly recommends that you set up both SSH key authentication and password authentication for TanOS user accounts. TanOS does not support self-service password reset methods. If you forget your password, you must ask a tanadmin user to reset it for you. If all tanadmin users are locked out, you must log in as the tanfactory user and perform a factory reset. You can avoid this risk by setting up both authentication types.

Watch the tutorial on configuring SSH key authentication for the Tanium Appliance on the Tanium Community website.

Before you begin

• Be ready to specify new passwords for the tanuser and tanadmin accounts. The password string must be at least 10 characters long and have at least 1 uppercase character, 1 lowercase character, 1 numeric character, and 1 nonalphanumeric character.
• You must have an SSH client to log into the TanOS console and an SFTP client to copy files to and from the appliance.
• You must have an SSH key generator to generate keys for the tancopy user.

Change the default passwords

1. Open an SSH connection to the TanOS console as tanadmin and then follow the prompts to change the password.

   To complete the change, the session is terminated.

2. Open an SSH connection to the TanOS console as tanuser and then follow the prompts to change the password.

   To complete the change, the session is terminated.

Add SSH keys

You must set up an SSH key for the tancopy user. Tanium strongly recommends that you set up both password authentication and SSH key authentication for TanOS user accounts.

Add SSH keys for the tancopy user

You must set up an SSH key for the tancopy user. The SSH key is used when you transfer files via SFTP to the /incoming and /outgoing directories.

1. Use an SSH key generator such as PuTTYgen to generate a public/private key pair. Note:
   • Specify an RSA key with 2048 bits.
   • Specify a passphrase that is easy to remember.
   • Save the private key to a location you can access later when you set up your SFTP client.
2. In PuTTYgen, select all of the text in the Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file box and copy it to the clipboard.

   In an SSH key exchange, the keys must match precisely as expected, including line endings. For this reason, the PuTTy documentation recommends loading the key in PuTTYgen and copying it from the Public key for pasting... box instead of copying it from an open file.

3. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.

   The TanOS console displays the tanadmin menu.

4. Enter C to go to the User Administration menu.
5. Enter 3 to go to the SSH Key Management menu.
6. Enter the line number for the tancopy user to display the key management menu for this user.
7. Enter 3 to go to the Authorized Keys menu.
8. Enter 2 and then follow the prompts to paste the public key generated in Step 1.
9. To test it, on your management computer, set up an SFTP client such as WinSCP to connect to the Tanium Server appliance:
   1. Specify tancopy for user name.
   2. Click the Advanced button.
   3. Under SSH, browse and select the private key that pairs with the public key uploaded to the appliance.
   4. Save the configuration and click Login to initiate the connection.

   You should be able to connect to the appliance /incoming and /outgoing directories.

You might see permission denied messages because WinSCP attempts to read the listing of the /incoming directory. This is expected. The user tancopy has permission to write to /incoming but not read /incoming.

Add SSH keys for TanOS users

Tanium strongly recommends that you set up both password authentication and SSH key authentication for TanOS user accounts.

1. Use an SSH key generator such as PuTTYgen to generate a public/private key pair. Note:
   • Specify an RSA key with 2048 bits.
   • Specify a passphrase that is easy to remember.
   • Save the private key to a location you can access later when you set up your SSH client.
2. In PuTTYgen, select all of the text in the Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file box and copy it to the clipboard.

   In an SSH key exchange, the keys must match precisely as expected, including line endings. For this reason, the PuTTy documentation recommends loading the key in PuTTYgen and copying it from the Public key for pasting... box instead of copying it from an open file.

3. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
4. From the tanadmin menu, enter C to go to the User Administration menu.
5. Enter 3 to go to the SSH Key Management menu.
6. Enter the line number for the tanadmin user to display the key management menu for this user.
7. Enter 3 to go to the Authorized Keys menu.
8. Enter 2 and then follow the prompts to paste the public key generated in Step 1.
9. To test it, on your management computer, set up an SSH client such as PuttyGen to connect to the Tanium Server appliance:
   1. Specify the Tanium Server IP address, port 22, and SSH connection type.
   2. Under SSH, browse and select the private key that pairs with the public key uploaded to the appliance.
   3. Open the SSH session and enter the tanadmin username.
   4. You are prompted for the SSH key passphrase instead of the tanadmin password.

Upload the license file

After you complete the initial network configuration, you are prompted to upload a valid Tanium license file or request an activation key from Tanium.

Before you begin

• Obtain a valid license from your Tanium technical account manager (TAM). The same license file is used to activate all of the Tanium appliances in your deployment. Your TAM must know the fully qualified domain names (FQDN) for each of them in order to generate your license file.
• You can activate an appliance with a license file if:
• The license file is named tanium.license.
• The license is not expired.
• The FQDN that was specified in the Tanium license generator matches the FQDN of the appliance.
• You must have added the public key for the tancopy user to the appliance so you can use SFTP to upload the license file.

Upload the license file

1. On your management computer, set up an SFTP client such as WinSCP to connect to the appliance.
2. Use SFTP to copy your license file (tanium.license) to the /incoming directory on the appliance.

TanOS detects the license and copies it to the appropriate location in order to activate the appliance.

When you go to the main menu, the activation notice no longer displays.

Export the RAID controller security key

The RAID controller security key is used by the controller to lock and unlock access to encryption-capable physical disks. You can export the key and store it in a safe location. During recovery from controller failure, you will need to provide the key. When you run a Health Check, you might see messages alerting you to export the RAID controller security key.

1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
2. From the tanadmin menu, enter A to display the Appliance Configuration menu.
3. Enter X and follow the prompts to display the Advanced Configuration menu.
4. Enter 5 to display the Export Security Key menu.
5. When prompted to enter maintenance mode, enter Yes.
6. Follow the prompts to export the RAID controller security key to the /outgoing directory.
7. Exit Maintenance Mode:
   • From the Maintenance Mode menu, enter 2 and follow the prompts to toggle off Maintenance Mode.
8. Use SFTP to copy the file from the /outgoing directory to your local computer.

Files copied to the /outgoing directory are deleted every day at 02:00 AM. It is, therefore, of critical importance that you copy the RAID controller security key file from the /outgoing directory to your local computer immediately after you have used the TanOS menu to export it and save it in a protected location. If you lose the RAID controller key file, you can return to the Advanced Menu and select option 4 to change the RAID controller key.

The default name of the RAID controller key file is TanOS-key-controller-Cfg.tgz. It is recommended to change the name to include the hostname or serial number of the appliance it came from before you store it. You likely have more than one appliance, so a name based on unique hostname or serial number is useful if you later need to locate the correct file.

Export the grub key

The grub key can be used during the boot sequence to diagnose and recover from failure conditions. You can export the key and store it in a safe location. During recovery, you will need to provide the key.

1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
2. From the tanadmin menu, enter A to display the Appliance Configuration menu.
3. Enter X and follow the prompts to display the Advanced Configuration menu.
4. Enter 6 and follow the prompts to export the grub key to the /outgoing directory.
5. Use SFTP to copy the file from the /outgoing directory to your local computer.

Add TanOS system users

Create additional TanOS system users based on tanadmin (privileged) and tanuser (restricted) profiles. It is useful to have more than one privileged user in case you forget the password for the initial tanadmin user.

1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
2. From the tanadmin menu, enter C to go to the User Administration menu.
3. Enter A to go to the System Users menu.
4. Enter 1 and follow the prompts to add a system user.

What to do next

• To save time, Tanium recommends you complete advanced network configuration, such as NIC teaming and static routes, before you install Tanium servers. See Reference: Appliance configuration.
• When these steps are completed, or if none of them apply, you can continue with the installation of a Tanium role (for example, All-in-One, Tanium Server, Tanium Module Server, or Tanium Zone Server).