Reference: User Administration menu

Use TanOS to manage user accounts on the Tanium appliance. Users with the tanadmin role can manage two types of user accounts:

  • Use the System Users menu to manage TanOS system users. These user accounts can access the TanOS console, but not the Tanium™ Console. This includes the predefined TanOS users tanadmin, tancopy, tanfactory, and tanuser. For more information on the predefined TanOS user accounts, see Configure user access (physical appliance) or Configure user access (virtual appliance).
  • Use the System Users menu to manage TanOS system users. These user accounts can access the TanOS console, but not the Tanium™ Console. This includes the predefined TanOS users tanadmin, tancopy, and tanuser. For more information on the predefined TanOS user accounts, see Configure user access.
  • Use the Local Authentication menu to manage Tanium users who can access the Tanium Console through a web browser. These user accounts cannot access the TanOS console. TanOS hosts a local authentication service that you can use for Tanium Console user authentication. In addition, you can use your enterprise LDAP server to manage Tanium Console authentication. For details on using LDAP, see the Tanium Core Platform User Guide.

Change TanOS user passwords

The TanOS special users tanadmin and tanuser can make password-authenticated SSH connections to the TanOS console.

Change the tanadmin password

Use these steps to reset the password for the current tanadmin user. To change the password for another tanadmin user, see Manage system users.

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

    The TanOS console displays the tanadmin menu. ClosedView screen

  2. Enter P and follow the prompts to change the password. ClosedView screen

After the password changes, you are logged out.

Reset the tanuser password

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter 1 and follow the prompts to reset the password. ClosedView screen

Reset the tanfactory password

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter 2 and follow the prompts to reset the password. ClosedView screen

Manage SSH keys

The installation process generates a public/private SSH key pair for the tanadmin user. Use the SSH Key Management menu to perform the following functions:

  • Regenerate the key pair.
  • Generate keys for the other TanOS special users.
  • Add authorized keys to support inbound user connections.
  • Display the public key so you can copy and paste it into other appliance configurations.

You can use ssh-copy-id to add an SSH public key to any TanOS user with the tanadmin profile.

Before you begin

  • You must have an SSH client to log into the TanOS console and an SFTP client such as WinSCP to copy files to and from the appliance.
  • You must have an SSH key generator such as ssh-keygen to generate keys for the user.

Generate keys

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter 3 to display the SSH Key Management menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter the line number of the user account that you want to manage to display the key management menu for this user. ClosedView screen
  5. Enter 1 to generate a public/private key pair. ClosedView screen

Add authorized keys

  1. Use an SSH key generator such as ssh-keygen to generate a public/private key pair. Note:
    • Specify an RSA key with 2048 bits (such as ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048).
    • Specify a passphrase that is easy to remember.
    • Save the private key to a location that you can access when you set up your SFTP client.
  2. Copy all of the text in the public key file to the clipboard. If you use ssh-keygen, copy the contents of the .pub file that you created.

    In an SSH key exchange, the keys must match exactly.

  3. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  4. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  5. Enter 3 to display the SSH Key Management menu. ClosedView screen
  6. Enter the line number for the tancopy user to display the key management menu for this user. ClosedView screen
  7. Enter 3 to display the Authorized Keys menu. ClosedView screen
  8. Enter 2 and follow the prompts to add the contents of the public key generated in Step 1. ClosedView screen

Display public keys

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter 3 to display the SSH Key Management menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter the line number for the tancopy user to display the key management menu for this user. ClosedView screen
  5. Enter 2 to display the public key. ClosedView screen

Configure TanOS system users

You can create TanOS users that have permissions equivalent to tanadmin or tanuser system users. The system users with the tanadmin role have access to all menus. System users with the tanuser role have access to status menus.

Add a system user

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

Disable password access

You can disable password access for any user except the tanadmin special user. When you disable password access for a user, the user can only log in through SSH using the configured SSH private key.

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter A to display the System Users menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter 2 to manage the system users. ClosedView screen
  5. Enter the line item of the user that you want to manage to display the User menu. ClosedView screen
  6. Enter K and follow the prompts to disable password access for the user. ClosedView screen

Enable password access

Password access is enabled by default. If you disable password access for a user and want to re-enable password access, perform the following steps.

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter A to display the System Users menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter 2 to manage the system users. ClosedView screen
  5. Enter the line item of the user that you want to manage to display the User menu. ClosedView screen
  6. Enter P to enable password access.
    • If you enable the password for the current user, choose a password.
    • If you enable password access for another user, TanOS generates a random password. ClosedView screen

Manage system users

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter A to display the System Users menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter 2 to manage the system users. ClosedView screen
  5. Enter the line item of the user that you want to manage to display the User menu. ClosedView screen
  6. Use the menu to delete the user, reset or enable the password, manage SSH keys, disable password access, enable/disable the account, or delete entries from the known_hosts file for the user.

View history of logins

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter A to display the System Users menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Use options A, B, and C to view the login history.

Configure the local authentication service

You can use the local authentication service to set up Tanium Console user accounts for demo or testing purposes.

For best results, configure the Tanium Console to use an external LDAP server to authenticate Tanium users. For details, see the Tanium Core Platform User Guide. Additionally, if you plan to use the local authentication service with the Tanium LDAP Sync connector, you must use the following user filter in the LDAP Sync Connector configuration:

(&(objectClass=person)(uidNumber>=20000))

The Local Authentication Service menu is available only after you install the Tanium Server on the appliance.

Add a local user

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter B to go to the Local Authentication Service menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter 1 and follow the prompts to add a local user. ClosedView screen

Set a user password

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter B to display the Local Authentication Service menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter 2 to display the Manage Local Users menu. ClosedView screen
  5. Enter the user line number to display the User menu. ClosedView screen
  6. Enter 2 and follow the prompts to set the user password. ClosedView screen

Delete a user

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter B to display the Local Authentication Service menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter 2 to display the Manage Local Users menu. ClosedView screen
  5. Enter the user line number to display the User menu. ClosedView screen
  6. Enter 1 and follow the prompts to delete the user.

Disable the local authentication service

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter B to display the Local Authentication menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter A and follow the prompts to enable or disable the local authentication service. ClosedView screen

Although the Tanium Console contains a soap_enable_local_auth global setting to disable local authentication, that setting is not supported for Tanium Appliance installations.

Modify the local authentication service security policy

The local authentication service security policy has the following default settings.

Setting Factory Default Description
Password Minimum Age (days) 1 The minimum number of days between password changes. A value of 0 indicates the password can be changed at any time. Valid range is 0-20.
Password Maximum Age (days) 90 The age at which a current password expires. A value of 0 indicates the password does not expire. Valid range is 0-360.
Password Minimum Length 10 The minimum number of characters allowed in a password. Valid range is 0-30.
Password History 5 The number of most recent passwords that a user cannot reuse. A setting of 0 allows reuse of any previous passwords. Valid range is 0-10.
Password Lockout True True locks out a user with an expired password. False forces the user to change the password.
Password Maximum Failure 5 The number of failed attempts before a user is locked out. A setting of 0 allows unlimited failed attempts. Valid range is 0-10.

To modify the default settings:

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter B to display the Local Authentication Service menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter B to display the Security Policy Local Authentication Service menu. ClosedView screen
  5. Follow the prompts to modify the settings.

Enable tanremote user

The tanremote user can log into the iDRAC virtual console to diagnose hardware and network interface issues in the event the TanOS system becomes unavailable. The tanremote user is not a TanOS user or a Tanium Console user.

Before you begin

You must use a cable to connect the iDRAC interface to your network and use TanOS to configure the iDRAC interface IP address before you enable the tanremote user. See Configure the iDRAC interface.

Enable the tanremote user

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.
  2. Enter C to display the User Administration menu.
  3. Enter X to display the Advanced User menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter 1 and use the Password Change menu to change the password of the tanremote user. Do this first, even though the user is disabled. ClosedView screen
  5. Enter 2 and follow the prompts to enable the tanremote user. ClosedView screen

Access the iDRAC virtual console

You can access the iDRAC virtual console at http://<iDRAC interface IP address>. Login in with username tanremote and the password that was set with this procedure.