Multiple Credential Support

Site24x7 uses SNMP to pull data from the devices and communicates with them. Network discovery is simplified with multiple credentials support as it brings down the discovery process to a single step.

Table of contents

• Managing Network Credentials
• Adding a Credential
• Editing / Deleting a Credential
• Testing Device Credentials
• Bulk Update Device Credentials
• Sharing common credentials across devices
• Adding multiple credentials

Managing Network Credentials

1. Log in your Site24x7 account.
2. Click Network > Network Credentials.

You can add credential, edit/delete credential and test device credential from this view.

Adding a credential

Add the right credentials to your network devices and read the data at times of need.

1. Click Network > Network Credentials.
2. Click on the Add Credential button located at the top right corner.
3. In the add credentials screen, select the type of your credential: SNMP v1/v2, SNMP v3, SSH, Telnet, or Windows/WMI. Enter the following corresponding to the credential type you've chosen.

SNMP v1/v2

1. 1. Display Name: Provide a name to identify the credentials. Credential name cannot include a space or special characters.
   2. Description: Enter a short description to define and differentiate between different credentials.
   3. SNMP Read: Enter your SNMP read-only community string.
   4. SNMP Write: Enter your SNMP read-write community string.
   5. SNMP Port: Enter the port that should be used for SNMP communication.
   6. SNMP Timeout (in seconds): Specify the time Site24x7 should wait for the SNMP response.
   7. SNMP Retries: Choose the number of times a request should be sent when a timeout occurs.
   8. Click Save Credential.

SNMP v3

1. 1. Display Name: Provide a name to identify the credentials.
   2. Description: Provide a short description to define and differentiate between different credentials.
   3. Username: Enter the SNMP v3 username.
   4. Context Name: Enter the context name. This is an octet string that has at least one piece of management information. Within an administrative domain, contextID uniquely identifies an SNMP entity that may recognize an instance of a context with a particular context name.
   5. Authentication Protocol: Choose the protocol used for authentication, i.e, the protocol that checks the integrity of the transferred data. MD5 and SHA are processes which are used for generating authentication/privacy keys in SNMPv3 applications.
   6. Authentication Password: Enter the chosen protocol's auth password.
   7. Encryption Protocol: Choose the protocol used for data encryption.
   8. Encryption Password: Enter the encryption protocol's password.
   9. SNMP Port: Enter the port that should be used for SNMP communication.
   10. SNMP Timeout (in seconds): Specify the time Site24x7 should wait for the SNMP response.
   11. SNMP Retries: Choose the number of times a request should be sent when a timeout occurs.
   12. Click Save Credential.

SSH/Telnet 

1. 1. Display Name: Provide a name to identify the credentials.
   2. Description: Provide a short description to define and differentiate between different credentials.
   3. Username: Enter the Secure Shell or Telnet username.
   4. Password: Enter the SSH or Telnet password.
   5. Port: Enter the port number to connect to the device using SSH or Telnet.
   6. Timeout (in seconds): Specify the time Site24x7 should wait for the SSH or Telnet response.
   7. Enter the details like Prompt, Login Prompt, Password Prompt, Enable Username, Enable Password, Enable Command, and Enable Prompt.
   8. Toggle to Yes if Additional Parameters are Required and enter them as well. Enter the Login Prefix Prompt, Login Prefix, Enable Username Prompt, and Enable Password Prompt for your respective credentials by referring the screenshot below.
   9. Click Save Credential.

Windows/WMI

1. 1. Display Name: Provide a name to identify the credentials.
   2. Description: Provide a short description to define and differentiate between different credentials.
   3. Domain Name\User Name: Enter the user name in the format DOMAIN\username. This is to specify the domain user.
   4. Password: Enter the appropriate password.
   5. Click Save Credential. 

Editing/Deleting a Credential 

If you want to edit or delete a credential, it is as simple as adding one.

1. In the Network Credentials screen, click on the (Edit icon) or  (Delete icon).
2. Mention the specifics as above.
3. Click Save credentials.

Testing Device Credentials

If a configuration error is notified or if device discovery fails because of incorrect credentials, or you just want to check the correctness of your credential, just test the credentials.

1. In the Network Credential view,  click Test now against the credential you want to test.
2. Select the Device list.
3. Click Test device credential.
   
4. If the test is a success, associate the credential to the device (if it is not associated already.)
   
5. If the test is a failure, edit the existing credential or add a new one and try again.
   

Bulk Update Device Credentials

The process of updating device credentials for multiple devices individually is in real, a tedious process. Understanding this, Site24x7 has come up with an option to update device credentials for multiple devices in a single go using "Bulk update device credentials" option.

1. Click Network > Settings > Quick links > Bulk update device credential.
2. Select the Device list and Credential from the drop down.
3. Click Bulk update.

Sharing common credentials across devices

In general, it is obvious that similar devices share common credentials. In that case, entering the same credentials separately for different devices wouldn't be a task of ease. Here, Site24x7 provides the flexibility of creating common credentials and sharing them among multiple devices. Thus, when all the credentials are added during network discovery, all the corresponding devices that are mapped to the credential in that network get automatically added for monitoring.

Adding Multiple Credentials

Multiple Credential support allows the usage of any number of credentials in network discovery. Using this feature, you can use all the credentials for network discovery at one go, thus discover all the corresponding monitors at once. It avoids the process of rediscovering the network, again and again, using different credentials.
 
Any infrastructure can be monitored using all the credentials mentioned above and can be added at once. Simply select the desired credentials when prompted.