Managing user authentication with smart cards or digital certificates
You can use smart cards or certificates for user validation with a remote user domain. This authentication method is not available for local users.
Note:
Smart card authentication does not apply for users who have configured multifactor authentication.
Note the following prerequisites for smart card authentication:
DNS must be configured on the appliance.
The remote users who are associated with the smart cards or digital certificates must be imported to the appliance.
See Importing a remote user or user group to the Flex Appliance Console.
If the remote user domain is connected to a global catalog server, users from any domain in the forest can sign in with a smart card or certificate. Import users from other domains in the format
DOMAIN\name.Cohesity recommends that the appliance date and time are set using NTP.
Follow these steps to configure user authentication with smart cards or digital certificates or to edit an existing configuration.
To configure or edit smart card authentication
- Sign in to the Flex Appliance Console as a security administrator and click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the page, then click Smart card authentication.
- Click Configure or Edit.
- Select a certificate mapping attribute and optionally enter the OCSP URI. If you do not provide the OCSP URI, the URI in the certificate is used.
- Browse for or drag and drop the CA certificates that are associated with the user smart cards or the user digital certificates. Certificate file types must be in .pem format and less than 1,000 KB in size.
To remove a certificate, click the x next to the file name. If the certificate is part of a certificate chain, make sure that you also remove the other certificates in the chain.
Note:
If you use Mozilla Firefox, you must also remove the certificate from the browser's certificate manager. See the browser documentation for instructions.
- Click Save.
- Open a new session to the Flex Appliance Console. The sign-in page should now display an option to sign in with a certificate or smart card.
- Before a user can use a digital certificate that is not installed on a smart card, the certificate must be uploaded to the browser's certificate manager. See the browser documentation for instructions.
- Once a user inserts a smart card or uploads a certificate, they are prompted to select and authenticate the certificate when they open a new session to the Flex Appliance Console. Once they do so, they can use the certificate to sign in.
If the user does not select and authenticate the certificate when prompted, they can still sign in with their username and password.
Follow these steps to disable user authentication with smart cards or digital certificates or to enable it after it has been disabled.
To disable or enable smart card authentication
- Sign in to the Flex Appliance Console as a security administrator and click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the page, then click Smart card authentication.
- Click Disable or Enable.
If you disable smart card authentication, users no longer see an option to sign in with a certificate or smart card.