Collecting Information and Making Decisions Before Enabling Trusted Extensions

For each system on which Solaris Trusted Extensions is going to be configured, you need to know some information, and make some decisions about configuration. For example, because you are going to create labeled zones, you might want to set aside disk space where the zones can be cloned as a Solaris ZFS^TM File System. Solaris ZFS provides additional isolation for the zones.

Collect System Information Before Enabling Trusted Extensions

1. Determine the system's main hostname and IP address.

   The hostname is the name of the host on the network, and is the global zone. On a Solaris system, the getent command returns the hostname, as in:

   # getent hosts machine1
   192.168.0.11   machine1

2. Determine the IP address assignments for labeled zones.

   A system with two IP addresses can function as a multilevel server. A system with one IP address must have access to a multilevel server in order to print or perform multilevel tasks. For a discussion of IP address options, see Planning for Multilevel Access.

   Most systems require a second IP address for the labeled zones. For example, the following is a host with a second IP address for labeled zones:

   # getent hosts machine1-zones
   192.168.0.12   machine1-zones

3. Collect LDAP configuration information.

   For the LDAP server that is running Trusted Extensions software, you need the following information:

   • The name of the Trusted Extensions domain that the LDAP server serves

   • The IP address of the LDAP server

   • The LDAP profile name that will be loaded

   For an LDAP proxy server, you also need the password for the LDAP proxy.

Make System and Security Decisions Before Enabling Trusted Extensions

For each system on which Solaris Trusted Extensions is going to be configured, make these configuration decisions before enabling the software.

1. Decide how securely the system hardware needs to be protected.

   At a secure site, this step has been done for every installed Solaris system.

   • For SPARC systems, a PROM security level and password has been provided.

   • For x86 systems, the BIOS is protected.

   • On all systems, root is protected with a password.

2. Prepare your label_encodings file.

   If you have a site-specific label_encodings file, the file must be checked and installed before other configuration tasks can be started. If your site does not have a label_encodings file, you can use the default file that Sun supplies. Sun also supplies other label_encodings files, which you can find in the /etc/security/tsol directory. The Sun files are demonstration files. They might not be suitable for production systems.

   To customize a file for your site, see Solaris Trusted Extensions Label Administration.

3. From the list of labels in your label_encodings file, make a list of the labeled zones that you need to create.

   For the default label_encodings file, the labels are the following, and the zone names can be similar to the following:

   Label	Zone Name
   PUBLIC	public
   CONFIDENTIAL : INTERNAL	internal
   CONFIDENTIAL : NEED TO KNOW	needtoknow
   CONFIDENTIAL : RESTRICTED	restricted

   For ease of NFS mounting, the zone name of a particular label must be identical on every system. Some systems, such as multilevel print servers, do not need to have labeled zones installed. However, if you do install labeled zones on a print server, the zone names must be identical to the zone names of other systems on your network.

4. Decide when to create roles.

   Your site's security policy can require you to administer Trusted Extensions by assuming a role. If so, or if you are configuring the system to satisfy criteria for an evaluated configuration, you must create roles early in the configuration process.

   If you are not required to configure the system by using roles, you can choose to configure the system as superuser. This method of configuration is less secure. Audit records do not indicate which user was superuser during configuration. Superuser can perform all tasks on the system, while a role can perform a more limited set of tasks. Therefore, configuration is more controlled when being performed by roles.

5. Choose a zone creation method.

   You can create zones from scratch, copy zones, or clone zones. These methods differ in speed of creation, disk space requirements, and robustness. For the trade-offs, see Planning for Zones in Trusted Extensions.

6. Plan your LDAP configuration.

   Using local files for administration is practical for non-networked systems.

   LDAP is the naming service for a networked environment. A populated LDAP server is required when you configure several machines.

   • If you have an existing Sun Java^TM System Directory Server (LDAP server), you can create an LDAP proxy server on a system that is running Trusted Extensions. The multilevel proxy server handles communications with the unlabeled LDAP server.

   • If you do not have an LDAP server, you can configure a system that runs Trusted Extensions software as a multilevel LDAP server.

7. Decide other security issues for each system and for the network.

   For example, you might want to consider the following security issues:

   • Determine which devices can be attached to the system and allocated for use.

   • Identify which printers at what labels are accessible from the system.

   • Identify any systems that have a limited label range, such as a gateway system or a public kiosk.

   • Identify which labeled systems can communicate with particular unlabeled systems.