In this section:

For detailed information about the appropriate description of the various supported CPUs and VMs, refer to Terminology.

Overview

SecureLink is a third-party remote access management tool used extensively by the Customer Support Team to allow dedicated remote connectivity into Ribbon equipment while providing you with the latest in security and audit capabilities. SecureLink creates an outbound connection to Ribbon and only allows inbound traffic from Ribbon (that is only Ribbon personnel can use this connection). The remote access itself is rigorously encrypted within an SSH tunnel as enforced by the proprietary SecureLink design.

SecureLink Architecutre for DSC Platforms

SecureLink has been incorporated into the DSC products as part of the application load (that is in /opt/cpu_ss7gw/<release>). The benefit of this implementation is that no OS upgrades are involved when the SecureLink code is modified in any way. The SecureLink footprint is only about 19 MB, which is about 5% of the application load.

The SecureLink uses the Web UI for configuring the following functions:

  • enabling and disabling of remote access using a registration key
  • connectivity testing such as host name lookup and connectivity to SecureLink server
  • status display such as access enabled, disabled
  • SecureLink version and so on

The SecureLink software is on the Management CPUs (DSC 8000) and the DSC SWe Management and Routing VMs. This application runs entirely independently on the two Management CPUs and the two Management and Routing VMs. 

It is recommended that you directly log onto only one of the Management CPUs or Management and Routing VMs external IP interfaces and not use the shared IP interface. For information about the DSC Ethernet connectivity, see Ethernet Connectivity for DSC 8000, DSC SWe Ethernet Connectivity (KVM Host), and DSC SWe Ethernet Connectivity on VMware.

Note

Consider the following:

For the DSC 8000, two Management CPUs are supported (Slot 02 MGMT_CPU and Slot 13 MGMT_CPU) per each system.

For the DSC SWe, two Routing and Management VMs (Slot 01 RTNG_MGMT_CPU and Slot 02 RTNG_MGMT_CPU) per each host.

For more information about the DSC 8000 IP configuration, refer to DSC 8000 Ethernet Interfaces. For more information about the DSC SWe IP configuration, refer to DSC SWe Ethernet Configuration.

Prerequisites

Before attempting remote access, obtain the required  SecureLink Registration Codes from a Customer Support Specialist (see Customer Support). For the DSC 8000, you will need one SecureLink Registration Code for each Management CPU. For the DSC SWe you will need one SecureLink Registration Code for each Routing and Management VM.

Configuring SecureLink access

Follow the instructions in this section to configure SecureLink access. Repeat this procedure on each Management CPU (DSC 8000) or Routing and Management VM (DSC SWe).

To configure SecureLink access

  1. Log into the external IP address of the Slot 02 MGMT_CPU (DSC 8000), or the external IP address of the Slot 01 RTNG_MGMT_CPU (DSC SWe).

  2. Make sure that the securelink.sonusnet.com server name can be resolved from the system by doing one of the following:
            
    1. configure the Domain Name System (DNS)
           
    2. configure the Hostname Resolution (that is /etc/hosts)
      Values are: IP Address =  208.45.178.90 and Hostname = securelink.sonusnet.com

           
  3. Click Remote Access.



  4. Click Run Test to verify your Hostname look-up in the Web UI and make sure that this test is successful. 

  5. Do one of the following:

    1. If the test is successful, click Done. Go to step 6.

    2. If the test is unsuccessful, make sure that the Hostname Resolution has been properly configured for securelink.sonusnet.com. Go to option a in this step.

      For information about configuring the Hostname Resolution, see Using the DSC 8000 Hostname Resolution Feature and Using the DSC SWe Hostname Resolution Feature.

  6. Enter the Registration Code that you already obtained in the Registration Code text box.

  7. Click Configure SecureLink.
    The following message appears.

     

  8. Click Done.

  9. Click the Enable | Disable Security Link as required.

    Caution
    Clicking Enable SecureLink Access allows the Customer Support technician to access your system remotely. After this technician has completed the required work, it is recommended that you click the Disable Security Access to protect your system from further access.