Published On: August 6ᵗʰ, 2019 02:10

Installation and Upgrade Guide for Cisco Secure Access Control System 5.4

Installing and Configuring the Cisco Secure Access Control System with CSACS-1121

This chapter describes how to install and initially configure CSACS-1121 and the ACS 5.4 server.

This chapter contains:

Installation Using the CSACS-1121 Series Appliance

The CSACS-1121 appliance is preinstalled with the ACS 5.4 software. This section gives you an overview of the installation process and the tasks that you must perform before installing ACS.

Before you begin installing ACS 5.4, you must:

1. Open the box and check the contents. See Chapter3, “Unpacking and Checking the Contents of Your Shipment”

2. Read Chapter2, “Introducing the Cisco 1121 Secure Access Control System Hardware”

3. Read the general precautions and safety warnings in Chapter3, “Preparing to Install the Cisco 1121 Secure Access Control System Hardware”

4. Install the appliance in the rack. See Chapter4, “Installing the Cisco 1121 Secure Access Control System Hardware”

5. Connect the CSACS-1121 to the network and appliance console. See Chapter4, “Connecting Cables”

6. Power up the CSACS-1121 appliance. See Chapter4, “Powering Up the CSACS-1121 Series Appliance”

7. Run the setup command at the CLI prompt to configure the initial settings for the ACS server. See Running the Setup Program.

Downloading the Cisco Secure ACS 5.4 ISO Image

You can download the Cisco Secure ACS 5.4 ISO image from Cisco.com

Step 1 Go to http://www.cisco.com/go/acs. You must already have a valid Cisco.com login credentials to access this link.

Step 2 Click Download Software.

The Cisco Secure ACS Release 5.4 software image appears on the Cisco.com page. You can test all the Cisco ACS services once your installation and initial configuration are complete.

 

Note ACS 5.x software images can be downloaded from Cisco Connection Online (CCO) only when the customer has a valid Software Application Support (SAS) contract for a previous version of ACS 5.x software. If they do not have the valid SAS contract of the previous version, they need to ask their Sales Engineer (SE), Accounts Manager (AM), or Cisco partners to publish the software image on CCO to the specific customers account.

Installing the ACS Server

This section describes the installation process for the ACS server on the CSACS-1121 Series appliance.

This section contains:

Running the Setup Program

This section describes the setup process to install the ACS server.

The setup program launches an interactive command-line interface (CLI) that prompts you for the required parameters.

An administrator can use the console or a dumb terminal to configure the initial network settings and provide the initial administrator credentials for the ACS 5.4 server using the setup program. The setup process is a one-time configuration task.

To install the ACS server:

Step 1 Power on the appliance.

The setup prompt appears:

Please type ‘setup’ to configure the appliance

localhost login:

Step 2 At the login prompt, enter setup and press Enter.

The console displays a set of parameters. You must enter the parameters as described in Table 5-1 .

Note You can interrupt the setup process at any time by typing Ctrl-C before the last setup value is entered.

Table 5-1 Network Configuration Parameters

Prompt
Default
Conditions
Description

Host Name

localhost

First letter must be an ASCII character.

Length must be from 3 to 15 characters.

Valid characters are alphanumeric (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), hyphen (-), and the first character must be a letter.

Note When you intend to use AD ID store and set up multiple ACS instances with same name prefix, use maximum of 15 characters as the host name so that it does not affect the AD functionality.

Enter the hostname.

IPV4 IP Address

None, network specific

Must be a valid IPv4 address between 0.0.0.0 and 255.255.255.255.

Enter the IP address.

IPv4 Netmask

None, network specific

Must be a valid IPv4 address between 0.0.0.0 and 255.255.255.255.

Enter a valid netmask.

IPv4 Gateway

None, network specific

Must be a valid IPv4 address between 0.0.0.0 and 255.255.255.255.

Enter a valid default gateway.

Domain Name

None, network specific

Cannot be an IP address.

Valid characters are ASCII characters, any numbers, hyphen (-), and period (.).

Enter the domain name.

IPv4 Primary Name Server Address

None, network specific

Must be a valid IPv4 address between 0.0.0.0 and 255.255.255.255.

Enter a valid name server address.

Add/ another nameserver

None, network specific

Must be a valid IPv4 address between 0.0.0.0 and 255.255.255.255.

To configure multiple name servers, enter Y.

NTP Server

time.nist.gov

Must be a valid IPv4 address between 0.0.0.0 and 255.255.255.255 or a domain name server.

Enter a valid domain name server or an IPv4 address.

Timezone

UTC

Must be a valid local time zone.

Enter a valid timezone.

Username

admin

The name of the first administrative user. You can accept the default or enter a new username.

Must be from 3 to 8 characters, and must be alphanumeric (A-Z, a-z, 0-9).

Enter the username.

Admin Password

None

No default password. Enter your password.

The password must be at least six characters in length, have at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, and one number.

In addition:

  • Save the user and password information for the account that you set up for initial configuration.
  • Remember and protect these credentials because they allow complete administrative control of the ACS hardware, the CLI, and the application.
  • If you lose your administrative credentials, you can reset your password by using the ACS 5.4 installation CD.

Enter the password.

The console requests for the parameters as shown below:

localhost login: setup

Enter hostname[]: acs-server-1

Enter IP address[]: 10.77.243.177

Enter IP default netmask[]: 255.255.255.128

Enter IP default gateway[]: 10.77.243.129

Enter default DNS domain[]: mycompany.com

Enter primary nameserver[]: 10.77.242.86

Add secondary nameserver? Y/N : n

Add primary NTP server [time.nist.gov]: 10.77.242.86

Add secondary NTP server? Y/N : n

Enter system timezone[UTC]:

Enter username [admin]: admin

Enter password:

Enter password again:

Pinging the gateway...

Pinging the primary nameserver...

Do not use `Ctrl-C' from this point on...

Appliance is configured

Installing applications...

Installing acs...

Generating configuration...

Rebooting...

After the ACS server is installed, the system reboots automatically.

Now, you can log into ACS using the CLI username and password that was configured during the setup process.

Note You can use this username and password to log into ACS only via the CLI.

Note The initial setup of the ACS 5.4 server should be configured with an IPv4 IP address. You can configure the IPv6 IP address for your server only after the initial setup is completed.

 

Verifying the Installation Process

To verify that you have correctly completed the installation process:

Step 1 When the system reboots, at the login prompt enter the username you configured during setup, and press Enter.

Step 2 At password prompt, enter the password you configured during setup, and press Enter.

Step 3 Verify that the application has been installed properly by entering show application, and press Enter.

The console displays:

<name> <Description>

acs Cisco Secure Access Control System 5.4

Step 4 At the system prompt, check the release and ACS version that are installed, at the system prompt by entering show application version acs and pressing Enter.

The console displays:

Cisco ACS VERSION INFORMATION

-----------------------------

Version : 5.4.0.46.0a

Internal Build ID : B.221

Note The Version and Internal Build ID may change for different versions of this release.

Step 5 Check the status of ACS processes, at the system prompt by entering show application status acs, and press Enter.

The console displays:

ACS role: PRIMARY

Process 'database' running

Process 'management' running

Process 'runtime' running

Process 'ntpd' running

Process 'view-database' running

Process 'view-jobmanager' running

Process 'view-alertmanager' running

Process 'view-collector' running

Process 'view-logprocessor' running

 

Note To get the latest ACS patches and to keep your ACS up-to-date, visit http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/acs5_patches

Resetting the Administrator Password

If you are not able to log into the system due to the loss of the administrator password, you can use the ACS 5.4 recovery DVD to reset the administrator password.

To reset the administrator password:

Step 1 Power up the appliance.

Step 2 Insert the ACS 5.4 recovery DVD.

The console displays:

Welcome to Cisco Secure ACS 5.4 Recovery

To boot from hard disk press <Enter>

Available boot options:

[1] Cisco Secure ACS 5.4 Installation (Keyboard/Monitor)

[2] Cisco Secure ACS 5.4 Installation (Serial Console)

[3] Reset Administrator Password (Keyboard/Monitor)

[4] Reset Administrator Password (Serial Console)

<Enter> Boot from hard disk

Please enter boot option and press <Enter>.

boot:

To reset the administrator password, at the system prompt, enter 3 if you are using a keyboard and video monitor, or enter 4 if you are using a serial console port.

The console displays a set of parameters.

Step 3 Enter the parameters as described in Table 5-2 .

Table 5-2 Password Reset Parameters

Parameter
Description

Admin username

Enter the number of the administrator whose password you want to reset.

Password

Enter the new password for the administrator.

Verify password

Enter the password again.

Save change & Reboot

Enter Y to save.

The console displays:

Admin username:

[1]:admin

[2]:admin2

[3]:admin3

Enter number of admin for password recovery:1

Password:

Verify password:

Save change&reeboot? [Y/N]:

 

Reimaging the ACS Server

To reimage the ACS server:

Step 1 Power up the appliance.

Step 2 Insert the ACS Recovery DVD.

The console displays:

Welcome to Cisco Secure ACS 5.4 Recovery

To boot from hard disk press <Enter>

Available boot options:

[1] Cisco Secure ACS 5.4 Installation (Keyboard/Monitor)

[2] Cisco Secure ACS 5.4 Installation (Serial Console)

[3] Reset Administrator Password (Keyboard/Monitor)

[4] Reset Administrator Password (Serial Console)

<Enter> Boot from hard disk

Please enter boot option and press <Enter>.

boot:

Step 3 At the console prompt, enter 1 if you are using a keyboard and video monitor, or enter 2 if you are using a serial console port, and press Enter.

The reimage process uninstalls the existing ADE-OS and ACS versions, and installs the latest versions. For the installation process, see the section Running the Setup Program.

 

Regulatory Compliance

For regulatory compliance and safety information, see Regulatory Compliance and Safety Information for Cisco Secure Access Control System. This document is available online at Cisco.com:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/cisco_secure_access_control_system/5.4/regulatory/
compliance/csacsrcsi.html

For more information, see Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request.