PrivX-Server Configuration

This article describes configurations for customising PrivX-server functionality.

Dedicated Server Roles

front end, back end, server_mode, worker-only, server-only, keyword test

You can dedicate individual PrivX servers in HA deployments to certain roles, which restricts the types of jobs they perform.

To set the server role of a PrivX server:

  1. Access the PrivX server as root.

  2. In the shared-configuration file /opt/privx/etc/shared-config.toml, set the server_modesetting:

    • default - All jobs
    • worker-only - Back-end jobs
    • server-only - Front-end jobs
defaultworker-onlyserver-only
Handle user logins••
Cloud-host scans••
Check host availability••
Process audit logs and session recordings••
  1. Restart PrivX services to apply your changes
systemctl restart privx

The PrivX servers in your deployment must collectively be able to perform all jobs. At all times, ensure your PrivX deployment has at least:

  • 1 or more default servers.

Or:

  • 1 or more worker-only servers, and
  • 1 or more server-only servers.

PrivX Log Settings

Changing Log Level

By default, regular and audit events are logged to syslog. Audit events use the namespace SSH-PRIVX-AUDIT, and other (debug/info/warning/error) messages use the namespace SSH-PRIVX.

You can adjust the locations to which PrivX writes logs, and the log level of each microservice. The log locations are configured by settings in /opt/privx/etc/shared-config.toml.

# Should we send PrivX system events to logs under /var/log/privx
# send_regular_events_to_stdout = false
send_regular_events_to_stdout = false

# Should we send PrivX audit events to syslog
# send_regular_events_to_syslog = true
send_audit_events_to_syslog = true

# Should we send PrivX system events to syslog
# send_regular_events_to_syslog = true
send_regular_events_to_syslog = true

To enable debug output for a microservice:

  1. Edit /opt/privx/scripts/local-env. Here you can set the logging and trace level per microservice. The example will set Authorizer-microservice log level to DEBUG and trace to 5:

    AUTHORIZER_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
AUTHORIZER_TRACE=5

    After editing the /opt/privx/scripts/local-env the microservice(s) needs to be restarted to apply the changes. In this example only Authorizer restart is needed.

    # systemctl restart authorizer

    Alternatively, restart all PrivX services to apply configuration changes to all microservices.

    # systemctl restart privx

  2. By default, the system-logging service rsyslog is configured to show INFO-level messages only, which blocks DEBUG messages. To configure rsyslog to show DEBUG-level messages, find the following line in the rsyslog configuration file, /etc/rsyslog.conf:

    *.info;mail.none;authpriv.none;cron.none    /var/log/messages

    And change it to, for example:

    *.debug;mail.none;authpriv.none;cron.none    /var/log/messages

    Restart rsyslog to apply the changes:

    # systemctl restart rsyslog

You can write PrivX logs to multiple locations. The following /etc/rsyslog.d/forward-privx-logs.conf will write logs to two different external syslog servers.

# Forward PrivX generated log messages to remote servers 
:programname, isequal, "SSH-PRIVX" @@192.168.1.1:514
:programname, isequal, "SSH-PRIVX-AUDIT" @@192.168.1.1:514
:programname, isequal, "SSH-PRIVX" @@192.168.1.2:514
:programname, isequal, "SSH-PRIVX-AUDIT" @@192.168.1.2:514
& stop

Restart rsyslog to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart rsyslog

Optimizing Log Performance

Large amounts of syslog traffic will reduce PrivX performance. This will likely happen if you have enabled more verbose logging for some or all microservices.

By default, PrivX logs to local syslog using TCP. Ways for improving logging-related performance include:

  • Using less verbose logging levels.
  • Logging to stdout or file instead of rsyslog.
  • Switching to UDP logging.

Outside of troubleshooting scenarios, we recommend keeping microservice log levels at INFO. For more information about setting log levels, see Changing Log Level.

For example, to log regular (non-audit-event) messages to stdout instead of rsyslog, set the following in shared settings in /opt/privx/etc/shared-config.toml on all PrivX Servers:

send_regular_events_to_stdout = true
send_regular_events_to_syslog = false

Restart PrivX services to apply configuration changes.

You may further configure microservices to output to certain file(s). To do this, set the stdout_log and stderr_login the microservice's startup script under /opt/privx/scripts/\<microservice_name\>.sh. For example, the Role Store's startup script is at /opt/privx/scripts/role-store.sh.

If you use UDP (instead of TCP) for logging, events will be dropped instead of slowing system performance. You can separately enable UDP for regular events and audit events separately. With the following settings in /opt/privx/etc/shared-config.toml:

syslog_protocol = "udp"
audit_event_syslog_protocol = "udp"

You will need to change the configuration on all PrivX Servers. Then restart PrivX services to apply your changes.

🚧 Caution

Using UDP prevents some events from being logged. If you require syslogs to be complete (such as for SIEM integration), you should always use TCP.

Audit events are always logged to the database, regardless of syslog settings.

Custom Disclaimers

To show messages to PrivX users upon login:

  1. On the Administration→Settings page, click Edit. Set the Disclaimers settings in JSON format, similar to the following:

    [
{
 "id": "terms-and-conditions",
 "timeStamp": "2020-01-01T12:00:00Z",
 "path": "^/auth/login$",
 "title": "Terms and Conditions",
 "text": "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.",
 "accept": "I have read and agree to the terms and conditions",
 "mode": "popup",
 "acceptable": true,
 "closeable": false,
 "expirationTime": 24,
 "expireAtLogin": false
}
]

    You can customize the disclaimer content and visibility with the following parameters:

    • id: Unique identifier to keep track of disclaimer acceptance in case multiple disclaimers are used.

    • timeStamp: The date and time the disclaimer was created or updated. Uses ISO-8601 format, e.g. 2020-01-01T12:00:00Z.

      When the timeStamp is updated the disclaimer will be treated as new and users will see it again even if they previously accepted the disclaimer.

    • path: Optional regular expression that limits the disclaimer to only portions of the PrivX UI, such as the login page.

    • title: Title for the disclaimer.

    • text: Message shown in the disclaimer.

    • accept: Text for the checkbox that allows users to accept the disclaimer.

    • mode: How the disclaimer looks on the page. Can be float, local, or popup.

    • acceptable: Allow users to accept and close the disclaimer. Can be true or false.

      After a user accepts the disclaimer it will not be displayed on subsequent logins, until users clear browser local storage. Unless closeable is also set to true, the user must accept the disclaimer to proceed.

    • closeable: Allow users to close the disclaimer without accepting it. Can be true or false.

    • expirationTime: Optional expiration time for user dismissals of the disclaimer (in hours).

      The disclaimer will re-appear after the specified amount of time has elapsed after a user has dismissed the disclaimer.

    • expireAtLogin: Allows the user's dismissal of the disclaimer to expire at the next login. Can be true or false.

  2. Restart PrivX services to apply the changes:

    # systemctl restart privx

Or click Restart button on Administration→Settings.

Resetting the Superuser Password

If you have forgotten your local PrivX superuser's password, you can reset it as follows:

  1. Access your PrivX server as root. In HA deployments you can perform the commands on one of your PrivX servers.

  2. Run the admin-tool with reset-password:

    # /opt/privx/bin/admin-tool password-reset <username>

  3. You will be prompted for a new password. Note that regular password restrictions are not applied here.

    You can now log into PrivX using the new password. You may change your password again in the UI to ensure that it passes security requirements.

Resetting PrivX-Server Settings

To reset some or all PrivX settings to default values:

  1. Back up PrivX settings as JSON by running the following on one of your PrivX servers:

    i. Export settings as a JSON:

    # /opt/privx/bin/settings-tool -command=export -out <filename.json>

    ii. If you later need to revert to previous settings:

    #  /opt/privx/bin/settings-tool -command=import -in <filename.json>

🚧 Caution

Only restore settings to the same PrivX version that you took the backups from. Restoring settings to a different PrivX version may break the system.

  1. Use the settings-tool on one of your PrivX servers to reset PrivX settings:

    • To reset all the settings:

      #  /opt/privx/bin/settings-tool -command=reset

    • To reset the settings in a specific scope:

      #  /opt/privx/bin/settings-tool -command=reset -scope=<scope>

    • To reset the settings in a specific section in a scope

      #  /opt/privx/bin/settings-tool -command=reset -scope=<scope> -section=<section>

      For more information about the available scopes and sections, see PrivX Settings.

  2. On all of your PrivX servers, restart PrivX to apply the changes:

    # systemctl restart privx

SSH Product Integrations

PrivX can have predefined links for switching between different SSH products. These links are shown to administrators on the right-hand corner of the header bar.

To configure links:

  1. On the Administration→Settings page, click Edit. Edit the SSH Product Integrations for different products. At the moment there is a configuration for SSH Universal Key Manager, the value must be a valid URL.

  2. Restart PrivX services to apply the changes. To do this, click Restart.

To access your applications, click drawing on the right-hand corner of the header bar.

Changing Bastion Ports

By default, SSH Bastion and RDP Bastion are under ports 2222 and 3389 respectively. You may assign Bastion services under other ports, the high-level steps include:

  • Updating port settings under PrivX configuration.
  • Updating firewall settings to accommodate the new port.

Changing SSH-Bastion Port

To change the SSH-Bastion Port, perform the following on all your PrivX Servers:

  1. In the configuration file/opt/privx/etc/ssh-mitm.toml, modify ssh_listen_address to include your new port. For example, to change the port to 8022, change the setting to:

    ssh_listen_addresses = [
":8022"
]

    Save your changes to the file.

  2. Allow the new port in firewall settings (replace 8022 with your new port number):

    sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=8022/tcp

    You should also block the old, unused SSH-Bastion port (replace 2222 with your old port number):

    sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --remove-port=2222/tcp

    Apply your firewall changes:

    sudo firewall-cmd --reload

  3. Finally, restart PrivX:

    sudo systemctl restart privx

    You should now be able to establish SSH connections via the new SSH Bastion port.

Changing RDP-Bastion port

To change the RDP-Bastion Port, perform the following on all your PrivX Servers:

  1. In the configuration file/opt/privx/etc/rdpmitm/rdpproxy.ini, under the [globals] section, add a port setting. For example, to change the port to 3999 add a line like the following:

    port=3999

    Save your changes to the file.

  2. Allow the new port in firewall settings (replace 3999 with your new port number):

    sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=3999/tcp

    You should also block the old, unused SSH-Bastion port (replace 3389 with your old port number):

    sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --remove-port=3389/tcp

    Apply your firewall changes:

    sudo firewall-cmd --reload

  3. Finally, restart PrivX:

    sudo systemctl restart privx

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