Foglight 5.9.4 - Security and Compliance Guide

Communication between Management Server and clients

Foglight® Agent Manager (FglAM) implements a communication layer with XML messages sent to the Management Server over HTTP(S). These messages are sent to the same ports that the Management Server uses for all HTTP-based traffic, including the Web applications.

The Agent Manager allows the user to configure HTTP or HTTPS URLs for the Management Server, or a combination of both. When HTTPS is used, the Agent Manager rejects invalid certificates by default -- either self-signed, signed by an unrecognized certificate authority, or a certificate that declares a Common Name that does not match the Management Server host name (thus providing protection against man-in-the-middle attacks). Certificates can be added to the Agent Manager keystore. Like a Web browser, Agent Manager supports configuration options to relax these certificate verification controls, but these options will reduce the security provided by the SSL mechanism. If the Management Server is configured to only allow HTTPS access, the Agent Manager must be configured with an HTTPS URL to connect to the Management Server. By default, the Management Server uses the SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 cipher suite (RSA, RC4, and MD5) for its communication with the Agent Manager.

The Agent Manager supports concentrators. A concentrator is an Agent Manager instance that works similarly to an HTTP proxy. It is configured to accept connections from other Agent Manager instances (called downstream instances) and forward these connections to an upstream target, either the Management Server or another Agent Manager concentrator. These concentrators support HTTP or HTTPS communication with the upstream Management Server.

A concentrator’s upstream connection is independent of the downstream connections. For example, several Agent Manager instances on a local subnet can communicate to a concentrator using HTTP while the concentrator forwards requests over a non-secure network to the Management Server using HTTPS (or vice-versa).

Communication between Management Server and Java EE technology agents

No encryption is used to protect the communication channel between Java EE Technology agents (which are not based on the Agent Manager) and the Management Server. Data is sent in proprietary binary form.

Communication between Management Server and XML over HTTP(S) agents

The XML over HTTP(S) protocol is another low-level method for submitting data to the Management Server. SSL is supported for the XML over HTTP protocol in the default server configuration. An agent using this protocol simply needs to use the HTTPS server port (8443) to open secure connections.

Communication between Management Server and repository database

The Foglight® repository database may be installed either on the same or separate server as the Management Server. Data is transmitted using the database communication protocol (of MySQLTM, Oracle®, or SQL Server®) between the Management Server and the repository database. No security is enforced to protect this channel of communication.