3 & 4 – Network Operations & Security Flashcards
What are some examples of Fault Tolerance?
RAID
UPS
Clustering
Load balancing
Any redundant hardware components or network paths
What does “High Availability” mean?
Automatic fault tolerance such that there is essentially zero down time.
What is NIC Teaming?
- Multiple network adapters combined in software to work as a single adapter.
- Used particularly in virtualization / SDN.
- Aggregates bandwidth and provides redundant paths.
- NICs communicate with each other to fail over when a NIC doesn’t respond.
- LBFO: Load Balancing / Fail Over.
What is Port Aggregation?
Using multiple interfaces as a single port, which provides redundancy. If used across multiple switches, it provides fault tolerance.
What is a Cold Site?
A recovery site.
- Has no hardware, no data, and no people.
- Just an empty location that you would need to bring everything to if the main site went down.
What is a Warm Site?
A recovery site that functions somewhere between a cold site and a hot site.
- May have some hardware ready and waiting, but you would need to bring the data.
- Or, it may just have empty rack space, and you’d also need to bring hardware.
What is a Hot Site?
A type of recovery site that is an exact (or, at least sufficient) replica of your main site.
- Has all necessary hardware. You buy two of everything, one for the main site and one for the hot site.
- Applications, software, and data are constantly updated via automated replication from the main site.
What is MTTR?
Mean Time to Restore (or, Repair)
What is MTBF?
Mean Time Between Failures
What is an SLA?
Service Level Agreement
- Contractual recovery expectations. If there is an outage, it must be restored within a certain time.
- May include penalties for not meeting certain service levels.
What is SIEM?
Security Information and Event Management
- Software or a device which allows you to consolidate logs and real-time monitoring data for long-term storage.
- Usually needs a lot of disk space.
- Can create reports, send out security alerts, and provide details for forensic analysis.
What is a vulnerability scan?
Checks for vulnerabilities on your network, but is usually minimally invasive, unlike a penetration test.
- Runs a scan, identifies systems and security devices.
- Can test the network from both the inside and the outside.
What are some examples of what a vulnerability scan is useful for identifying?
- Lack of security controls, such as no firewall or no AV.
- Misconfigurations, such as open shares or guest access.
- Application and service vulnerabilities
- Finds unknown devices on the network
What is Syslog?
A standardized way to transfer log information from a variety of different devices to a centralized log receiver, often a SIEM.
What is a MIB?
Management Information Base
- A database of data used for SNMP.
- MIB-II is the standardized database, that most devices use.
- Proprietary MIBs also exist. A MIB for a specific device can be provided to an SNMP system so it knows how to read that device’s SNMP metrics.
What is IPSec?
Internet Protocol Security
- A remote access protocol.
- One of the most popular. Different vendors can be implemented together.
- Commonly used for Site-to-Site VPNs.
- Provides security at OSI Layer 3 (network)
- Authenticates and encrypts every packet.
What is an SSL VPN?
- Commonly used for end-user / client-to-site VPN access.
- Uses the common SSL/TLS protocol (tcp/443), which is typically allowed through firewalls without requiring additional configuration.
- Uses software or clients built into the OS.
What is a DTLS VPN?
Datagram Transport Layer Security
- Provides the security of SSL/TLS, but the speed of datagrams.
- Transport uses UDP instead of TCP.
- Useful for streaming and VoIP.
What is Out-of-band management?
- Allows access to a device without using the external network.
- Usually a separate management interface, often a serial or USB connection.
- A modem could be connected to that interface, to allow remote access to the device over phone lines.
What is a Console Router?
Out-of-band access for multiple devices.
- Connected to a modem to allow dial-in remote access.
- Multiple out-of-band management interfaces are connected to the Console Route to allow access.
- Also known as a Comm Server
What is a Comm Server?
Another name for a Console Router.
What is a Privileged User Agreement?
What are the related best practices?
- A signed agreement outlining the policies of privileged access to data.
- Since Network and System Admins have such high access, best practices are to:
- use non-privileged methods when possible and appropriate
- use privileged access only for assigned job duties
What are On-Boarding and Off-Boarding policies?
Policies regarding when a new person is coming into an organization, and when an employee is leaving an organization.
What is DLP?
Data Loss Prevention
- Policies relating to how sensitive information is appropriately handled.
- For example, requiring that medical information is encrypted a certain way when transferred.
- DLP solutions can monitor traffic and create alerts when a policy violation occurs.
What should be included in an Incident Response Policy?
- How an incident is identified
- How an incident is categorized
- Who responds to an incident
- What process is followed
What is an AUP?
Acceptable Use Policy
• Defines acceptable use of company assets.
What is an NDA?
Non-Disclosure Agreement
- Legal agreement for confidentiality.
- Prevents the use and dissemination of confidential information.
What is an MSDS?
Material Safety Data Sheet
Provides safety information for proper handling of materials and disposal of waste.
What is TACACS?
Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System
- A remote authentication protocol.
- An alternative to RADIUS, and similar.
- Created to control access to dial-up lines to ARPANET.
- Not often used anymore.
What is RADIUS?
Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service
- A remote authentication protocol (AAA protocol)
- Standard and widely used, available on almost any server OS
- Centralizes authentication for users to routers, switches, firewalls, servers, remote VPN access, etc.
What is XTACACS?
Extended TACACS
- A proprietary, customized version of TACACS created by Cisco
- Provides additional support for accounting and auditing.
- Not often used anymore.
What is TACACS+?
- The latest version of TACACS, and usually the only one still used today.
- Not backwards compatible
- Released as an open standard in 1993
- Adds more authentication requests and response codes.