Remote access through the Secure Connect Gateway

Hello, thanks for choosing Dell.

To put it simply, here is a summary about the Remote Access feature, with page references to the Secure Connect Gateway 5.x — Virtual Edition User's Guide (https://dell.to/3JTWAe9)

1. The Remote Access feature in SCG is only available for PowerEdge and PowerSwitch devices, not Isilon. (refer Page 10) This feature enables us to access the supported devices to troubleshoot or perform any device specific actions. Unfortunately I do not have a sample of how it looks like.
2. Policy Manager is not needed for remote access to work but customers can use Policy Manager to manage remote access permissions (refer Page 31)

Hope this answers the customer's questions. Wish you a good one.

Thanks for the reply, but I think you're incorrect. https://dl.dell.com/content/manual53242661-secure-connect-gateway-5-x-virtual-edition-support-matrix.pdf?language=en-us shows that remote support is available for far more than just PowerEdge Servers and PowerSwitches. And it answers my question about whether or not Support can reach the web GUI or not (they can).

The way I read the document you linked to is that the only things you can disable/enable Remote Access for from the SCG are the PE servers and PS switches, not that those are the only things that can be remotely accessed.

So my first question remains - can Support access a customer's hardware through SCG without Policy Manager being in place? If the answer's yes, what does that look like for the customer? i.e. does Support have 24/7 access when Policy Manager isn't there?

Hello DB_2022,

You don't have to have Policy Manager. You can enable and/or disable when the need arises.

Page 40 : https://dell.to/40sxLgp

Policy manager is a stand-alone application that is installed on a server other than your local system. You can configure policy

manager to perform the following tasks:

* Control remote access to your devices.

* Maintain an audit log of remote connections and file transfers.

* Access administration actions performed on the policy manager

I don't have any images of what RemoteAccess looks like but once the connection is established, the engineer can work with the device using the normal management interfaces.

I am not familiar with Isilon. You may post on that board: https://dell.to/3nxvJgF

Charles,

Thanks for the reply, but I think you're incorrect here. Per the very page you referred me to:

You can manually enable or disable remote access only for PowerEdge servers and PowerSwitch switches from the secure connect gateway user interface (my emphasis). You therefore cannot enable or disable remote access for anything else from the SCG interface.

Can someone ask a higher-up who has some experience with SCG from Dell's side and answer my question? Does deploying SCG without Policy Manager give Support access to a customer's hardware, and if so how does the customer control that access without Policy Manager?

Hello. The Remote Support feature is supported for all the devices mentioned in the SCG support matrix, Isilon devices included. Policy Manager is not mandatory for Remote Support to work. Support will still be able to access the devices 24x7 with or without Policy Manager.

Thanks for the reply. To be clear, does deploying SCG without Policy Manager mean that Support can, at any time without prior permission, log into a customer's hardware? If so how does a customer control/prevent that access? Does Support require customer-created user accounts, for example, which can thus be enabled/disabled as needed?

DB_2022,

Remote Support can be configured to either prompt you for approval every time access is requested, or you can set it to explicitly allow access (but would email to notify you).

Are you referring to using Policy Manager, or can the prompt for approval be set even if you don't have Policy Manager?

Are you sure? The SCG manual only talks about approval requests through Policy Manager (including the option to e-mail you). This would indicate that the ability to approve requests for remote access is only available through Policy Manager.

Those are the remote support options for SCG, policy mgr is just for the EMC mgmt side.

You're correct, I apologize I was backwards on that. With Policy Manager not being installed then remote support is not relevant, If you don't deploy Policy Manager then we can't dial in because that is what is required to allow it, as the Remote Access is which devices you want, and Policy Manager is what are the rules used for that
So to answer your underlying question, there is no access allowed without Policy Manager, as it is required to configure said access. 

Okay, thank you for the clarification. That answers my question.

@DELL-Chris HDid you confirm with Support that your answer regarding whether or not remote access is possible without Policy Manager is accurate? I have a customer who only has the SCG deployed and it's showing three remote sessions that apparently have been ongoing since August. My understanding from your answer was that this should not be possible. Please confirm. I'm about to assist another customer with SCG but if it's going to give Support unlimited access to their systems that's a factor they need to consider.

Hello DB_2022,

I'm sorry Chris is out today. Let us confirm with him tomorrow and let you know.

@Dell -Charles R  Thanks for the reply. Is Chris in today? If not, are you able to confirm with Support as I requested Chris do?