Best practices for providing Auvik SSH access to network devices

By the name, SSH (Secure Shell) protocol is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecure network, like the internet. However there are best practices that should be followed to make it more secure.

For providing Auvik SSH access to network devices, here’s what we recommend:

1. Create a dedicated service account for Auvik. It should only be used for specific purposes and not used outside of the core use case

2. Restrict the service account to do what it needs to do

3. Generate a SSH key

4. After entering the key in Auvik, don’t store the key

5. Plan key rotations

If you can’t use a SSH key, here’s what we recommend for SSH login passwords:

1. Create a dedicated service account for Auvik

2. Restrict the service account to do what it needs to do

3. Follow good password hygiene, which include the following:

   • Use complex passwords

     • Lengthy passwords of 20 characters or more. The longer the password, the less rotations are required

     • Include a mix of uppercase characters, lowercase characters, digits, and special characters

     • Don’t use dictionary words

     • Don’t include any personal or corporate information

     • Don’t re-use previous passwords

   • Store the password in a password manager

   • Plan password rotations