HP HPE6-A78 Exam With Confidence Using Practice Dumps

Devices use the Diffie-Hellman exchange to agree on a shared secret in a secure manner over an insecure network. The main purpose of this cryptographic protocol is to enable two parties to establish a shared secret over an unsecured communication channel. This shared secret can then be used to encrypt subsequent communications using a symmetric key cipher. The Diffie-Hellman exchange is particularly valuable because it allows the secure exchange of cryptographic keys over a public channel without the need for a prior shared secret. This protocol is a foundational element for many secure communications protocols, including SSL/TLS, which is used to secure connections on the internet. References to the Diffie-Hellman protocol and its uses can be found in standard cryptographic textbooks and documentation such as those from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and security protocol specifications.

The thumbprint (also known as a fingerprint) of a certificate or SSH key is a hash that uniquely represents the public key contained within. When you first connect to the switch with SSH from a management station, you should ensure that the thumbprint matches what you expect. This is a security measure to confirm the identity of the device you are connecting to and to ensure that a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack is not occurring. If the thumbprint matches the known good thumbprint of the switch, it is safe to proceed with the connection.

HPE Aruba Networking AOS-CX switches support TACACS+ for administrative authentication, where ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) can act as the TACACS+ server. When an admin authenticates, CPPM sends a TACACS+ response that includes attributes such as the TACACS+ privilege level and vendor-specific attributes (VSAs) like Aruba-Priv-Admin-User.

In this scenario, CPPM sends:

TACACS+ privilege level = 15: In TACACS+, privilege level 15 is the highest level and typically grants full administrative access (equivalent to a superuser or administrator role).

Aruba-Priv-Admin-User = 1: This Aruba-specific VSA indicates that the user should be granted the highest level of administrative access on the switch.

On AOS-CX switches, the privilege level 15 maps to the administrator role, which provides full read-write access to all switch functions. The Aruba-Priv-Admin-User = 1 attribute reinforces this by explicitly assigning the admin role, ensuring the user has unrestricted access.

Option A, "The user receives auditors access," is incorrect because auditors typically have read-only access, which corresponds to a lower privilege level (e.g., 1 or 3) on AOS-CX switches.

Option B, "The user receives no access," is incorrect because the authentication was successful, and CPPM sent a response granting access with privilege level 15.

Option D, "The user receives operators access," is incorrect because operators typically have a lower privilege level (e.g., 5 or 7), which provides limited access compared to an administrator.

The HPE Aruba Networking AOS-CX 10.12 Security Guide states:

"When using TACACS+ for administrative authentication, the switch interprets the privilege level returned by the TACACS+ server. A privilege level of 15 maps to the administrator role, granting full read-write access to all switch functions. The Aruba-Priv-Admin-User VSA, when set to 1, explicitly assigns the admin role, ensuring the user has unrestricted access." (Page 189, TACACS+ Authentication Section)

Additionally, the HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager 6.11 User Guide notes:

"ClearPass can send the Aruba-Priv-Admin-User VSA in a TACACS+ response to specify the administrative role on Aruba devices. A value of 1 indicates the admin role, which provides full administrative privileges." (Page 312, TACACS+ Enforcement Section)