Configuring Password Authentication for the Diagnostics Port

If you have been asked by Customer Support personnel to connect a physical console to a control board or forwarding component on the router (such as the System Control Board [SCB], System and Switch Board [SSB], or Switching and Forwarding Module [SFM]) to perform diagnostics, you can configure a password on the diagnostics port. This password provides an extra level of security.

To configure a password on the diagnostics port, include the diag-port-authentication statement at the [edit system] hierarchy level:

You cannot configure a blank password for encrypted-password using blank quotation marks (" "). You must configure a password whose number of characters range from 1 through 128 characters and enclose the password in quotation marks.

You can use an MD5 password, or you can enter a plain-text password that the Junos OS encrypts (using MD5-style encryption) before it places it into the password database. For an MD5 password, specify the password in the configuration. Null-password (empty) is not permitted.

If you configure the plain-text-password option, the CLI prompts you for the password.

For routers that have more than one SSB, the same password is used for both SSBs.

Related Topics

• Configuring Password Authentication for Console Access to PICs