The pSeries® Hardware Management Console (HMC) was introduced in 2001 at the same time as the POWER4™ family of AIX 5L™ servers. It consists of a 32-bit Intel® processor-based computer running a modified Linux operating system. The primary function of the HMC is to run a graphical user interface based on Java™ that provides management tools for controlling one or more POWER4 servers and associated logical partitions (LPARs). This white paper describes what IBM has done to protect the HMC from unauthorized access or exploitation in a networked environment.
As shipped by IBM, the HMC is a special-purpose system to be used for server and partition management only. It does not run other Linux applications. Most of the native Linux interfaces are hidden from users, so no Linux skills are required to operate or manage the HMC. To prevent interference with system function, only IBM approved software may be installed on the HMC.
For the remainder of this white paper, we will reference HMC Recovery Software for pSeries Release 3 Version 2.6 and describe its security features.
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