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Running the Tufin Orchestration Suite (TOS) not only means to have a system running Linux, but also a Kubernetes Cluster is running on the system. If a system restart is necessary, it's not sufficient to simply enter the "reboot" command at the command line. Even if a snapshot needs to be created from a virtual machine, measures must be taken beforehand—otherwise, a snapshot might be available, but it will not be suitable for restoring the system. 

To shut down the system running TOS these steps should be taken: 

  • Stop TOS and wait for the message that TOS has been stopped
    # tos stop -d 

  • The Pods are still terminating, wait until all Pods have been stopped successfully, then resume the command using Ctrl-C
    # watch kubectl get pods

  • The Kubernetes Cluster should also be stopped and disabled
    # systemctl stop k3s.service
    # systemctl disable k3s.service

  • The result should be checked using the commands
    # systemctl is-active k3s
    # systemcll is-enabled k3s

Now it's safe to shutdown or restart the system. Creating a snapshot is now also possible safely.
After a restart or restore of the system, neither k3s nor tos will start automatically.
This might be uncomfortable, but it should be done this way. If not, problems migth arise due to open data bases, open files, etc. 

To start the system, these steps should be carried out: 

  • Start, enable and check k3s Service. This needs to be done first since TOS requires a running Kubernetes Cluster
    # systemctl start k3s.serice
    # systemctl enable k3s service
    # systemctl is-enabled k3s.service
    # systemctl status k3s.service

  •  Start TOS and wait for the message that TOS has been started successfully
    # tos start -d 

  • The Pods are still starting even if the command states that the start has been successully done.
    Check that all Pods have been started, leave the command afterwards using CTRL-C
    # watch kubectl get pods

This method appears to be complex, but it's recommended regarding data security and keep the system running without issues. 

 

 

For administration of Tufin SecureTrack and Tufin SecureChange you need at least one administrative account. This account must not be lost and the password must not be forgotten. If it is forgotten, there is a way to reset the admin account if CLI access is possible as root.

SecureChange / SecureApp

It's not possible to create a new user, so a reset of the user "admin" is done. Resetting the admin account requires access to the correct pod in the Kubernetes Cluster. You need to enter the pod, then use a command and leave the pod afterwards: 

# kubectl exec -it deploy/sc-server -- bash
pod$> scw reset-admin
pod$> exit
# 

This procedure resets the admin account to the password "admin", so access with admin/admin ist possible. For sure, the password admin needs to be changed at the next login.

SecureTrack

The procedure shown for SecureChange doesn't work for SecureTrack. But there is a command that will allow you to define a new local (administrative) user. As before, you need to configure it via the correct pod. After calling the command, the needed information is requested by the system. 

# kubectl exec -it deploy/keycloak-service -c keycloak-service -- manage_keycloak -r add_st_admin_user
Username: <user>
Password: <pass>
Confirm Password: <pass>
Admin user <user> is added.
#

After having finished the command, a new user with permissions "administrator" is known in SecureTrack. As usual, the system requires a password change at the first login. 
It's not reasonable to add a person with the permissions of "user" to the system, because it's possible with the newly created admin user after login. 

 

 

Usually, the Tufin Orchestration Suite (TOS) is going to be installed on TufinOS. In virtualized environments, TufinOS requires VMware ESXi as basis. 
Some companies don't continue using VMware, they are switching to Proxmox. This environment is not supported by TufinOS, so the installation of Rocky Linux is necessary to have an OS for TOS. This combination is supported by Tufin.

In Rocky Linux, the sudo environment is not enforced as it is when installing TufinOS. This is a problem if a Tufin Extension like e.g. Rule Lifecycle Mangement (RLM) is going to be installed. 
The routine installing the Extension states errors like e.g. "kubectl - command not found" or "tos - command not found" - even if TOS is installed and working correctly, i.e. these commands work when using them at the command line as root. 

The reason for this behavior: using "sudo" is hardcoded in the code of the Extensions. If it's not configured, the script doesn't work.

If the installation is done at the console with the permissions of root, editing the Extension might help. 
Open the Extension using e.g. vi / vim and remove all "sudo" references in commands. So if there is the command
   "sudo kubectl" 
replace it with a simple "kubectl". Doing the same procedure for "sudo tos" and saving the file allows an installation without this kind of error. 

 

 

 

The Tufin Orchestration Suite (TOS) provides the option to use a multi-domain management in SecureTrack as well as in SecureChange. This is useful e.g. when there are several companies or parts of a big enterprise using the same TOS instance. Some hints about it below. 

SecureTrack

Introducing Domains in SecureTrack is quite easy. In SecureTrack you go in the menu to "Monitoring - Domains" to define one or more domains. After this, managed devices can be assigned to different domains. Users as well as administators can be restricted to see only domains they are allowed to. 



Hints: 

  • Domains can be changed later, as well as the membership of a device. 
  • Users / Administrators might get their permissions per domain. 
  • Users cannot see the Map / Topology in multi-domain mode, even if they have the permission to view all devices in all domains (!)
    If this is needed, the multi-domain mode needs to be switched back to single-domain mode
    • Remove all devices from any domain, except default domain
    • Go to https://<securetrackVIP>/stcgitest.htm
    • Fetch the configuration using the link "Configuration - EditStConf - Fetch Current Conf"
    • Change the parameter <is_mssp>1</is_mssp> to <is_mssp>0</is_mssp>
    • Save the change by pressing "Submit New Conf" at the bottom of the page

SecureChange

If you have configured domains in SecureTrack, there is an option to use them in SecureChange, too. There are two options for domains in SecureChange that can be configured via the menu "Settings - Multi Domains". Please read the text below before clicking an option (!)

  • Segregated domains
    Users are restricted to see only devices ot the domain(s) as configured in SecureTrack. In SecureChange there are additional restrictions: Ticket Handlers have to be in the same domain as the Requester who created the ticket - also only targets and objects of this domain can be seen. Addtionally, Target Suggestion, Designer, and Verifier can analyze access requests only within this domain. 
  • Interconnected domains
    The restrictions shown above are not present, so Target Suggestion, Designer, and Verifier to analyze access requests across domains     (same as the default "none"). In this configuration, the "Clone Network Object Policy Workflow" is not supported. 

When considering to configure domains in SecureChange, lease beware of the fact that a change of this selection is not possible (!)

 

 

 

 

Since some versions of the Tufin Orchestration Suite (TOS) licensing and its enforcement is a bit more flexible as in earlier times. 

If e.g. 20 devices had been licensed some time ago, adding another device resulted in problems. Now, it's more flexible and you have the possibility to add some devices more than you have licensed. This results in the need of "license usage reports" for Tufin to find out the number of licenses used. 

Working with versions up to 24-2, these reports are required, but not really enforced. The license is shown in SecureTrack via Menu > Admin > Administrator > Licenses. At the bottom of the screen License Management the section License Usage is shown.

If the option "Send automatic usage reports" is turned on and the system has Internet access, everything is fine. If it's not turned on or connected to the Internet, a manual download of the usage report is recommended. The resulting JSON file is uploaded to the Tufin Portal then. 

Starting with 25-1, the license usage reports are enforced. The screen shown above has changed to this: 

It's now necessary to upload the license usage report to the Tufin Portal - and to get the confirmation code that will be sent by E-Mail after the upload. After having uploaded the code shown in the E-Mail to TOS, a message is displayed that the licenses used has been verified. 

Not following Tufin's guidelines of today, some restrictions regarding the TOS will occur because no Information about Site Usage Monitoring has been supplied: 

  • Not providing Reports for 6 Months:
    There is no possibility to upgrade TOS

  • Not providing Reports for 12 Months: 
    No further use of TOS is possible, even if a valid subscription has been purchased

So the flexibility regarding licenses requires a mandatory upload of License Usage Reports to the Tufin Portal now. It's done here via My Account > Available Licenses > Manual Usage Upload - or if TOS is connected to the Internet, via the automatic upload process. 

 

 

 

 

Tufin has officially released TOS R25-1. It's the first version of the Tufin Orchestration Suite of 2025. 
TOS R25-1 is available as GA and can be downloaded from the Tufin Portal (authentication required).
Some improvements of TOS R25-1:

Change Monitoring, Automation, and Orchestration

  • SecureTrack
    When looking at the revision history, comments can be added now. This feature is available for GCP, Meraki, Arista and other OPM devices.

  • SecureTrack
    In Cloud environments, syslogs via TCP can be encrypted with TLS now. 

  • SecureTrack
    Based on Network Configuration, a mapping of zones to interfaces (MZTI) is supported now. This is useful when working with USPs. 

  • SecureChange
    The user experience for "generic workflows" has been improved by introducing a new design and a panel for "Ticket Properties". 

  • SecureChange
    It's possible to automate userID from Network Tickets to Next Generation Firewalls like Panorama and FortiManager

  • SecureChange
    Further improvements in SecureChange SLA allow to pause, resume, and reset the SLA of tickets. Non-handler users can be excluded from the SLA, so the time used by handler teams can be calculated more accurate. 

  • SecureApp
    Applications may now include connections using LDAP user groups from specified networks.

  • TufinMate
    Tufin's AI Assistant is now generally available. It supports in troubleshooting network issues, opening Access Request tickets via Microsoft Teams using natural language and Microsoft Copilot is supported to get questions about Topology. 

Devices and Platforms

  • Arista EOS
    The Linux-based network operation system for Clouds is officially supported now. It's supported for Topology (e.g. VxLAN, MPLS, VPN) for IPv4 as well as IPv6, for USP as well as Change Automation.

  • AWS
    Unused Security Group (SG) rules across AWS environments are recognized now, so rule analytics, last-hit information in Rule Viewer as well as Security Best Practice reports are available. 

  • Azure
    Using USPs is possible for Azure Network Security Groups (NSGs) now. This might increase the security level of the cloud.

  • Azure
    Azure Network Security Groups (NSGs) with Application Security Groups (ASGs) are supported by the Designer in Access Request Workflows now. So changes can be automated, too. 

  • Check Point
    Check Point Last Hit Information is shown in the Rule Viewer for objects in rules. Therefore it's possible now to identitfy unused objects in rules. 

  • Cisco Meraki
    Automatic Target selection in SecureChange is supported now for Cisco Meraki, including USP checks before implementation. 

  • OPM
    OPM (Open Policy Management) devices can be integrated into TOS. Now, in Access Request Workflows Designer support for this kind of devices has been added. 

  • VMware
    NSX-T Gateway Firewalls can be integrated to SecureTrack now. So the policies and their revisions are visible, shown in Topopology, as well as checked against USPs. 

  • VMware
    NSX-T in Azure VMware Solution (AVS) is supported. It allows to extend the on-premis VM environment zu Microsoft Azure. 

  • Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA)
    ZIA devices are supported by SecureTrack now. They are shown in SecureTrack Topology (including VPN) and NGFW objects like URL categorization as well as FQDNs are supported. 

  • Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA)
    SecureTrack Rule Viewer shows rules, last-hit information. Additionally, reports are possible to identify unused rules and objects.

Tufin Appliances

  • Tufin G4 (T800 / T1200) & G4.5 (T820 / T1220) appliances can be connected to two different switches to provide them with Link Redundancy. 


Further improvements, as well as corrections, are included in R25-1.
The latest version of the Tufin Orchestration Suite can be found at the Tufin Portal: https://portal.tufin.com