Agent passwords facilitate access to remote servers where restore areas and document storage areas are located. They also protect the agent consoles and GroupWise Monitor from unauthorized access.
The Windows POA needs user name and password information in order to access a restore area or a document storage area on a server other than the one where the post office folder structure is located. There are two ways to provide this information:
Providing passwords in clear text in a startup file might seem like a security risk. However, the servers where the agents run should be kept physically secure. If an unauthorized person did gain physical access, they would not be doing so for the purpose of obtaining these particular passwords. The passwords are encrypted as they pass over the wire between servers, so the security risk is minimal.
When you install the GroupWise agents, they are automatically configured with an agent console, and no password protection is provided. If you do not want agent console status information available to anyone who knows the agent network address and port number, you should set passwords on your agent consoles. For instructions, see:
If you plan to access the GroupWise Monitor consoles, it is most convenient if you use the same password on all agent consoles. That way, you can provide the agent console password once in GroupWise Monitor, rather than having to provide various passwords as you view the consoles for various agents. For information about providing the agent console password in GroupWise Monitor, see Section 83.4, Configuring Polling of Monitored Agents.
Along with the agent consoles, you can also provide password protection for the Monitor console itself, from which all the agent consoles can be accessed. For instructions, see Section 83.7, Securing the Monitor Web Console.