Safeguard for Privileged Passwords (SPP) can be run in the cloud using Azure. A version of Safeguard for Privileged Passwords is available in the Azure Marketplace and an Azure Virtual Machine (VM) is required. See Windows virtual machines in Azure for details of setting up your VM.

When using Azure, Safeguard for Privileged Passwords is available on HTTPS X0. The Azure deployment does not use the MGMT service. The Recovery (Serial) Kiosk is used to view appliance information, Administrator password reset, power restart or shut down, and generating a support bundle. For more information, see Recovery Kiosk (Serial Kiosk) in the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords Administration Guide.

Disk size considerations

Safeguard for Privileged Passwords (SPP) deploys with a minimal OS disk size. You should increase the size of the OS disk based on your estimated usage and budget. SPP on hardware comes with 1TB of disk. You can use more or less than this depending on how many assets, accounts, and daily users you expect to have. 500GB is a minimal production disk size and 2TB is the maximum.

1. Deploy SPP.
2. Verify you can log in.
3. Shut down the VM (stopped and deallocated).
4. Follow Microsoft’s guidance for increasing the disk size: How to expand the OS drive of a virtual machine.

When you start up the VM, SPP automatically resizes the OS disk volume to use the available space.

Azure security considerations

Running Safeguard for Privileged Passwords (SPP) in Azure comes with some security considerations that do not apply to the hardware appliance. We recommend:

• Do not give Safeguard a public IP address.
• Use the Azure key vault to encrypt the disk.

• Limit access within Azure to the Safeguard virtual machine. SPP in Azure cannot protect against rogue Administrators in the same way the hardware appliance can.

Static IP address recommended

Configure the SPP VM with a static IP address in Azure. In Azure, the IP address must not change after the VM is deployed. If you need to change the IP address, take a backup, deploy again, and restore the backup. You can script the VM deploy to pick up an existing virtual NIC with the IP address configuration. For details, see Microsoft’s Virtual Network documentation.

Deployment steps

Safeguard for Privileged Passwords is deployed from the Azure Marketplace. Azure automatically licenses the operating system during the deployment with an Azure KMS.

The Azure base image includes the required configuration necessary to deploy into Azure following Microsoft's guidance, Prepare a Windows VHD or VHDX to upload to Azure.

1. Log into the Azure portal.
2. Under Azure services, click Create a resource.

3. Search for “One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Passwords” and click the tile.

4. On the One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Passwords screen, click Create.
5. Advance through the resource creation screens. Considerations follow:
   • For small deployments, it is recommended to choose at least VM size Standard D2s v3. Larger deployments warrant larger sizing choices. Safeguard hardware appliances have 32GB of RAM and 4 processors with at least 1 TB of disk space.
   • You must set an administrator user name and password as part of the image creation, however, SPP will disable this account during initial setup.
   • Set public inbound ports to None.
   • Choose your Windows licensing option.
   • Make sure to enable boot diagnostics and the serial kiosk. The Azure Serial console will be used to provide access to the Safeguard Recovery Kiosk.
6. Once you are finished configuring the VM, click Create. Azure will deploy the SPP virtual machine.
7. When the virtual machine deployment is finished, SPP will automatically start initializing and configuring itself for the first use. This usually takes between 5-30 minutes, depending on the VM sizing. During initialization, Safeguard will enable the firewall and disable remote access to the VM. You can monitor the progress of initialization from the Azure Serial console. While the initialization is running, do not log in to the VM or power off or restart the VM.
8. When initialization is complete, you will see the Safeguard Recovery (Serial) Kiosk on the Azure Serial console screen.
9. Log in to the appliance via the web using the default username and password admin / Admin123. You should change the admin password immediately. For details, see the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords Administration Guide, Setting a local user's password.
10. After clustering, change the trusted servers, CORS and redirects setting.
    As a best practice, after you have created your Safeguard for Privileged Passwords cluster (or if just using a single VM), change the Trusted Servers, CORS and Redirects setting to the empty string or a list of values to integration applications you wish to allow. For more details, see the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords Administration Guide, Trusted Servers, CORS and Redirects.
    

View or change the cloud virtual appliance setup

You can view or change the virtual appliance setup.

The Administrator uses the Recovery Kiosk (Serial Kiosk) to perform the following.

• Get appliance information

• Reset the Administrator password

• Restart or shut down the virtual appliance

• Generate a support bundle

• Resolve a quarantine (for more information, see What do I do when an appliance goes into quarantine in the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords Administration Guide).

For more information, see Recovery Kiosk (Serial Kiosk) in the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords Administration Guide.

To patch to a new version, use the API.