IP and hostname change for Privileged Access Manager cluster nodes in a test environment

Products

• CA Privileged Access Manager (PAM)

Issue/Introduction

This article provides guidance on changing the IP addresses and hostnames of Privileged Access Manager (PAM) appliances when they are restored from a production backup into a separate test environment. This is often performed to validate upgrade processes without impacting the production cluster.

Cause

Guidance is required to prevent network conflicts and accidental production impacts when running cloned production nodes in a test network.

Resolution

⚠️ IMPORTANT: This procedure is intended for test environment validation only. Always ensure the test environment is network-isolated from the production environment before powering on cloned nodes.

To reconfigure cloned PAM nodes for a test environment, follow these steps:

1. Delete any scheduled password rotation jobs before taking snapshots or backups of the production nodes to be moved.
2. Ensure the test VMs have at least 32 GB of RAM and 32 GB of free hard disk space.
3. Power on the nodes in the isolated test environment.
4. Access the VM Console for each node to perform the following:
   • Change the IP addresses and Gateway.
   • Change the Hostnames and Domain.
   • Restart the network service.
5. Log in to the HTTPS GUI and update the DNS servers if necessary. This requires a reboot of the appliance.
6. Reset the Cluster configuration fully before attempting to configure the nodes as a new cluster to ensure no legacy production cluster details remain.
7. Reset SSL Certificates to default if temporary test certificates are not available.
8. Verify that all network connectivity, NTP, and DNS resolution are functional.

Additional Information

• Licensing: PAM licenses do not typically need updates for temporary test clusters.
• Password Security: Avoid using accounts that rotate passwords on use or check-in during testing to prevent synchronization issues if the nodes ever regain production access.

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