Running a PAM Proxy client with a lower version PAM

Products

• CA Privileged Access Manager (PAM)

Issue/Introduction

In heterogeneous environments there may be a situation where a PAM Proxy  client has been upgraded to a version provided for PAM in a higher version than the one the PAM appliances are at

Such would be the case if- for instance- the PAM Proxy had been upgraded to binaries shipped with CA PAM version 4.3.0 whereas the PAM appliance itself were still on version 4.2.2

Under such circumstances one may wonder if the PAM Proxy shipped with version 4.3.0 will still work with the PAM appliance in version 4.2.2

Resolution

The compatibility between a CA PAM appliance and a PAM Proxy is determined by the version of the Credential Management database and the version of PAM Proxy. If the PAM Proxy is at the same or lower version as the PAM Credential Management database this will work fine.

For instance, for CA PAM 4.2.X, the database will be version 4.21.X, so any PAM Proxy with that version (which you can check by going to Credential Management --> Proxies --> Select required PAM Proxy and choosing the Type Info tab) even if newer than CA PAM 4.2.X will work with that appliance if the version show is the same or lower than the Credential Management version in CA PAM