About accessing the ESM console

The ESM console and the managers use separate password-protected accounts. You must log on to the ESM console to access a Symantec ESM manager.

You can connect to several managers simultaneously to make the ESM console function for every manager in your enterprise. However, you should always limit the number of manager connections to correspond to the user's specific area of responsibility.

The ESM console creates a separate account and a user environment for each user. If you are a new ESM console user, you can type an unused name and set up your own password-protected ESM console account.

The ESM console prompts for a manager connection when it stores a new user environment. To connect with a manager, you must type the following:

The name or the IP address of the manager computer.
The account on the manager.
The communication protocol.

Each manager has a superuser account that Symantec ESM sets up during the manager software installation. This account has complete privileges on the product. You can use the superuser account to set up additional user accounts on the manager. These new accounts can have restricted privileges that limit access to policies, domains, and templates. Make sure that you disable or delete any unused accounts on a manager.

The ESM console protects the credentials of each manager connection by encrypting the credentials with the ESM console password. You can select an option in the ESM console to cache the credentials. Caching the credentials restores the manager connections automatically when you log on.

The Symantec ESM 9.0 console is compatible with Symantec ESM 6.x managers.

To log on to the ESM console

Double-click the Symantec ESM Enterprise console icon on the Windows desktop.
Type a user name.
Type a password.

For an initial logon, you must choose a password with at least six characters including at least one non-alphabetical character. ESM console account passwords can have up to 20 characters.

If the input name does not match an existing account, the ESM console prompts you to create a new account. If you click yes, the ESM console prompts you to confirm the password.
Confirm the password.

When you confirm the password, Symantec Enterprise Security Manager creates a new user environment and a local summary database for the current user session.

If the name and password entries match an existing user environment, the console uses the environment and local summary database for the current user session.

If the local summary database does not have any manager information, the ESM console prompts you to add a manager. If you decide not to add any managers, the ESM console cannot display any security information.

After you complete the current ESM console session, secure the local summary database object. To secure the local summary database object, edit its discretionary access control list (ACL).