Prerequisites for using the Policy tool

Complete the following prerequisites:

Access rights

  • To export a policy, obtain access to an account on the manager that has View access rights for all policies and all templates.

  • To import a policy, obtain access to an account on the manager that has the Create new policies and Create new templates access rights enabled.

Operating system domains

  • The OS domains of the manager that imports a policy must also be on the manager that exports the policy. For example, if the manager that imports a policy has HP-UX agent domains, then the manager that exports the policy must have HP-UX agent domains.

  • The Policy tool reports an error and terminates the import process if the manager that imports the policy does not have the same OS domain as the manager that exports the policy. For example, the Policy tool reports an error if the manager that imports the policy has HP-UX agent domain, while the manager that exports the policy does not have the same agent domain.

  • The Policy tool disables the templates for a UNIX agent domain on the importing manager, if the manager that exports the policy does not have the matching UNIX agent domain. You can enable the templates again with the template editor.

    For example, if the manager that imports a policy has the Solaris UNIX agent domain and the manager that exports the policy has the HP-UX and AIX UNIX agent domains, the Policy tool disables the Solaris templates on the importing manager.

Directory permissions

To export a policy, obtain access to an account on the host computer with the Write permission enabled for the destination directory. By default, the Policy tool exports policies to the current directory.

Exported policies

Before you export a policy, verify that at least one agent of each OS type that is registered to the manager has installed the latest security update. The verification ensures that the exported policy contains current security checks, templates, and word lists. Then verify that all of the security checks in each module of the policy are set to match your company's security policy. Also, verify that the required templates and wordlists are enabled.

Imported policies

Before you import a policy, verify that the latest security update has been installed on the agents that are registered to the importing manager. The verification ensures that the agents can run all of the enabled security checks in the policy.