Information transmission security

The problem information and service information you send to the IBM® Electronic Support website is safe and secure.

IBM Electronic Service Agent can collect problem and service information and send it to the IBM Electronic Support website on a scheduled basis. IBM Electronic Service Agent transactions are outbound requests sent using the security of Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). These connection requests are always initiated from the customer system by IBM Electronic Service Agent. IBM Electronic Service Agent can accept incoming connections from the activator command that is used to activate the product, from the esacli command, and from the IBM Electronic Service Agent graphical user interface. Both the activator and esacli commands are run only locally on the client system. The graphical user interface connection is initiated by the client only. In all three cases, only users with superuser privileges can run the commands that establish the connections, and the connections are secured, encrypted, and completely within the client local area network.

IBM Electronic Service Agent initiates a connection with the IBM Electronic Support website and then the IBM Electronic Support website replies. The IBM Electronic Support website never initiates a connection to IBM Electronic Service Agent. During the activation and setup of IBM Electronic Service Agent, you select how IBM Electronic Service Agent communications are set up. By default, communication configuration is a direct Internet connection. You can select to keep the default, or specify to transmit information using the IBM Electronic Service Agent proxy server or another proxy server. IBM Electronic Service Agent uses the client's connectivity environment, including any firewalls that the client has established.

The following figure shows a summary of the connection into IBM. The nature of maintaining a high-level security posture dictates that IBM does not divulge in-depth details regarding the management of security or its tools, processes, and audits.

Diagram showing connection to IBM

Information transmission security is important whether your connection to IBM is through a direct or proxy connection.

Internet transmission of service information

Note: The Internet provider relationship and connection are the responsibility of the client.

If you select the Internet path to send your information, then the following process applies:

  1. At the scheduled time, IBM Electronic Service Agent collects the information to be transmitted and queues it for transmission.
  2. IBM Electronic Service Agent establishes an TLS internet connection with the IBM Electronic Support website using the system ID and password that was created previously.
  3. The collected information is sent to the IBM Electronic Support website.
  4. After the arrival at the IBM Electronic Support website, the information is transferred to the appropriate IBM database.

Proxy transmission of service information

The proxy can be either a client supplied HTTP proxy or the IBM Service and Support Proxy. The proxy resides on a client system.

Note: The client supplied HTTP proxy is the responsibility of the client.

If you select the proxy path to send your information, then the following process applies:

  1. At the scheduled time, IBM Electronic Service Agent collects the information to be transmitted and queues it for transmission.
  2. Using the TLS connection between the system and the IBM Electronic Support website, IBM Electronic Service Agent establishes an TLS internet connection between the proxy and the IBM Electronic Support website. This connection is authenticated using the system ID and password previously created.
  3. IBM Electronic Service Agent sends the collected information through the proxy to the IBM Electronic Support website.
  4. After the information arrives at the IBM Electronic Support website, the information is transferred to the appropriate IBM database.