It is NOT HMA, it is regular HMC - separate PC machine, it is mounted in
separate rack, not in z15 cabinet.
The machine is 1U high, so it is easy to inspect all the ports and
devices. In the front you have removable HDD, several fans
(demountable), some LED indicators and power on button.
On the back there are plenty of USB and UTP ports, power supplies and
some other ports (video).
NO SLOT FOR CARD. I assume SmartCard reader is for reading cards - some
slot is needed. There is no such thing.
Obviously there is no chance to "hide" smartcard slot on the top, bottom
or sides covered by rack equipment.
I could imagine there is some reader hidden inside the chassis, but it
is virtually impossible in 1U chassis.
Last, but not least: HMC report *external* devices connected to the
machine - mouse, keyboard, pendrive, whatever. It does not report any
internal device like HDD, VGA card, LAN adapters, etc.
--
Radoslaw Skorupka
Lodz, Poland
W dniu 18.08.2022 o 05:39, Timothy Sipples pisze:
I don't think it's a "zombie" device. I think it's a real one. It's just a device you may
not have seen before because it's "hidden."
I'm not the foremost expert in this area, but (guessing) you're probably using
the Hardware Management Appliance (HMA, a.k.a. vHMC). (Did I guess correctly?)
If so then you might be seeing evidence of the fact the Support Element has an
embedded smart card reader and smart card.
"What? These IBM servers have embedded smart card readers and smart cards from the
factory? I didn't know that!" Yes, they do. There are a whole bunch of standard but
special security-related features in these machines, and this is one of them. How nice
you noticed!
If you'd like to learn a bit more then I suggest logging into IBM ResourceLink, digging
through the Library section for your machine model to find a publication that looks
useful (such as a "Service Guide" or similar), and then you should be able to
find some perhaps oblique references to this particular design feature.
Hint: Don't try to remove or otherwise interfere with this smart card reader or
smart card. It could be important equipment. :-)
— — — — —
Timothy Sipples
Senior Architect
Digital Assets, Industry Solutions, and Cybersecurity
IBM zSystems/LinuxONE, Asia-Pacific
sipp...@sg.ibm.com
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