Privileged Access Management (PAM) Manual

Introduction

Excalibur's Privileged Access Management (PAM) provides secure, web-based access to company resources such as RDP, SSH, VNC, and more, known as PAM Targets. All you need is a web browser without any special software. Users' computers never directly connect to the company's internal network, which create a digital air-gap to protect your PAM targets.

This guide covers how to use Excalibur PAM to

• Start and end a PAM target session
• Share texts and transfer files between your local computer and the PAM target
• Use the on-screen keyboard
• Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Info

This document will not cover how to setup, manage PAM targets and view its details. For that, please see the corresponding Management PAM in the Administrator Manual and User Manual.

In the PAM section of the Excalibur Dashboard, the options you see will depend on your user role. For more details on what each role can do, please see the specific user manual.

Connect to a PAM Target

In the Excalibur Dashboard side panel, go to the PAM -> Targets to see a list of available PAM targets which you have permission to access.

To start a session, click Connect to Target in the Actions column of the desired PAM target.

Figure 1. Connect to a PAM target button

Once you click to connect to a PAM target, a new browser tab will open. A notification will appear in the bottom-right corner to let you know the session is being recorded.

Figure 2. Notification displayed in the bottom-right corner

Controls bar and Setting Panel

We have a control bar for PAM sessions that provides access to important settings and features. It is hidden by default to maximize your screen space.

To see the PAM control bar, move your mouse to the top-edge of the screen.

Figure 3. PAM control bar

You can see:

• Pin Icon: Click to pin/unpin the control bar.
• The PAM target name.
• Recording status indicator: A red dot indicates that the session is being recorded.
• Settings button.

Click Settings button in the PAM control bar to open the settings panel on the left side. This interface allows you to manage PAM session features, though specific settings may differ based on the PAM targets.

SSH Target

Figure 4. PAM SSH target settings panel

RDP Target

Figure 5. PAM RDP target settings panel

VNC Target

Figure 6. PAM VNC target settings panel

Features

Clipboard Sharing

• Clipboard Size Limit: Clipboard transfers are capped at 256 KB to maintain performance and security.

• RDP and VNC Target:

  • Starndard keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V and Command+C / Command+V) are fully supported.

  • Right-click to Paste functionality is intentionally disabled to prevent unintended clipboard propagation.

• SSH Target:

  • Clipboard operations work through right-click copy and paste, making interactions simpler and more reliable.

You can also use the clipboard box in the settings panel to share text between your local computer and the PAM target.

Figure 7. Clipboard box in the settings panel

File Sharing

For VNC targets, file sharing is under development.

For RDP targets, you can only do file sharing if a shared drive is available for your session.

Download a file from the PAM Target

1. In the settings panel, under devices section, navigate to location of the file you want to download.

   Info

   For RDP targets, if the file is not located in the shared drive, you can copy or drag and drop files to the shared drive to be able to download.

2. Double-click the file to begin the download.

Figure 8. Downloading a file from the PAM target

Upload a file to the PAM Target

1. In the settings panel, navigate to the destination folder of the PAM target where you want to upload the file.

   Info

   For RDP targets, if the destination folder is not in the shared drive, you can upload the file to the shared drive, then copy it to other location of the PAM target.

2. Select Upload File and choose the file from your computer.

Figure 9. Uploading a file to the PAM target

On-Screen Keyboard

This feature is the same for all SSH, RDP, VNC PAM targets.

To view the on-screen keyboard, togle the On-Screen Keyboard option in the settings panel.

Figure 10. Toggling the on-screen keyboard

Once enabled, the on-screen keyboard will appear. You can drag it around the screen to reposition it as needed.

Figure 11. On-screen keyboard in PAM session

You can also select the language/layout of the keyboard.

Figure 12. Select keyboard language/layout

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can click on the Keyboard Shortcuts combination in the settings panel to send the shortcut to the PAM target.

Figure 13. SSH

Figure 14. RDP

Figure 15. VNC

Scale mode in VNC Target

Specific to VNC targets, you can select the scale mode to resized the the window to fit the screen.

Figure 16. VNC scale mode

You can choose between:

Figure 17. VNC scale mode options

For custom scale mode, you can adjust the scale percentage.

Figure 18. VNC custom scale mode

Ending a PAM Session

You can simply close the browser tab to end your PAM session. However, it is recommended to properly disconnect from the PAM target first.

RDP Target

Disconnect from the remote operating system by using the Start menu -> Power -> Disconnect.

Figure 19. Ending a PAM RDP session

SSH Target

Exit the terminal by typing the exit command.

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This guide is for informational purposes only. The functionality and capabilities of individual components of the Excalibur system depend on the installation, configuration, and system administrators, and may change with updates.