VMware Smart Assurance components are installed using a default secret phrase. This phrase can be used to encrypt VMware Smart Assurance passwords used in authentication and to encrypt communications between VMware Smart Assurance components.
VMware recommends that you take advantage of the added level of security provided through the secret phrase and its related security mechanisms. To do this, you must change the secret phrase using sm_rebond and make it consistent at all your installation sites. Due to the sensitive and vital nature of this secret phrase, store and guard the phrase as you would do with the root passwords of the most sensitive servers in your network.
Under certain circumstances, the loss of the secret phrase can force extensive reconfigurations and require reinstallations of all VMware Smart Assurance components.
