The Tool Desk
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Understand who owns the security boundary
IBM Bob self-hosted runs on customer-managed OpenShift. The customer configures networking, storage, and identity and is responsible for platform lifecycle operations, security logging, and monitoring. Assign named owners for cluster configuration, Bob namespaces, identity, certificates, model services, log retention, incident response, and release upgrades before deployment. IBM describes security logging and monitoring as OpenShift-level responsibilities in its Bob overview and installation overview.
Installation creates resources in an operator namespace and an operand namespace. The release bundle also contains cluster-scoped resources, including CRDs, ClusterRoles, and ClusterRoleBindings. Those cluster-wide objects deserve a platform/security review distinct from the application installation itself.
Install with the narrowest practical privileges
IBM’s prerequisite guide calls for cluster-admin or equivalent privileges for the cluster-wide installation step. Its staged workflow allows the later Bob installation to run in the Bob namespaces with namespace administrator permissions. Use that separation where it fits your governance model rather than routinely handing broad cluster-admin credentials to application operators.
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- Generate and review the cluster-scoped bundle. Have the OpenShift platform and security owners inspect the generated YAML and its cluster-wide permissions before applying it.
- Apply approved cluster-scoped resources. Assign this step to an authorized cluster administrator or equivalent role. IBM’s installation prerequisites describe the privilege requirement and staged workflow.
- Install Bob in its namespaces. After the cluster-wide resources are in place, use the documented
bobctl installworkflow with namespace administrator permissions for the Bob namespaces, where possible.
Establish TLS trust before clients connect
Choose the certificate approach before exposing the Bob endpoint. You can use an organization-provided certificate already trusted by managed workstations, or use the CA generated during installation and distribute its certificate to clients through your approved trust process. IBM documents the API endpoint in the form https://api.<cluster-domain> and states that the bob-ide and bob-shell clients cannot communicate with the backend until the workstation trusts the certificate presented by the external endpoint. See IBM’s configuration guide and accessing Bob self-hosted instructions.
| Certificate choice | What to plan for |
|---|---|
| Organization-provided, already trusted certificate | Certificate ownership, renewal and rotation, and compatibility with managed client trust stores. |
| Installation-generated or other private CA | Secure distribution of the correct CA certificate, client onboarding, and verification of certificate identity and validity. |
Connect identity controls to organizational policy
IBM documents LDAP or Active Directory federation and direct Keycloak user accounts as identity options. Choose the pattern that best fits your existing account governance and lifecycle processes.
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| Identity option | Consider |
|---|---|
| LDAP or Active Directory federation | How existing central identity processes handle account lifecycle and administration. |
| Direct Keycloak users | Who creates, reviews, changes, and removes Bob-specific accounts. |
The cited Bob documentation does not establish a universal MFA, group-mapping, or deprovisioning recipe. Apply your organization’s identity policy for those controls rather than assuming Bob configures them automatically.
Limit model connectivity and configure safety measures
Bob requires access to one supported core inference model. IBM strongly recommends also configuring a guardrail model, or using the model provider’s native guardrail capabilities. Before installation, identify the selected provider’s endpoints and required ports, then limit backend-to-model traffic using the network policies, firewalls, proxies, and routes appropriate to your topology. Bob’s prerequisites warn that the backend and model services must communicate, but there is no universal allow-list: derive destinations and ports from the chosen model service. Check IBM’s version-sensitive supported-model documentation.
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For an air-gapped deployment, IBM identifies self-hosted models as an option and documents openai/gpt-oss-20b as a guardrail choice for air-gapped deployments. Confirm model support and serving requirements for the release and topology you plan to run; availability of a model name alone does not establish that a particular serving setup is supported.
Build audit, logging, and incident response outside Bob
Do not rely on Bob’s Admin UI as your security audit system. IBM states that security event logging and monitoring for Bob self-hosted are managed at the OpenShift platform level and are not provided by Bob. Its current documented known limitations also say Activity Logs are absent from the Admin UI. IBM identifies pod logs for authentication, authorisation, and admin services, but ordinary service logs should not be treated as a complete security audit trail. See the known limitations and installation overview.
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- Configure OpenShift audit and security-event collection and forward relevant data to your enterprise monitoring or SIEM systems.
- Set retention and access controls according to organizational policy, and verify that the events needed for investigation are actually collected and retained.
- Document who can contain an incident, rotate credentials, respond to a model endpoint issue, preserve evidence, and notify affected users.
IBM’s Bob security guidelines also recommend preparing an incident response process for AI-assisted workflows.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Apply IDE and workspace safeguards without mistaking them for isolation
IBM recommends putting sensitive files and credential material in .bobignore, reviewing auto-approve settings, keeping secrets out of prompts and accessible files, securing MCP servers, and reviewing generated code or commands before applying them. For MCP connections, use authentication, encryption, limited actions, and auditing appropriate to the server and your environment.
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.bobignore limits Bob’s tools within the current workspace; it does not isolate Bob from the host system. Use operating-system, container, repository, and platform controls for actual isolation. These safeguards are described in IBM’s security guidelines.
Plan for release-specific lifecycle limits
IBM’s system requirements page lists Bob self-hosted 2.0.0, Bob IDE 2.2.0, and Bob Shell 2.0.5. Those are the versions listed on that page, not a guarantee that they remain the latest available. The same documentation says controlled in-place upgrades are not supported for the documented release and recommends a fresh installation for a new release. Check the system requirements and known limitations for the release you intend to deploy, and include upgrade planning in your ownership and change-control process.
Quick Recap
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