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SOLUTIONOVERVIEWVMwarevSANSecurityZoneDeploymentVMwarevSphereClustersinSecurityZonesAsecurityzone,alsoreferredtoasa"DMZ,"isasub-networkthatisdesignedtoprovidetightlycontrolledconnectivitytoanorganization'sinternalITinfrastructureandapplications.
Asecurityzonetypicallycontainsexternal-facingservicesthatareaccessiblefromuntrustednetworkssuchastheInternet.
Othercommonusecasesforsecurityzonesareinternalisolationforclassiedenvironmentsordevelopmentinfrastructures.
Theprimarypurposeofthisarchitectureisaddinganotherlayerofsecuritytofurtherreducetheriskofunauthorizedaccesstoanorganization'sinternalnetwork,applications,anddata.
Oneofthemostsignicantthreatstosecurityinanyenvironmentismisconguration.
Complexityincreasesthepossibilityofmisconguration,whichcouldleadtopotentialsecurityincidents.
VMwarevSphereuses"bare-metal"virtualization,sothehypervisorinterfacesdirectlywithserverhardwarewithouttheneedforamorecomplex,generaloperatingsystem.
ThisapproachreducestheattacksurfaceandhelpssafeguardfromOS-relatedvulnerabilitiesmakingitthemostrobustandsecurevirtualizationplatformintheindustry—anexcellentplatformforrunningworkloadsinsecurityzones.
Examplesofworkloadstypicallyfoundinsecurityzonesincludewebservers,emailgateways,andproxyservices.
Itisverycommonfortheseworkloadstohavehighavailabilityrequirements.
FeaturessuchasvSphereHighAvailability,vSphereFaultTolerance,andvSphereDistributedResourceSchedulerhelpprotectvirtualizedapplicationsandservicesfromdowntimeassociatedwithhardwarefailuresandresourcecontention.
Thesefeaturesrequiresharedstorage,whichmeansaccesstointernallyhostedstoragenetworks(SANandNAS)arecommonlyextendedtosecurityzones.
Thispotentiallyopensupadditionaloptionsforhackerstogainaccesstointernalresourcesandleadstomorecomplexrewallcongurations.
Anotheroptionisadedicatedstorageappliancecontainedwithinthesecurityzone,butthissolutioncanbeexpensiveandaddmanagementoverhead.
Computeandstorageresourcesforasecurityzoneareideallyverysecure,simpletoimplement,cost-effective,andprovidetheperformanceandavailabilitylevelsnecessarytorunandprotectcritical,external-facingworkloads.
vSphereandVMwarevSANprovidethehyper-convergedinfrastructure(HCI)bestsuitedtomeettheserequirements.
VMware,Inc.
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comCopyright2017VMware,Inc.
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VMwarevSANSecurityZoneDeploymentWhyvSANforaSecurityZonevSANisVMware'ssoftware-denedstoragesolutionforHCI.
vSANandvSphereprovideacomplete,nativelyintegratedplatformconsistingofcompute,network,andstorageresourcesthataresecureandisolatedfromtherestoftheinfrastructure.
SincedisksinternaltothevSpherehostsareusedtocreateavSANdatastore,thereisnodependencyonexternalsharedstorageappliances.
Virtualmachinescanbeassignedspecicstoragepoliciesbasedontheavailabilityandperformanceneedsoftheapplication.
External-facingworkloadsbenetfromdependablestorageandpredictableperformancecharacteristicswhileminimizingrisk.
vSANisbuiltonanoptimizedI/OdatapathinthevSpherehypervisor.
ItismanagedasacorecomponentofavSphereenvironmentmeaningseparateadministrationtoolsandconnectionsarenotrequired.
Thisminimizestheattacksurfaceandcomplexityofthecomputeandstorageinfrastructure.
Lowercomplexityreducesthechancesofamiscongurationthatcouldleadtovulnerability.
Virtualmachine-centricstoragepoliciesarecreatedandassignedforvariousworkloadtypes.
PoliciesarebasedupontheavailabilityandperformanceservicesprovidedbyvSAN.
Thesepoliciescanbemodiedandreassigned,asneeded,withnodowntime.
AccesstothevSANdatastoreisconnedtothehostsinthesamevSANcluster.
AdedicatedHCIwithvSphereandvSANhelpensurecontrolledaccess,predictableperformance,andavailabilityofapplicationsandservicesinasecurityzonewithoutincreasingrisk.
Runningworkloadsonaseparatecomputeandstorageplatformfacilitatesmoreexibilitywithmaintenanceschedules.
vSANincludesahealthdashboard,whichautomaticallymonitorsandalertsonitemssuchasoveralldiskhealth,hardwarecompatibilitylist(HCL)compliance,networkconnectivityissues,andhighutilization.
Ifanalertisraised,administratorscaneasilyandquicklystartassessingtheissuebyclickingtheAskVMwarebuttoninthevSANHealthuserinterface,whichtakesthemdirectlytotherelevantVMwareknowledgebasearticle.
TimelyalertsandissueresolutionisonemorewayvSANenablesasecureandstableplatformforbusinesscriticalapplications.
NativeDataatRestEncryptionvSANencryptionisanoptionforvSANdatastorestofurtherimprovesecurityandprovidecompliancewithincreasinglystringentregulatoryrequirements.
SincevSANencryptionisnativetovSAN,iteliminatestheextracost,limitations,andcomplexityassociatedwithprocuringandmaintainingself-encryptingdrives.
VMware,Inc.
3401HillviewAvenuePaloAltoCA94304USATel877-486-9273Fax650-427-5001www.
vmware.
comCopyright2017VMware,Inc.
Allrightsreserved.
ThisproductisprotectedbyUSandinternationalcopyrightandintellectualpropertylaws.
VMwareproductsarecoveredbyoneormorepatentslistedathttp://www.
vmware.
com/go/patents.
VMwareisaregisteredtrademarkortrademarkofVMware,Inc.
intheUnitedStatesand/orotherjurisdictions.
Allothermarksandnamesmentionedhereinmaybetrademarksoftheirrespectivecompanies.
VMwarevSANSecurityZoneDeploymentAKeyManagementServer(KMS)isrequiredtoenableandusevSANencryption.
MultipleKMSvendorsarecompatibleincludingHyTrust,Gemalto(SafeNet),Thalese-Security,CloudLink,andVormetric.
AfteratrustrelationshiphasbeensetupbetweenVMwarevCenterServerandtheKMScluster,vSANencryptionisenabledwithjustafewmouseclicks.
vSANdatastoreencryptionisenabledandconguredatthedatastorelevel.
Inotherwords,everyobjectonthevSANdatastoreisencryptedwhenthisfeatureisenabled.
DataisencryptedusinganAES256cipherwhenitiswrittentopersistentmediainthecacheandcapacitytiersofavSANdatastore.
EncryptionoccursjustabovethedevicedriverlayerofthevSpherestoragestack,whichmeansitiscompatiblewithallvSANfeaturessuchasdeduplication,compression,andRAID-5/6erasurecoding.
vSANwithvSphereAvailabilityTheuseoflocaldiskdatastoreswithoutvSANintroducesrisktoapplicationuptime.
Forexample,onlyonecopyofavirtualmachine'slesisstoredonalocaldisk.
Ifthatdiskfails,thevirtualmachinelesmustberestoredfrombackupmedia,whichistimeconsumingandunreliable.
Itispossibletocreateasecondcopyofvirtualmachinelesonanotherdisk,buttheprocessisnotautomaticandmustbeperformedfrequently.
Therecoveryfromthissecondcopywouldalsobeamanualprocessincreasingriskandrecoverytime.
vSANaddressesthesechallengesbyaggregatinglocaldisksintoashareddatastoredistributedacrosshostsinthecluster.
vSANfeaturesastoragepolicyrulecalled"Primaryleveloffailurestotolerate"or"PFTT,"whichdenesthenumberofreplicasofavirtualmachine'slestodistributeacrossphysicalnodesinthevSANcluster.
Forexample,whenPFTT=1,vSANwillcreateandmaintaintwomirroredreplicasofthevirtualmachine'slesandplacethemonseparatehosts.
Ifadiskorhostcontainingoneofthosereplicasisoffline,thedataisstillaccessiblefromtheotherreplica.
vSphereHArequiressharedstorageandvSANistightlyintegratedwithvSphereHA.
Ifahostfails,virtualmachinesthatwererunningonthefailedhostareautomaticallyrebootedbyvSphereHAonotherhostsintheclustertominimizedowntime.
vSphereHAcanalsomonitorguestoperatingsystemsandautomaticallyrebootavirtualmachineintheeventofanoperatingsystemfailuresuchasaWindowsbluescreen.
vSphereFaultToleranceisalsocompatiblewithvSANandprovidescontinuousavailabilityforapplicationswithuptofourvirtualCPUsintheeventofahostfailure.
VMware,Inc.
3401HillviewAvenuePaloAltoCA94304USATel877-486-9273Fax650-427-5001www.
vmware.
comCopyright2017VMware,Inc.
Allrightsreserved.
ThisproductisprotectedbyUSandinternationalcopyrightandintellectualpropertylaws.
VMwareproductsarecoveredbyoneormorepatentslistedathttp://www.
vmware.
com/go/patents.
VMwareisaregisteredtrademarkortrademarkofVMware,Inc.
intheUnitedStatesand/orotherjurisdictions.
Allothermarksandnamesmentionedhereinmaybetrademarksoftheirrespectivecompanies.
VMwarevSANSecurityZoneDeploymentAvarietyofdataprotectionsolutionsareavailabletobackupandrecovervirtualmachinesandapplicationsinavSANcluster.
Checkwithyourdataprotectionvendortoverifysupportandlookforthe"VMwareReadyforvSAN"logo.
VirtualmachinereplicationsolutionssuchasDellEMCRecoverPointforVirtualMachinesandVMwarevSphereReplicationworksseamlesslywithvSANtoenablerapid,reliableper-virtualmachinerecovery.
vSANPerformancevSANisuniquelyembeddedinthevSpherehypervisorkernelandsitsdirectlyintheI/Odatapath.
ItcandeliverthehighestlevelsofperformancewithouttaxingtheCPUorconsuminghighamountsofmemoryresources,ascomparedtoothervirtualstorageappliancesthatrunseparatelyontopofthehypervisor.
All-ashvSANcongurationsprovideexcellentperformancewithpredictable,lowlatencies.
Acombinationofmagneticandsolidstatedrivescanbeusedtoenableash-acceleratedhybridcongurations.
Specicrulessuchas"Numberofdiskstripesperobject"and"Flashreadcachereservation(%)"canbeusedtoaccelerateread-intensiveworkloads—especiallyinhybridvSANcongurations.
WithvSAN,itispossibletoapplypolicieswithprecision.
Forexample,databaseserversarecommonlydeployedwiththeguestOSononevirtualdiskanddatabasesonothervirtualdisks.
Astoragepolicythatreservesahigherpercentageofashreadcachecouldbeassignedspecicallytothevirtualdiskscontainingdatabasestohelpguaranteeperformance.
VisibilityandProactiveNoticationswithvRealizeOperationsvSANincludesahealthcheckfeaturetomonitoritemssuchasnetworkconnectivity,diskcapacity,componentmetadata,andcompliancewiththehardwarecompatibilitylist(HCL).
Whilethismightbesufficientinmanycases,enhancedvisibilityandmanagementcapabilitiesacrossvSANclustersatmultiplelocationsareavailablewithVMwarevRealizeOperations.
vRealizeOperationsManagerincludesdashboardsforvSANsuchasCapacityOverview,OptimizevSANDeployments,andOperationsOverview.
VMware,Inc.
3401HillviewAvenuePaloAltoCA94304USATel877-486-9273Fax650-427-5001www.
vmware.
comCopyright2017VMware,Inc.
Allrightsreserved.
ThisproductisprotectedbyUSandinternationalcopyrightandintellectualpropertylaws.
VMwareproductsarecoveredbyoneormorepatentslistedathttp://www.
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com/go/patents.
VMwareisaregisteredtrademarkortrademarkofVMware,Inc.
intheUnitedStatesand/orotherjurisdictions.
Allothermarksandnamesmentionedhereinmaybetrademarksoftheirrespectivecompanies.
VMwarevSANSecurityZoneDeploymentvRealizeOperationsfeaturespredictiveanalyticsandsmartalertstohelpensureoptimumperformanceandavailabilityofapplicationsandinfrastructures.
vRealizeOperationsManagerenablesadministratorstomonitorseveralfactorssuchasreadandwriteIOPS,throughput,latency,cachehits,writebufferutilization,andcapacity.
Capacityutilizationandtimeremainingmetricsarealsoincluded.
vRealizeOperationsanalyzesconsumptiontrendsandprovidesestimatesontheamountoftimeremainingbeforeresourcesareexhausted.
Thismakesiteasierforadministratorstoprocureadditionalcapacityinatimelymannertoavoidprojectdelaysandmoreseriousissuessuchasapplicationdowntimeduetolackoffreespace.
EasilyAddCapacitywithoutDowntimevSANisadistributedarchitecturethatallowsforelastic,non-disruptivescaling.
Computeandstoragecapacityisscaledoutsimplybybringinganewhostintothecluster.
Storagecapacityandperformancecanbescaledupindependentlybyaddingnewdrivestoexistinghosts.
This"grow-as-you-go"modelprovidespredictable,linearscalingforremoteofficeenvironmentswithaffordableinvestmentsspreadoutovertime.
SummaryvSANandvSphereprovidethebestHCIplatformforrunningvirtualmachineworkloadsrequiringpredictableperformanceandavailabilityinsecureenvironments.
vSpherehasachievedmultiplesecuritycerticationsandhasaproventrackrecord.
vSphereandvSANistherstandonlyHCIsolutionthatispartofaDISASTIG.
TheintegrationofvSANwithvSpherereducesriskthroughpolicy-basedmanagementandrole-basedaccesscontrol.
Importantservicessuchasexternal-facingwebsites,email,andemployeeremoteaccesscanbenetfromsharedstoragewithoutthecostandcomplexityofdedicatedstoragehardware.
Virtualmachine-centricstoragepoliciesarecreated,assigned,andmodied,asneedschangeintheenvironment.
MaintenancewindowsareeasiertoscheduleandtherearefeaturessuchasvSphereHAandvSphereReplicationtoenablerapidrecoveryfromunplanneddowntime.
vSANhealthmonitoringisincludedand,optionally,vRealizeOperationsManagementPackforStorageDevicesprovidesmultiplevSANdashboardsforproactivealerting,heatmaps,deviceandclusterinsights,andstreamlinedissueresolution.
VMware,Inc.
3401HillviewAvenuePaloAltoCA94304USATel877-486-9273Fax650-427-5001www.
vmware.
comCopyright2017VMware,Inc.
Allrightsreserved.
ThisproductisprotectedbyUSandinternationalcopyrightandintellectualpropertylaws.
VMwareproductsarecoveredbyoneormorepatentslistedathttp://www.
vmware.
com/go/patents.
VMwareisaregisteredtrademarkortrademarkofVMware,Inc.
intheUnitedStatesand/orotherjurisdictions.
Allothermarksandnamesmentionedhereinmaybetrademarksoftheirrespectivecompanies.