Mastering VMware vSphere™ 4

13.1. Overview of vSphere Security

Like most other areas of security within information technology, securing a vSphere environment means securing all the different components of VMware vSphere. Specifically, securing VMware vSphere means securing the following:

• The ESX/ESXi hosts

• vCenter Server

• The virtual machines (specifically, the guest operating systems running inside the virtual machines)

• The applications running in the virtual machines

I won't be addressing how to secure the applications within your virtual machines because that task falls well outside the scope of this book. I do encourage you, however, to be sure to keep application-level security in mind as you work toward securing your VMware vSphere environment. I discuss each of the ...