VMware

Information Security Concepts

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Understanding information security concepts not only enables efficient communication within organizations but also promotes understanding among different groups. Moreover, these information security concepts improve system design by highlighting areas of consideration. Authentication Authentication, a fundamental information security concept, proves that a person or application is genuine, thereby verifying their identity. It employs one or more of three primary methods, or factors: what you know, what you are, and what you have. “What you know” encompasses passwords, personal identification numbers (PINs), passphrases, and other secrets. However, this type of authentication is not strong on its own and is typically paired with another authentication factor. “What you are” involves biometric authentication methods, …

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What is Zero Trust?

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Zero Trust means “trust no device and trust no user.” It constantly re-evaluates access for every user and system. All devices and user identities undergo continuous multifactor verification. This approach enhances security by minimizing the attack surface and reducing the impact of potential breaches. Zero Trust acknowledges that threats can originate from both inside and outside the network perimeter. Infrastructure services often differ because they must run and connect when no other services are available. Infrastructure software like VMware vSphere uses features such as Secure Boot, Trusted Platform Modules, VIB signing and verification, and host attestation. These features build assurances that the infrastructure can be trusted in its current configuration. …

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VMware vSphere Patching Best Practices

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Midjourney AI depiction of a metamorphosis and change, a painting of hundreds of butterflies fluttering in blue, orange, red, and yellow

Patching and updating VMware vSphere 8 is a LOT easier than it used to be, and has a lot less risk with the advent of vCenter Reduced Downtime Update and the creation of an internal LVM snapshot on the VCSA. That said, this is a collection of some VMware vSphere “patching best practices” that tend to make patching a smoother and more successful experience. Some of these ideas seem obvious, but in large environments things change without proper communications to downstream teams. When you assume nothing, and verify things before proceeding, you have a much more successful experience. Preparation Ensure Access to VCSA Root and SSO Administrator Accounts Ensure that …

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Create a VM Template for Rocky Linux 9

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Midjourney rendering of Linux VM Templates

It’s fairly easy, but not entirely straightforward, to create a good Linux VM template on VMware vSphere. You’ve come to the right place, though! Let’s walk through all the steps needed to create a reliable, small, and secure VM template on VMware vSphere and VMware Cloud Foundation using Rocky Linux 9. Create a New VM First, we need a fresh VM. Make new VM the latest virtual hardware version you can. See “Upgrade VM Hardware Versions” for more discussion on this. Choose the right operating system. In this case, Rocky Linux is in the list. Alternately, you could choose Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for EL-family Linux distributions. I create …

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Upgrade VM Hardware Versions

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There are varying opinions within the greater VMware community about upgrading VM hardware versions. Newer virtual machine hardware versions introduce new features, new guest OS support, better compatibility and performance with CPU vulnerability mitigations, better support for modern CPU features, better security defaults, and so on. Upgrading virtual machine hardware changes the virtual hardware presented to the guest operating system, just as if you placed a boot device from a physical server into a newer physical server. These changes can vary in risk, may require more than one reboot, and may require human interaction to complete. This forms the basis for many of the opinions that recommend leaving VM hardware …

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