Virtualization Security

Virtualization Security ITEM Virtualization: Benefits of XenServer Disadvantage of XenServer Virtualization Security Challenges Implementation of XenServer VIRTUALIZATION SECURITY The objective of this study is to examine the use of Citrix XenServer which is a free virtualization platform based on the open-source Xen hypervisor and to examine the implications, advantages and disadvantages of having an open-source virtualization product such as XenServer.

XenServer is a "full open source model beginning with the new XenServer 6.2." (Citrix, 2015, p.1) Xenserver provided by Citrix is a paid version however, the upside to the paid version is that it is inclusive of both maintenance and support as well as having CPU socket licensing. It is reported that the "DNA of Xen and XenSource...is open source." (Citrix, 2015, p.1) In addition it is reported that "open source software leads proprietary software in cloud infrastructure [and] open source enables collaborative development and drives public trust." (Citric, 2015, p.

1) Furthermore, open source communities empower users and broaden market reach." (Citrix, 2015, p. 1) I. Virtualization: Benefits of XenServer Virtulization is described as "the decoupling of logical computing resources from physical hardware." (Trend Micro, 2015, p. 2) Virtualization offers the opportunity to "provide significant benefits and cost-savings through server consolidation. By virtualizing and consolidating underutilized XenApp servers, and applications silos the investment in existing IT resources can be maintained while simultaneously reducing server footprint in the datacenter and achieving a far greater degree of server utilization." (Citrix, 2015, p.

6) In addition virtualization of the server and XenServer's "dynamic workload management...introduces a new and simplified management paradigm for XenApp environments." (Citrix, 2015, p. 6) 'Custom Systems Corporation' states that the advantages of XenServer include that there "is almost no overhead. The Xen Server Host can fit on a small RAID 1 partition, needs very little RAM, and doesn't need to be managed as often as a Windows Host Server." (2014, p.

1) This enables all the fast hard drives and RAM to be allotted to the Virtual Services rather than this taking up the Windows Host Server." ( Custom Systems, 2014, p. 1) The export or migration of a VM with XenServer is quite easy and this is not true of the Microsoft Hyper-V. II. Disadvantages of XenServer According to 'Custom Systems' the XenServer is not as easy to manage as Microsoft Hyper-V.

While the install goes much quicker, in order to provide proper management of the Virtual Servers of XenServer, needed will be an install of the Xen Center Console which must be accomplished on a Windows server or PC. In fact, XenServer is reported to be impractical "in some environments." ( 2014, p. 1) III. Virtualization Security Challenges It is reported that a virtualized system "uses the same operating system -- and enterprise and Web applications -- as a physical system." (Trendmicro, 2015, p.

3) It is reported that in order to "create an effective approach to virtualization security" the same security principles that have evolved to protect the IT resources of a physical nature. (Trend Micro, 2015, p. 3) Stated as one principle is "defense in depth" stated to be a "fundamental security requirement for organizations that recognize the de-perimeterization" that is reported as emergent in the infrastructure of the IT. ( Trend Micro, 2015, p.

3) Stated as security best practices are the following rules: (1) The scope and level of protection should be specific and appropriate to the asset at risk; (2) Business demands that security enable business agility and be cost effective; (3) Whereas boundary firewalls might continue to provide basic network protection, individual systems and data will need to be capable of protecting themselves; (4) In general, the closer to an asset that protection is provided, the easier it is to protect that asset. (Trend Micro, 2015, p. 6) IV.

Implementation of XenServer Implementation of XenServer include the following stated steps: (1) Synchronizing time between XenServer hosts (2) Setting up networks and configuring network bonding (3) Connecting to iSCSI volumes in the SR iSCSI Storage Repositories that will be created utilizing the HP StorageWorks iSCSI volumes created in the previous section; (4) Creating a VM on the SR and best practices implemented ensuring that each virtual machine maximizes its.