With the deployment of virtual servers becoming easier, the information technology department can easily lose a true inventory of their servers. IT Managers and responsible personnel need to keep an accurate inventory of just how many servers are installed per server. Managing the servers in this type of environment can lead to the ignoring of “unseen” virtual servers. Many companies use this technology to consolidate servers allowing for a more managed and economically feasible network.
Asset management tools are one of the key elements needed to help the IT professional keep an account on the hardware and software in their network. These
tools help to alert key personnel on the inventory and management of the aforesaid items. These auto-discovery tools allow for multiple subnets and ip address ranges. This protection allows the IT department to see or detect rogue virtual machines. This is a key element of security for any network and is the foundation of protecting all equipment including virtualized servers.
Because virtual machines have their own operating systems and applications, this information needs to be inventoried and kept up to date. It also allows the personnel in the IT department to see the individual applications on each machine.
Security tools are often used to monitor network traffic. With data and information traveling between individual virtualized machines, monitoring tools may fail to ‘see’ security threats moving between virtual machines. It is important to make sure these environments are ‘clean’ and secure as they are allocated or reallocated. Monitoring of any traffic that travels between these computers should be monitored. Some switching technology and software allows for this information to be redirected to the department’s security applications. This architecture allows the data to be scanned, and reviewed for malicious activities.
Part Two
will contain information about leading software to monitor your network and other security elements needed to protect your VM environment. With today's virtual environments, the information technology department needs to focus on the security of these servers and remember that these servers need to be protected and monitored on a daily basis.