Microsoft Hyper-V and Virtual Iron. The primary purpose of a virtual security switch is to provide security measures such as isolation, control and content inspection between virtual machines
.
Virtual machines within
virtual switch
. The purpose of the virtual switch was to provide network connectivity within the virtual environment so that virtual machines and applications could communicate within the virtual network as well as with the physical network.
This concept of a virtual network introduced a number of problems, as it related to security within virtual environment, due to only having virtual switching technology within the environment and not security technologies. Unlike physical networks that have switches with
intrusion prevention
devices, the virtual network was wide open. The virtual security switch concept is one where switching and security have joined forces, so that security controls could be placed within the virtual switch and provide per-port inspection and isolation within the virtual environment. This concept allowed security to get as close as possible to the end points that it intends to protect, without having to reside on the end points (host-based on virtual machines) themselves.
By eliminating the need to deploy host-based security solutions on virtual machines, a significant performance improvement can be achieved when deploying security within the virtual environment. This is because virtual machines share computing resources (e.g.
disk space
) while physical servers that have dedicated resources. One way of understanding this, is to picture 20 virtual machines running on a dual-CPU server and each virtual server having its own host-based firewall running on them. This would make up 20 firewalls using the same resources that the 20 virtual machines are using. This defeats the purpose of virtualization, which is to apply those resources to virtual servers not security applications. Deploying security centrally within the virtual environment is in a sense one firewall versus 20 firewalls.
Limitations
Because switches are
layer 2 devices that create a single broadcast domain, virtual security switches alone cannot fully replicate the network segmentation and isolation typically employed in a multi-tiered physical network. To address this limitation, a number of networking, security and virtualization vendors have begun to offer virtual firewalls, virtual routers
and other network devices to allow virtual networks to offer more robust security and network organization solutions.
Problem example
Because virtual machines are essentially
peer-to-peer networks. Administrators can now download pre-installed virtual servers via the Internet to speed up the deployment time of new servers. No longer is it required for an administrator to go through the lengthy software installation process, because these virtual disk images have pre-installed operating systems and applications. They are virtual appliances
.
This mobility of server images has now created the potential problem that entire servers can become infected and passed around in the wild. Imagine downloading the latest
Fedora Linux Server from a web site like ThoughtPolice.co.uk, installing it and later learning that there was a Trojan horse
on that server that later took down your virtual network. This could be catastrophic.
While there is the trust factor that now needs to be taken in account when downloading virtual server images,
The Virtual Security Switch concept is one that monitors your trust decision by providing isolation and security monitoring between virtual machines. A Virtual Security Switch can isolate VM’s from each other, restrict what types of communication is allowed between each other as well as monitor for the spread of malicious content or denial of service attacks.
History
Reflex Security introduced the industry’s first 10 gigabit Network Security Switch which had a port density to support 80 physical servers connected to it.
which?
] that incorporate layer 2 and layer 3 switching and routing.
