HP Adaptive Infrastructure Solution Security for BladeSystem Matrix

Abstract
The HP BladeSystem Matrix (Matrix) solution is an in the box, cloud infrastructure that brings the
economics, scalability, and response times of the cloud to diverse applications across your data
center. The BladeSystem Matrix combines capacity planning, disaster recovery, and automated
provisioning with a self-service portal into one command center. This solution unites your physical and
virtual environments. Matrix provides the foundation for an Adaptive Infrastructure data center
environment. With Matrix, you receive a configure-once infrastructure that combines network, storage,
and computing resources to help you accelerate complex IT projects, simplify daily tasks, and
continuously lower costs across your data center.
The Matrix solution introduces flexibility through the virtualization of hardware and software
resources. This paper describes:
• The implications of security in virtual environments
• Modifications that you can use to achieve your desired level of security
• How to view your existing security policies, mechanisms, and practices and how they apply in a
virtual environment, and what modifications are required to ensure a similar level of security in a
virtualized environment
• The security foundation layer provided by the BladeSystem Matrix solution components and their
interactions
For more information on virtualization see the following technology brief
Server virtualization
technologies for x86-based HP BladeSystem and HP ProLiant servers.
This paper presents an architectural view of the security characteristics and mechanisms of the
BladeSystem Matrix solution, specifically the virtualized environment, and describes the security
provided by the BladeSystem Matrix solution. This will help you understand the security characteristics
of the individual and combined components of the BladeSystem Matrix solution and the modifications
that might be required to implement comprehensive security policies and practices in a virtualized
environment. With this understanding you will be able to define an appropriate security
implementation for your deployment. The intended audience for this paper includes solution architects,
developers, and administrators.
Introduction
Virtualization is one of the fastest emerging technologies in the IT industry. The term server
virtualization refers to the abstraction or masking of physical resources and then enabling the
resources to be presented to the consumer in a logical orientation. Server virtualization also includes
the ability to relocate and adjust the machine workloads through administrative controls. The term
server virtualization is commonly used as a synonym for the widely available virtual machine
technology (hypervisors). However, you can apply machine abstraction to a broader set of
technologies including physical servers, networking, storage, operating systems, and other resources,
enabling you to pool and share the resources. You can utilize machine abstraction in the software
layer (virtual machines) or the physical layer. For example, HP Virtual Connect uses physical layer
abstraction, which abstracts the server-to-network connections, enabling you to construct server
profiles or logical servers from the virtualized resources. Logical servers enable administrators to
manage physical machines and virtual machines using the same management construct. The logical
server approach enables administrators to have a common solution to plan, deploy, move, adjust,
and manage server instances in their environments regardless of how the logical server is created. For
more information on logical servers, see the technology brief
Introducing logical servers: Making data
center infrastructures more adaptive.
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