Security Overview of the Integrity Virtual Machines Architecture

ManualsBrandsHP ManualsSoftwareHP Matrix Operating Environment w/Insight Control BL 24x7 Supp Flexible Lic

Security Overview of the

Integrity Virtual Machines Architecture

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................2

Integrity Virtual Machines Architecture................................................................................................2

Virtual Machine Host System.........................................................................................................2

Virtual Machine Control............................................................................................................2

Scheduling Access to Physical Resources .....................................................................................3

Virtual Machines.........................................................................................................................3

Virtual Machine Monitor...............................................................................................................3

Virtual Ethernet Switches...............................................................................................................4

Processor Virtualization ...................................................................................................................4

Memory Virtualization.....................................................................................................................4

Storage Virtualization......................................................................................................................5

Virtual Networking..........................................................................................................................5

Virtual Ethernet Switches...............................................................................................................5

Virtual Network Interface Cards.....................................................................................................6

Virtual Machine Management...........................................................................................................7

Command Line Interface...............................................................................................................7

Graphical User Interface ..............................................................................................................8

Customizable Roles for Access and Management .............................................................................8

General Security for the VM Host System............................................................................................8

Conclusion....................................................................................................................................9

For more information.......................................................................................................................9

Summary of content (9 pages)

PAGE 1
Security Overview of the Integrity Virtual Machines Architecture Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 2 Integrity Virtual Machines Architecture................................................................................................ 2 Virtual Machine Host System ......................................................................................................... 2 Virtual Machine Control..
PAGE 2
Introduction HP Integrity Virtual Machines (Integrity VM) is a soft partitioning and virtualization technology within HP's Virtual Server Environment, which enables you to create multiple virtual servers within a single HP Integrity server, hard partition, or blade. A single HP Integrity system running Integrity VM can support multiple virtual machines, each with its own separate “guest” operating system. As a result, each virtual machine (VM) can host its own applications in an isolated environment.
PAGE 3
Scheduling Access to Physical Resources One of the critical functions of the VM Host is managing VM access to physical resources – processor resources in particular. Each virtual machine has a guaranteed resource entitlement associated with it. Leveraging the fair-share scheduler (FSS) functionality inherent in the HP-UX operating system, the VM Host system enforces processor resource allocation to virtual machines.
PAGE 4
Virtual Ethernet Switches Integrity VM virtualizes two major entities, computer systems (machines) and Ethernet network switches. These “virtual switches” may be connected to virtual Network Interface Cards (NICs) on a virtual machine and to logical network ports on the physical VM Host system. VLANs allow a physical LAN to be segmented into multiple broadcast domains so that machines in different VLANs may not communicate with each other. Integrity VM provides support for IEEE 802.
PAGE 5
Storage Virtualization Integrity VM virtualizes the memory-mapped I/O architecture of the Itanium processor family. It intercepts loads and store to memory addresses that would represent physical devices in a real computer, and emulates the behavior of the corresponding devices. To allow guest operating systems to control I/O devices with complete isolation and flexibility and without adding virtualization-aware drivers, Integrity VM provides register-level emulation of I/O devices.
PAGE 6
Virtual Network Interface Cards Virtual machine communication with other systems is only possible through virtual network interface cards connected to a vswitch. All network communication to and from the VM passes through the virtual network interface card (vNIC) on its way to the vswitch. Integrity VM virtualizes multiple network interface devices implemented so that they all have a device emulator and a protocol driver in the VMM. All network traffic through a vNIC must pass through these two entities.
PAGE 7
Figure 1 - Isolating virtual machines to separate network trust domains Virtual Machine Management Integrity virtual machines enable configuration and monitoring through a full-featured command line interface (CLI). Additionally, the Virtual Server Environment suite of tools provides a browser-based, graphical user interface (GUI) to Integrity VM. The CLI is available to privileged users on the physical VM Host system. Virtual machine management, monitoring, and console access is provided with the CLI.
PAGE 8
Graphical User Interface Virtual machine management with Integrity Virtual Machines may be achieved through the Integrity Virtual Machine Manager GUI. The GUI relies on Web Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) providers. These providers establish communication between the browser and the VM Host system with privileged login and the session is SSL-encrypted. These WBEM providers check all data request types and buffer ranges; all validated requests are for read-only data.
PAGE 9
Conclusion By leveraging its long history of providing secure hardware and software products, HP provides an extremely secure environment for virtualization of computer resources with Integrity Virtual Machines. Integrity VM reduces risk from threats while simplifying access control in a virtual environment, providing you with the confidence you need to securely execute your most business-critical applications while getting the most out of your computer system hardware investment. For more information www.