Installation guide

SELin u x

SELinux was developed by the US National Security Agency and others to provide Mandatory

Access Control (MAC) for Linux. Under control of SELinux, all processes and files are given what is

known as a type, and access is limited by fine-grained controls. SELinux limits the abilities of an

attacker and works to prevent many common security exploits such as buffer overflow attacks and

privilege escalation.

SELinux strengthens the security model of Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts and virtualized Red Hat

Enterprise Linux guests. SELinux is configured and tested to work, by default, with all virtualization

tools shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

sVirt

sVirt is a technology included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 that integrates SELinux and

virtualization. It applies Mandatory Access Control (MAC) to improve security when using virtual

machines, and improves security and hardens the system against bugs in the hypervisor that might

be used as an attack vector for the host or to another virtual machine.

Note

For more information on security for virtualization, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Virtualization Security Guide.

3.6. Virt ualizat ion for servers and individuals

Virtualization is not just for servers; it can be useful for individuals as well. Desktop virtualization

offers centralized management, an improved desktop solution, and better disaster recovery. By using

connection software, it is possible to connect to a desktop remotely.

For servers, virtualization is not only for larger networks, but for any situation with two or more

servers. It provides live migration, high availability, fault tolerance, and streamlined backups.

3.6.1. Virt ualiz at ion deployment scenarios

These are examples of common deployment scenarios for virtualization, and the tools that can be

used to deploy these scenarios.

Small d ep lo ymen t s o f u p t o 3 ph ysical h o st s an d 10 g u est s: virt - man ag er

A tool such as virt-manager can be useful to a small business running several servers that

do not have strict uptime requirements or service-level agreements (SLAs). In this

environment, a single administrator may be responsible for the entire infrastructure, and

maintaining procedural flexibility is important if a component needs to be changed. This

environment may contain applications such as web servers, file and print servers, and

application servers.

Larg e d ep lo ymen t s o r missio n - crit ical ap p licat io n s: R ed Hat En t erp rise

Virt u aliz at io n ( RHEV)

A full virtualization platform such as Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) might suit an

enterprise running larger deployments or mission-critical applications. In this environment,

the physical infrastructure is large enough to require an IT department and the business

requirements demand a defined response to new needs. Some examples of a large

Red Hat Ent erprise Linux 6 Virt ualizat io n G et t ing St art ed G uide