Installation guide

Separating and Securing the Software Provisioning Zone
Make the software provisioning zone network a private network. Use a separate, dedicated network
interface to connect the software provisioning server with its provisioning zone network. For more
information about private network interfaces, see the VCM Installation Guide. Restrict access to the
software provisioning zone to personnel who are trusted to install software and act as network
administrators.
Software provisioning operations take place across the network that connects the software provisioning
server with provisionable target systems. The software provisioning zone, including its servers, network,
and network infrastructure must be protected from unauthorized access and tampering, and must be kept
available and responsive.
Failure to isolate the software provisioning zone exposes you to attacks that intercept unattended.xml
files that contain credentials.
Software Publishers and Software Signing
Secure operation of software provisioning requires that you follow these practices:
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All packages are signed.
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Signatures are always validated.
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Certification authorities are trusted.
VMware packages are signed by the VMware Software Publisher Certificate verifiable by Verisign.
Third-party packages, or any repackaging of VMware software, must be signed by the certificates of other
reputable publishers and be verifiable by Package Manager at installation time. Repositories must not
contain unsigned packages placed there by means other than Package Studio.
When you use Package Manager, all packages must be signed with a private key before they are installed
or uninstalled. To accommodate customers who do not use software signing or when circumstances
require that you ignore a signature, VCM supports a "skip signature validation when installing a signed
package" override as described in the VCM Installation Guide.
Protection of Repositories
Packages in a repository are available for Package Manager to download. Repositories must be protected
from tampering or unauthorized deletion of important content. Repositories must reside on access-
controlled systems that are protected with the measures described in "Server Zone Security" on page 21.
Connecting to Repositories
Use Package Manager to add or remove packages in software repositories.
Package Manager can connect to multiple repositories, but only configure trusted repositories as sources.
In addition, the URI specified as the package source must reference a secure file share, or use an HTTPS
scheme with a repository that uses a trusted SSL server certificate.
VCM Security Guide
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VMware, Inc.