Encryption at rest – Worth the effort for vSphere HCI?
Encrypting data drives makes sense on a laptop. If you turn it off and it gets lost, a key has to be provided to decrypt the data on the drives to make it readable. But what about the disks of…
Category Architecture
Secure ESXi
In a previous article, I described how to activate UEFI Boot, which will disable the ESXi OS from loading 3rd party packages. What is execInstalledOnly enforcement? execInstalledOnly will ensure that non-signed scripts can be run against the ESXi. Important to…
UEFI Secure Boot
UEFI Secure Boot is a platform feature within the UEFI specification that ensures the system boots using only the software trusted by the hardware manufacturer. Secure Boot provides a verification mechanism in which the firmware validates a boot loader before executing…
Securing vCenter and ESXi Hosts: A VMware Architect’s Guide
In the evolving threat landscape, vCenter Server and ESXi hosts remain high-value targets in the data center. As the foundational control and compute planes of your virtual infrastructure, securing them is essential. Whether you’re operating in a regulated environment or…
Access Hierarchy in vCenter
Ever wondered how you can give a user access to some artifacts within a vCenter and then deny the same user access to other artifacts? The access hierarchy in vCenter is role-based, leveraging permissions applied at various object levels in…
Deploy application via code, and if a VM fails, redeploy
This is part 1. Imagine a scenario where you deploy an application environment, and when you face a challenge with your environment or decide to upgrade a software component, you destroy it and redeploy it. I catch myself way too…
Ansible Automation – Deploy a VM
Another great tool to automate configurations in vSphere is Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. Red Hat delivers two versions, a Community version and a Enterprise Version. The innovation happens in the community and the best features are perfected and added…
Replication with Dell Recovery Point
Previously, I posted about the replication of two HCIs using array-based or vSphere-based replication. This article addresses a third way or an addition to the two previously mentioned options. Dell Recovery Point for VMs (RP4VMs) synchronizes virtual machines to destination…