VMware vRealize Configuration Manager - 5.8 Security Guide

VMware vRealize Configuration Manager

Security Guide

vRealize Configuration Manager 5.8

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EN-001821-00

VCM Security Guide

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About This Book 7

Introduction to VCM Security 9

VCM Security Environment 9 VCM Components 9 How Personnel Use VCM 11 Trust Zones 12 System Guidelines Across Zones 12

Domain Infrastructure 15

Using VCM to Manage Infrastructure Zone Systems 15 Infrastructure Zone Machine Group 15 Domain Controller 15

Microsoft Domain Controller Hardening Guidelines 16

Domain Controller Diagnostic Tests 16 Network Infrastructure Services 16 Network Infrastructure Systems 16 Domain Accounts 16

Carefully Assigning Accounts 17

VCM Application Services Account 17 Personnel Considerations 17

Confidentiality of Collected Data 17

Vulnerability of Exported Data 17

VCM Installation Kits 19

Sources for Installation Kits 19 Protecting Installation Kits 19 Unknown Software Publisher Warnings 20 Do Not Use VCM Remote to Install Other Software 20

Server Zone Security 21

Using VCM to Manage Server Zone Systems 21

Server Zone Administrator Role 21

Server Zone Auditor Role 21 General Security Guidelines for VCM Servers 22

Protection Profiles 22

Physical Security 22

Disabling Automatic Login 22 Dedicating a Server to VCM 23 Foundation Checker 23 Trusted Software 23 Routine Backup, Patching, and Virus Scanning 23 Authentication Certificates 23 FIPS Cryptographic Service Providers 23

VCM Collector Server 25

Using VCM to Manage the Collector Server 25 Having a Collector Machine Group in VCM 25

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VCM Security Guide

SQL Server 27

Using VCM to Manage the SQL Server 27 Having a SQL Server Machine Group in VCM 27 Microsoft SQL Server Best Practices and Hardening Tests 27 Login Accounts for SQL Server 28 Restrict Access to Configuration Tools 28 Delegation for Split Installations 28 Do Not Connect from Outside the Server Zone 29

Web Server 31

Using VCM to Manage the Web Server 31 Having a Web Server Machine Group in VCM 31 Using Windows Integrated Authentication 31 Using HTTPS 32 Web Server Certificates 32

Mutual Authentication 32

VCM Agent Systems and Managed Machines 33

Trusting the VCM Agent on a Managed Machine 33 Using VCM to Manage Machines 33

Machine Groups 33

Restricting Access to Scripting 34

Users Who Are Not Local Administrators 34 VCM Agent 34

Agent Installation Directory 34

Agent Availability 34

Continuous Possession and Control of the Agent 34

Unauthorized Agents 35

Linux, UNIX, or Mac OS X Agent Installation From the VCM User Interface 35 Restricting Access to Machine Configuration 35

Local Administrator Account 35

BIOS Password 35

Disabling Alternative Startup 35

Maintenance Mode 35 Trusted Certificate Store 36

Protecting Private Keys 36

Protecting Authorized Collector Certificates 36

Securing Machine Backups that Contain Keys 36 Enterprise Certificate 36 Trustworthiness of Data 36 Individual CollectionResults 37

VCM User Interface System 39

Using VCM to Manage the UI System 39 User Interface Systems Machine Group 39 Access Control 39

Disabling Automatic Login 40

Disabling Simultaneous Login 40

Using Windows Credentials 40

Public Access Points 40 Cross-site Scripting 41 Internet Explorer Trusted Zone 41

Adding the VCM Web Server 41

Removing Untrusted Systems 41

Customizing Internet Security Options 41 Trusted Software 42 Verifying Certificates 42

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Contents

HTTPS Certificate 42

VMware Software Publisher Certificate 43 FIPS Cryptographic Service Providers 43 Running Anti-virus and Anti-rootkit Tools 43

Decommissioning 45

Erasing versus Deleting 45 Confidential Data to Remove 45 Distinct Collector and Agent Keys 45 Enterprise Certificate Key and Web Server Keys 46 Removal of Agent Keys at Uninstallation 46 Network Authority Accounts 46 Erasing Server Disks 46 Erasing Virtual Machines 46

Authentication 49

Transport Layer Security 49

Server Authentication 49

Mutual Authentication 49 Keys and Certificates 49

Using Single or Paired Keys 50

Certificates 50

Public Key Infrastructure 50

Trust Chains 50

Certificate Expiration and Revocation 51

Certificate Standards 51

Certificate Storage 51 How VCM Uses Certificates 51

Enterprise Certificate 52

Collector Certificate 53

Agent Certificates 54 Installing Certificates for the VCM Collector 55

Installing Certificates on the First Collector 55

Certificates for Additional Collectors 56 Changing Certificates 56

Renewing Certificates 56

Replacing Certificates 57 Delivering Initial Certificates to Agents 58

Installing the Agent 58

Changing the Communication Protocol 59 Storing and Transporting Certificates 60

Access the Windows Certificate Store 60

Export a Certificate on Windows 60

Import a Certificate on Windows 61 Mark a Certificate as Authorized on Windows 61 Creating Certificates Using Makecert 62

Create the Enterprise Certificate and First Collector Certificate 63

Create Certificates for Additional Collectors 63

Importing Certificates for Additional Collectors 64

Makecert Options 64 Update the Collector Certificate Thumbprint in the VCM Database 66 Managing the VCM UNIX Agent Certificate Store 67

Using CSI_ManageCertificateStore 67

Supplemental References 73

Cryptography 73

FIPS for Windows 73

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VCM Security Guide

FIPS Used by VCM Agent Proxies 75 Export Considerations 75 VCM Ports 76

Index 79

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About This Book

The VMware vCenter Configuration Manager Security Guide describes how to harden vCenter Configuration Manager (VCM) for secure use.

Parts of this document describe assumptions made in the design and operation of VCM. For example, the guarantees regarding VCM logins assume that the domain controller for each user is trusted. Other parts of this document describe specific, nondefault hardening requirements that you must apply.

Intended Audience

This information is for experienced Windows, Linux, UNIX, or Mac OS X system administrators who are familiar with managing network users and resources, and with performing system maintenance.

To use this information effectively, you must have a basic understanding of how to configure network resources, install software, and administer operating systems. You also need to fully understand your network topology and resource naming conventions.

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Support Offerings To find out how VMware support offerings can help meet your business

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VMware Education Services courses offer extensive hands-on labs, case study examples, and course materials designed to be used as on-the-job reference tools. Courses are available onsite, in the classroom, and live online. For

VCM Security Guide

onsite pilot programs and implementation best practices, VMware Consulting

Services provides offerings to help you assess, plan, build, and manage your virtual environment. To access information about education classes, certification programs, and consulting services, go to

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Introduction to VCM Security

To understand VCM security requirements, familiarize yourself with the overall security environment, VCM components, VCM personnel roles, and trust zones.

VCM Security Environment

VCM operates in the context of a security environment, which involves system configuration, personnel and usage assumptions, organizational security policies, and best practices. Security requirements are met either by controls built into VCM that leverage the security environment or by controls built into the environment itself. When a security requirement is not met, the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of information assets that flow through the deficient system are at risk.

A healthy security environment assumes or provides certain guarantees:

n Trust in, and training for, your authorized VCM users

n Protection of VCM installation kits from tampering

n Protection of current VCM systems from access by unauthorized users

n Proper decommissioning of outgoing VCM systems

To establish proper security, you must prepare and apply security requirements across the following equipment:

n The server that acts as the VCM Collector

n The VCM SQL Server and database system

n The VCM Web server

n The VCM user interface Web browser

n Systems on which the VCM Agent runs

n The domain, its supporting infrastructure, and user accounts

VCM Components

VCM is a distributed application with several physical and conceptual components:

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VCM Security Guide

n Collector service that processes requests and receives results

n SQL Server database that stores results and application control information

n Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server that hosts the UI Web application and accepts work

requests

n Browser-based user interface (UI) that renders in Internet Explorer (IE) on user desktops

n Agents that inspect managed machines and return results in response to requests

In some installations, optional components might also be present:

n An Agent proxy that works with ESX, ESXi, and vSphere servers

n An orchestration system that coordinates with service desk applications such as Remedy

n A VCM Remote service

n Patch assessment and deployment components

n Alternate location file servers that store VCM installation kits and VCM Patching patches

With the exception of the UI, Agent, Patching Repository, and alternate locations, all VCM components run on Microsoft Windows Server systems. The UI runs in Internet Explorer on Windows desktops. The Agent executes on either Windows or UNIX systems, including Linux, Solaris, HPUX, AIX, and Max OS X. An alternate location can be any file server that exports shares or FTP.

The following figure shows VCM components, with the exception of patching and alternate locations.

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Figure 1–1. VCMComponents and Zones

Introduction to VCM Security

CAUTION Any system that participates in your VCM environment can contain sensitive data, or it

can hold authentication keys that can grant access to sensitive data on other systems. Never reuse or dispose of VCM systems without proper decommissioning as described in "Decommissioning" on

page 45.

As shown, a combination of VCM services can share one system. In a single-machine installation, the Collector, SQL Server, IIS Web server, and Web application are installed on one system. Optional split installation configurations support running the SQL Server and database on a separate system and the IIS Web server on a separate system.

How Personnel Use VCM

Different personnel use the features of VCM.

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VCM Security Guide

n Domain administrators create the accounts and manage the infrastructure in which VCM runs. The

infrastructure includes domain controllers, routers, certificate servers, SMTP email servers, domain name services (DNS), and dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) servers.

n A VCM installer loads the VCM software and configures the Collector, SQL Server, IIS, and other

services. The installer is also the first VCM administrator and is responsible for authorizing other administrators and regular VCM users from the inventory of accounts that the domain administrators manage.

n VCM users and administrators log in to VCM and use its Web interface to administer managed

machines using the Agents, run compliance tests, and generate reports. VCM administrators, users, or managed machine administrators can install, upgrade, and uninstall Agents.

Trust Zones

Conceptually, VCM components are organized into trust zones. The zones and boundaries are for ease in understanding VCM security and are not related to zones in Internet Explorer or your domain, nor are they cited anywhere in the VCM user interface.

n Infrastructure. Domain controllers, routers, SMTP servers, DNS servers, and other infrastructure items

n User interface. VCM user desktops

n Server. Collector service, SQL Server, IIS, Web application, Agent proxy, VCM Remote service, and

Orchestrator

n Agent. Managed machines and alternative sources

Multiple Agent zones are supported.

Domain administrators manage the infrastructure, user interface zone, and server zone. A local zone administrator controls each Agent zone. This administrator is often the administrator of the managed machine or repository.

The zones help you understand the trust between VCM components at a more detailed level than by domain controller domains alone. A trust boundary separates each zone. Without special configuration or authentication, the machines and services in one zone distrust the machines and services in another zone. Special configuration can establish implicit trust, and authentication can establish trust between components that are not configured for implicit trust.

When an entire zone trusts another zone, every VCM component in the first zone implicitly trusts every component in the second zone. If two machines reside in the same zone, they do not necessarily trust each other, but rather they are not required to distrust each other by default. After you install VCM, the user interface and Agent zones trust the infrastructure and server zones.

The server zone trusts only the infrastructure zone, and does not trust the user interface zone except as a source of user interface commands from VCM users authenticated by the infrastructure. The server zone trusts the Agent zone as a source for Agent data, but not to provide data or implement change that would affect other Agents or the VCM configuration.

System Guidelines Across Zones

There are certain security requirements in this document that apply across more than one zone. The following table summarizes them in case you want to make these wider configuration changes in one pass through your security environment.

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Table 1–1. Zones and Requirements

Requ irement Infrastruct ure

Zone

Server Zone

Introduction to VCM Security

UI Zone

Agen t Zone

Cryptographic service providers are FIPS-140

X X

validated.

Only trusted software is installed in the zone. X X X

Access to machine configuration settings is

X X X X

restricted.

Routine backups, patches, and virus scanning are

X X X X

performed.

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VCM Security Guide

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Domain Infrastructure

Securing the domain infrastructure for use with VCM involves configuring the domain controller, network infrastructure services, network infrastructure systems, certificates, accounts, and personnel.

Using VCM to Manage Infrastructure Zone Systems

After you install VCM, your first course of action should be to manage infrastructure zone systems in VCM and subject them to assessment. VCM comes with compliance rules for domain controller best practices, domain controller health, and other settings that are valuable in domain infrastructure zones. In addition, you can create your own templates and rules.

The rest of this chapter briefly explains the infrastructure zone security hardening steps to pursue, either manually or, if possible, through compliance rules.

Infrastructure Zone Machine Group

For the settings that you can apply using VCM, having the infrastructure systems in their own, dedicated machine group provides a way of managing the systems and synchronizing their settings.

For example, you prevent non-VCM administrators from having administrator access to infrastructure systems by placing all infrastructure systems in the dedicated machine group and configuring the group to be accessible only to VCM administrators.

Domain Controller

VCM relies on a domain controller in order to perform the following functions:

n Authenticate VCM users

n Discover machines to manage

n Enumerate domain group members

n Run VCM services under Network Authority accounts

n Authenticate administrators who control the systems on which VCM and its databases are installed

As the VCM installer and administrator, you identify the domain controller in VCM when you install, discover domain controllers, add new Network Authority accounts, or add VCM users.

CAUTION Do not authorize VCM accounts to principals authenticated by an untrusted domain

controller, and do not join VCM servers to an untrustworthy domain.

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VCM Security Guide

Microsoft Domain Controller Hardening Guidelines

To secure the domain controller for use with VCM, start by following Microsoft domain controller hardening guidelines, available for various server versions on the Microsoft Web site.

The Microsoft guidelines are more comprehensive than the compliance templates and need to be followed even if you are managing the domain controller with VCM.

Domain Controller Diagnostic Tests

Part of correctly configuring a domain controller for use with VCM is to run the dcdiag utility. The dcgiag utility checks for general connectivity and responsiveness of a domain controller, which includes verifying that the domain controller has the following properties.

n Can be located in DNS

n Responds to ICMP pings

n Allows LDAP connectivity

n Allows binding to the Active Directory RPC interface

Network Infrastructure Services

VCM relies on network infrastructure services. For VCM to operate correctly and reliably, you must properly configure, secure, and make these services available and responsive. An active denial of service (DoS) or other attack on network infrastructure services can affect VCM performance.

n DNS and WINS. Translate domain names into IP addresses.

n Email. Used for VCM notifications and alerts.

n Time servers. Synchronize timekeeping across systems, which allows Kerberos authentication and

certificate validation to work.

n DHCP. Even when not used directly on VCM servers, DHCP assigns IP addresses consistently in the

rest of the security environment.

Network Infrastructure Systems

VCM relies on secure infrastructure services; such as DNS, NTP, DHCP, routers, and services that issue certificates. The systems on which these services are hosted must be at least as secure as VCM. Protect network infrastructure systems with the following:

n Firewalls or vShield

n Anti-virus software

n Current security updates

n Controls or login authorizations that restrict access to trusted personnel only

Domain Accounts

VCM accounts must only be granted to users who are trusted, trained, and qualified as system and network administrators. A "VCM account" is a domain or local account that is granted authorization to use VCM.

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Domain I nfrastructure

Carefully Assigning Accounts

As an enterprise-wide configuration management and compliance tool, VCM can collect, correlate, and change system data on managed machines throughout the enterprise. VCM can configure security policies, collect and aggregate confidential information, install software and patches, and generally act as an administrator interface over an entire network.

VCM is intended for use only by responsible system and network administrators who protect their access from being subverted for unauthorized uses.

VCM administrators must follow these guidelines:

n Do not assign entire domain groups to VCM accounts.

n Set Windows login restrictions and password policies for user accounts that are VCM accounts to values

consistent with administrator accounts.

VCM Application Services Account

Make the VCM Application Services account a domain user account. The VCM Application Services account must be a domain user because the account has full administrator authority for the CSI_Domain database.

Do not use the VCM Application Services account for VCM login or for any other purpose.

Personnel Considerations

For your VCM environment to be secure, the personnel who work with VCM must be trusted.

Confidentiality of Collected Data

The results of a VCM collection can contain infrastructure configuration settings, password and credential policies, encrypted password file entries, and any file uploaded from a managed machine.

VCMusers must protect collected data as confidential information. Even if this data was not guarded as confidential on the managed machine itself, it might be confidential to the machine users. Without explicit knowledge about what data is sensitive, VCM users must treat and protect all collection results as confidential.

CAUTION Do not store collected data on public shares or in directories that are accessible to other

users, including other VCM users, because they might not have collection rights on the machine from which the data originated.

Vulnerability of Exported Data

VCM supports several ways for personnel to export collected data:

n Email notifications and alerts

n Exported or printed grids

n Exported SRS summary views and reports

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n Service desk work requests

n Uploaded and exported files

n Screen snapshots

VCM Security Guide

VCM cannot control access to data after it is exported in these ways. When data must be exported, personnel must protect the exported files while stored or in transit to other sites.

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VCM Installation Kits

Like the systems on which VCM runs, the software installation kits for VCM must be secured and protected from tampering.

Sources for Installation Kits

Secure operation of VCM requires that its product software kit not be tampered with and that it is intact as delivered by VMware. The best practice is to ensure that each kit is obtained directly from VMware, from another secure and trusted source, or that it is verified.

VMware ships VCM and add-on products onDVD and in packages signed by the VMware Software Publisher Certificate. The kit can reach customer machines in the following ways:

n Physical DVD

n Download from

http://downloads.vmware.com

n ClickOnce download from the server zone

n Agent push install by the Collector service

n Patching Agent push by VCM Patching

n Thin client user interface by HTTP

n VCM Remote updates

n Patching deployed patches and updates

Patch kits on Patching and alternate location repositories

n Group Policy

n VCM Remote Command file attachments

You can verify EXE and MSI installers with the chktrust.exe certificate verification tool from the Microsoft Developer Network. Alternatively, you can verify using signtool.exe, also available from Microsoft.

Protecting Installation Kits

VCM installation kits that are stored on writable media must be protected from tampering before installation. Authenticode signatures on installation kits are verified before installation. For example:

C:\> signtool verify /a /v "CMAgent<version>.msi"

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VCM Security Guide

Unknown Software Publisher Warnings

Do not ignore unknown software publisher warnings during ClickOnce installations unless the publisher is VMware.

When you install ClickOnce software through the VCM user interface, Internet Explorer warns you when the software comes from an untrusted publisher. An untrusted publisher can be anyone, even a company that you recognize. The warning means only that the certificate is not in the trusted software publisher certificate store.

If you receive an unknown software publisher warning, open the certificate details view. VMware software is signed with the VMware Software Publisher Certificate. If the software publisher is VMware, you can install in spite of the warning.

Do Not Use VCM Remote to Install Other Software

Although VCM Remote can push new VCM Remote Agents to VCM Remote clients, do not use this mechanism to distribute software other than VCM Remote.

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Server Zone Security

Address the following security environment guidelines for all systems in the server zone, including the VCM Collector, SQL Server host, and Web server. These three functions might reside all on one system, or they might be distributed across two or three. Be sure to apply the security settings in this chapter to all the systems that are used.

Server zone systems must be treated and managed with security measures that are consistent with those used for the infrastructure zone.

n For security instructions that are unique to the VCM Collector, see "VCM Collector Server" on page 25.

n For security instructions that are unique to the SQL Server host, see "SQL Server" on page 27.

n For security instructions that are unique to the Web server, see "Web Server" on page 31.

Using VCM to Manage Server Zone Systems

After you install VCM, your first course of action should be to manage server zone systems in VCM and subject them to assessment. VCM comes with compliance rules for some of the necessary security settings on the Collector, SQL database server, and Web server. In addition, you can create your own templates and rules.

The rest of this chapter briefly explains security hardening steps to pursue, manually or through compliance rules, for all server zone systems.

Machines in the VCM server zone need to be trusted more than those in the user interface, managed machine, or provisioning zones. In VCM, server zone systems must be controlled with the same measures used for infrastructure systems such as domain controllers.

Server Zone Administrator Role

VCM can manage its own servers, but it is unsafe to allow nonadministrator VCM users into server zone systems. When nonadministrator VCM users administer a VCM server, they have access to all the data and actions that are authorized to VCM. To help prevent this situation, create a role dedicated solely to server zone administration.

Having a role dedicated to server zone administration minimizes the risk of granting access to VCM servers to nonadministrator VCM users.

Server Zone Auditor Role

Create an auditor role, for example, VcmAuditor, in VCM that has read-only access to all VCM data but has no rights to create change actions or invoke inspections. Place at least one user account in that role.

Having an auditor role is an industry best practice.

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VCM Security Guide

General Security Guidelines for VCM Servers

In the server zone, VCM systems store and manipulate the collected data and change requests for every managed machine.

All server zone systems must have the following properties:

n Unavailable for login by general users

n Protected from the open Internet by firewalls

n Updated to the current operating system patch levels

n Routinely backed up

n Trusted by managed resource administrators

Specifically, managed resource administrators implicitly delegate administrative rights over their resources when they allow the VCM Agent to be installed. Consequently, the managed resource administrators must have administrative trust in both the VCM users and in the VCM servers.

Protection Profiles

Operating systems for VCM servers must conform to the Controlled Access Protection Profile (CAPP) or General Purpose Operating System Protection Profile (GPOSPP), described on the Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme Web site.

The protection profiles ensure the following safeguards:

n Access to the system is protected by a certified authentication process.

n User data is protected from other users.

n Security functions of the operating system are protected from unauthorized changes.

Windows 2000, 2003, XP, and Vista, 2003 Server, Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, and Windows 7 conform to the CAPP. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 conform to the GPOSPP. Windows Server 8 and Windows Server 2012 are not yet common criteria certified.

Physical Security

An administrator must maintain possession and control of any VCM server zone system. The loss of possession or control of a VCM server zone system subjects the server to offline analysis, which can mean the loss of confidentiality or integrity of its data or the misuse of its software. Even the temporary loss of possession presents a risk, regardless of whether confidentiality appears to have been preserved.

If the VCM server zone systems run on virtual machines, the administrator must maintain possession and control of physical machines on which the virtual machines are hosted.

Use physical (possession, locks) or cryptographic (encrypted file system) means to maintain continuous control of VCM server zone systems.

Disabling Automatic Login

VCM systems in the server zone must require login access control.

Automatic login is a convenience that logs a specific Windows user into a machine after the machine finishes restarting. Because it bypasses the access control that the login prompt provides, always disable automatic Windows login on VCM systems in the server zone.

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Dedicating a Server to VCM

VCM relies on the server operating system to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of server zone data from other services or users that run on the VCM server zone systems.

When server zone systems are used for purposes other than VCM, the risk of granting unintended access to VCM data exists if those services or users have server administrator rights.

Foundation Checker

The VCM Foundation Checker determines whether a machine configuration is compatible with VCM.

Candidate systems must pass the Foundation Checker evaluation before you install VCM. Do not install VCM on systems that fail Foundation Checker.

Trusted Software

Even if server zone systems are dedicated to running VCM, you might need software packages beyond those from VMware or Microsoft.

Install only trusted software, preferably software that is accompanied and verified by a software publisher certificate. It is unsafe to run software of unaccountable origin on machines in the VCM server zone.

Server Zone Security

Routine Backup, Patching, and Virus Scanning

Routine maintenance functions like backups, patches, and virus scanning must be performed on VCM servers. You can perform these functions using VCM.

Authentication Certificates

VCM establishes the validity of HTTPS SSL certificates that IIS uses, and TLS certificates used during Collector-to-Agent communication. To verify the validity, VCM checks signatures up the trust chain, from the certificate in question up to a certificate installed in one of the trusted certificate stores.

VCM assumes and trusts that:

n A certificate in a trusted store is in fact trusted.

n Certificate authorities that issue certificates in a trusted store are trusted.

n Certificate services that manage certificates in a trusted certificate store, and the associated renewals

and revocations, are trusted.

IMPORTANT VCM trusts any certificates in the trusted store, even when they were not issued with VCM.

To view the contents of the trusted certificate stored on Microsoft platforms, use the Certmgr.exe Certificate Manager Tool or the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Certificates snap-in.

For more about authentication and certificates, see "Authentication" on page 49.

FIPS Cryptographic Service Providers

Most government and financial organizations require the use of FIPS cryptography. FIPS is also part of the VCM Common Criteria Security Target. All cryptographic service providers (CSPs) installed in the zone should be FIPS 140-validated.

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VCM Security Guide

The Microsoft CSPs that ship with Windows 2000, Windows Sever 2003, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 meet the FIPS 140–2 standard. Do not delete, replace, or supplement these packages with non-FIPS cryptography. The Microsoft CSPs that ship with Windows Server 8 and Windows Server 2012 are not yet (15 July 2013) FIPS 140-2 validated. See

http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/STM/cmvp/documents/140-1/140InProcess.pdf.

All systems in this zone are Microsoft Windows-based. To view the list of installed cryptography providers, run the following command:

Check your list against the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Computer Security Resource Center (CSRC) Web site to verify that your modules are FIPS 140-validated.

C:\> certutil -csplist

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VCM Collector Server

The following sections describe security and hardening guidelines that are unique to the VCM Collector function by itself. The Collector might be the same machine as the one that hosts the database or the Web server, or it might be a standalone system.

Using VCM to Manage the Collector Server

After you install VCM, use it to manage the Collector server itself, subject it to assessment, and maintain its integrity. Running the following VCM compliance template against the Collector detects and identifies some of the security setting and configuration issues that you must address, including non-VCM administrators who have access to systems and administrator functions.

VMware vCenter Configuration Manager Hardening - Host

NOTE If you have VCM installed and are preparing to set up another Collector, running the template can help you preharden the candidate system.

Having a Collector Machine Group in VCM

To better manage Collector systems, place them into a separate, dedicated Collector machine group in VCM, and make sure that the machine group is not authorized to any nonadministrator VCM user. Without a machine group, you might mix VCM Collector management with non-VCM servers, which can result in the misconfiguration of necessary security settings.

Managing the right group of Collectors allows them to be assessed routinely by the VCM security assessment compliance tests and monitored for configuration and change. These tests and changes can be managed and tracked through VCM.

If you do not organize all Collectors into a machine group, it is harder for VCM to assess, track, and control the security posture of the Collectors. Also, if a new Collector comes under VCM management, it might be incorrectly placed into a machine group that is managed by nonadministrator VCM users.

The remaining Collector hardening steps are the same as those that you apply for all server zone systems. See "Server Zone Security" on page 21.

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