Which of the following controls and secures network traffic entering and leaving virtual machine
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The virtual networking layer includes virtual network adapters, virtual switches, distributed virtual switches, and ports and port groups. ESXi
relies on the virtual networking layer to support communications between VMs and their users. In addition, ESXi uses the virtual networking layer to communicate with iSCSI SANs, NAS storage, and so on. vSphere includes the full array of features necessary for a secure networking infrastructure. You can
secure each element of the infrastructure, such as virtual switches, distributed virtual switches, and virtual network adapters, separately. In addition, consider the following guidelines, discussed in more detail in
Securing vSphere Networking. For the list of all supported ports
and protocols in VMware products, including vSphere and vSAN, see the VMware Ports and Protocols Tool™ at https://ports.vmware.com/. You can search ports by VMware product, create a customized list of ports, and print or save port lists. In this blog, I am going to be summarising how you can secure your Virtual network (vNET) with a combination of Azure Firewall and Network Security Group (NSG) Considerations for this will be that the environment will be a hub-spoke setup, link to test environment of this deployment is found at the bottom of this blog post As part of this deployment, which else will need to be considered? Whenever you create a vNET with multiple subnets; each subnet will automatically be assigned default system routes. Additional system routes cannot be added nor current ones edited but with the creation of a User Defined Routetable (UDR) – will override any default system route with your created UDR. The default system routes:-
Next hop…The next hop represents how Azure routes specific traffic to the destination address, hops above explained:-
Additional readingHow Azure Selects A Route Azure Custom Routes Azure Optional Default Routes Azure Application Security Groups (ASGs) and how they are deployed along with a NSGASGs are used within a NSG to apply a network security rule to a specific workload or group of VMs – defined by ASG worked as being the “network object” & expilicit IP addresses are added to this object. This provides the capability to group VMs into associated groups or workloads, simplifying the NSG rule definition process. Another great use of this is for scalability, creating the virtual machine and assigning the newly created virtual machine to its ASG will provide it with all the NSG rules in place for that specific ASG – zero distribution to your service! Additional reading ASGs & NSGs Simplified Why deploy both Azure Firewall & NSG?Azure NSGs complement the Azure Firewall Service. Azure Firewall is a fully stateful, network firewall-as-a-service application that provides network and application level protection from usually a centralised network (Hub-Spoke) Whereas NSGs are used to provide the required network traffic filtering to limit traffic within a Virtual Network, including on a subnet level. Assigning the NSG to each Virtual Machine rather than Subnet will allow you to restrict network access on a per VM basis Together they become “one” to provide a “defense in depth” security strategy, in this strategy – you would have the Azure Firewall configured at the perimeter of your network to control inbound/outbound traffic where NSG would been configured to control inbound/outbound traffic within your Virtual Network on a Virtual Machine-level basis What should I use Azure Firewall for?Azure Firewall as mentioned should be used as the perimeter protection, any traffic that may need to enter or leave a vNET, whether than be to another vNET via Peering or to the internet, its next hop should be the Azure Firewall. Apart from firewall rules, what else can the Azure Firewall do?
What should I use Network Security Groups for?As Azure Firewall will be monitoring the perimeter of your network, consider using NSGs for the inter-VM traffic inside your Virtual Network. You may want to have one NSG per Virtual Network or depending on the requirements and controls you have in place – one NSG per environment can be suffice as well ( rule maximum restriction(s)) Consider applying the NSG to the Virtual Machine NIC rather than the subnet, this will allow you to restriction inter-VM traffic on a per Virtual Machine level rather than per subnet. Also use Application Security Groups where possible as well, I have blogged about this previously here Service endpoint restrictions have also been implemented into NSG deployments – read further here There is also diagnostic logging that can be enabled to view NSG flow logs and additional network information that can assist in troubleshooting connectivity How can I see both deployed?I’ve created a test hub-spoke environment that includes both Azure Firewall and NSG/ASG Integration using PowerShell found here The test environment will give you an indication into how to configure Azure Firewall / NSG in a hub-spoke environment. Got additional queries – give me a shout on Twitter or contact me via this blog What controls and secures network traffic entering and leaving virtual machines?A virtual firewall is an application or a network firewall service that provides packet filtering within a virtualized environment. A virtual firewall manages and controls incoming and outgoing traffic.
Which controls network traffic in virtual machine?A software application, called a virtual switch or vSwitch, controls and directs communication between the existing physical network and virtual parts of the network, like virtual machines.
Which one of the following controls and secures network traffic?Firewall. Firewalls control incoming and outgoing traffic on networks, with predetermined security rules. Firewalls keep out unfriendly traffic and is a necessary part of daily computing.
What is a secure virtual network?Virtual network security can be a crucial element of software-defined networking (SDN). Virtual network security is used to secure data centers through isolation. Virtual networks are connected to physical networks through various connection points or between endpoints that are managed by virtual network technology.
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