Securing Solaris Zones with Active Directory

Hardware-level virtualization has unique benefits and continues to be popular even as software-based virtualization solutions such as VMware ESX gain in popularity. In this chalktalk you'll learn how Sun's Solaris operating system implements virtualization via its container and zone technology. It includes a discussion of the unique challenges of securing the host and guest environments, and the benefits of centrally securing and managing them by leveraging your existing Microsoft Active Directory.

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Running Time

19 minutes

Speaker

David McNeely
Director, Product Management

Moderator

Frank Cabri
VP, Marketing

Topics Covered

  • An overview of how operating system vendors such as HP, IBM and Sun have approached virtualization
  • The benefits of hardware-level virtualization
  • An overview of how Solaris containers support virtualization
  • Security best practices for securing the underlying operating system using Microsoft Active Directory identities
  • Methodology for using Centrify Zones to manage and secure the individual guest systems, which may be owned by separate departments or other groups within an organization
  • Comparing Solaris's native management tools with Active Directory-based security in a heterogeneous environment
  • How the Centrify Suite gives you a global view of the access controls and user audit logs that encompasses not only Solaris zones but other systems as well
  • The architecture of a Solaris system hosting multiple Solaris zones
  • How Centrify Zones can be used not only to isolate the host system from the guests but to also logically group guest systems so each can have a distinct set of users, administators and policies
  • Using Centrify DirectAuthorize to enable departmental admins to manage their own systems without giving them elevated privileges on the host or access to other guests