BlueLane

[khughes]

When we first migrated to VMware, our vendor helping us tossed on this software called bluelane and said we should have it for our systems. Well when the time came to get this software up and running basically they couldn't get the software configured right (wont go into all the details) so we ended up just saying screw it our systems are up and running thats fine. Now our director wants to go back and revisit this software since we paid a decent amount of money for it and they're coming out next month to install it correctly we hope.

Has anyone heard of BlueLane or had any experiances with it? Unfortunatly I think we're going to be doing it if its good or not, if its not I'm sure it'll come off pretty fast. Just looking for any information on it, tips, concerns etc...

[Chris_Howard]

I saw Bluelane at VMworld Europe.

Essentially it's security software that sits between the hypervisor and virtual machines, a little bit like the upcoming VMsafe.

More info can be found here .

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[khughes]

We kinda know the legist of what it does, but from what you saw at VMworld, would you use it or what are your thoughts on it?

[RParker]

It looks like it could be a good way to keep servers up to date so you don't have to keep patching servers. This really doesn't apply to ESX, it's more for physical servers that it can deploy. I wouldn't use it for ESX, since VM Ware already keeps up to date with regular patches, and ESX could simply be put in it's own VLAN, or turn the firewall on to where you can't do anything except manage from VC.

It doesn't appear to be real useful if you manage and keep your ESX servers out of site Anyway, I know your company probably wants to make good use of it, but it could do more harm than good, since it's adding another level of complexity to ESX.

ESX is a very simple, configure, hide it, manage it solution. It's not like Windows where people will be logging in to them and security and update to minute patching is a must. You don't use ESX servers in a traditional manner, they are VM hosts not individual server boxes. The VM's they host might benefit from this product however. . . .

[azn2kew]

If you want to listen more details of Bluelane virtualization security from Doug Brown for pros and cons than click here

I truly agree with RParker, ESX built to be security aware and currently there is no known security breaches for ESX itself so using 3rd party is not efficient and causes you time, money to manage them. You should have all your ESX security lockdown procedures, best practices and DMZ designs etc...and have your patching logics automated than you're very secure at that point. You can read Edward Haletky's new book about ESX security in enterprise which is really good as well. If your company already paid for it, I would first tested in the development labs to see how the features work and validated before deploying to your production systems.

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Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems Inc.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[khughes]

Its nice to know that I have a lot of the same concerns as you guys do. We did kind of get suckered into the software and from the looks of things not a lot of people use it. We keep everything pretty up to date, between ESX patches and Windows patches so it feels to me its just an added complexity to the network that isn't needed. We've seen it semi working when we first did the conversion, and it adds multiple vSwitches and almost like a gateway between the VM's and the vSwitch that connects to the physical network. I'll take a look at that podcast I'm sure there will be a little more info in that to go off of.

[jgalexan]

We do have the BlueLane devices in our network, and were using them until last month. For some unknown reason todate, they actually brought the netwok to a hault (2 times). Yes they do work, but we also keep all of our production gear up to date, so I have not seen a difference. We are still investigating the issues that caused the network outages.

[khughes]

It's finally nice to hear someone actually used it at least. Bringing your network to a hault you mean, it locked up your hosts or it knocked out network connections with the VM's? Would definatly be interested to hear more about these network outages =/ This whole software just gives me an un-easy feeling

[jgalexan]

Clarification; The physical Bluelane devices stoped all traffic on my production VLAN, this includes all physical and virtual machines. The network team manages the devices, so i do not know exactly how they are\were set up. I do know that it is a very touchy subject with the CxOs. I will try to get more info to pass along.

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[Ken_Cline]

Moved to the Security and Compliance forum

Ken Cline

Technical Director, Virtualization

Wells Landers

VMware Communities User Moderator

[serge_bluelane]

Hi folks,

I am a Blue Lane employee; specific focus is in the area of support and deployment of our systems and software. It is unfortunate to learn about the LendLease experience through this forum - we would love to have helped had we been contacted. James - I will reach out to the network team and find out what happened there. There are many happy customers using Blue Lane systems to protect their servers and databases without any service disruptions. As it pertains to Laborers Trust, Kyle, we look forward to hopefully winning your confidence and trust during the installation. If you have any questions prior to this, let's meet and discuss.

- Serge

[khughes]

Hi folks,

I am a Blue Lane employee; specific focus is in the area of support and deployment of our systems and software. It is unfortunate to learn about the LendLease experience through this forum - we would love to have helped had we been contacted. James - I will reach out to the network team and find out what happened there. There are many happy customers using Blue Lane systems to protect their servers and databases without any service disruptions. As it pertains to Laborers Trust, Kyle, we look forward to hopefully winning your confidence and trust during the installation. If you have any questions prior to this, let's meet and discuss.

- Serge

Thanks for your response Serge, I have no doubt that your products work as they are described because if they didn't well I doubt you would have a job. I think we all agree we didn't get the best setup from the start and hopefully this second time will work as intended. This was just a feeler and unbias opinion of who uses the virtualshield product and/or uses different software along the same lines, and overall need. We'll be ready to see what it can do in May with an open mind.