vShield Zones in vSphere 5

[markokobal]

Hi,

I can see that vShield Zones are included in the vSphere 5 Enterprise license and above. This is very interesting for me as I don't need more than this for now. However, when revising the documentation on vShield Manager 5.0 I can see, that there is no mention of the vShield Zones (only vShield App, Edge and Endpoint). Further more, on vShield Zones FAQ (http://www.vmware.com/products/vshield-zones/faq.html) I read that:

vShield Zones  is compatible with:
- (Required) vSphere: 4.0 U1, 4.1 (including ESX, ESXi 4.1, 4.0), 5.0
- vCenter Server: 4.0, 4.1

Now, I don't understand this mess. Q:

1. So I can not use my vCenter 5.0 to manage vShield Zones?

2. And I suppose vShield Manager 5.0 can't manage vShield Zones?

3. Therefore, to use the "free" vShield Zones, do I have to install vShield Manager 4.1? Is this supported on vSphere 5?

4. Or is there any other way to install, configure & use vShield Zones in vSphere 5?

Thanks for any in insights!

[jstick1122 · Accepted solution]

1. So I can not use my vCenter 5.0 to manage vShield Zones?

Yes vShield zones 1.0 works with VC 5.0, but it's vShield Manager that actually does the managing of vShield Zones

2. And I suppose vShield Manager 5.0 can't manage vShield Zones?

vShield Manager 5.0 does not include Zones 1.0. Makes sure to download vShield Manager 1.0

3. Therefore, to use the "free" vShield Zones, do I have to install vShield Manager 4.1? Is this supported on vSphere 5?

No. vShield zones 4.1 is not supported on vSphere 5.0. vShield Zones 1.0 is supported on 5.0

4. Or is there any other way to install, configure & use vShield Zones in vSphere 5?

Only with vShield Zones. I included the links below to vShield 1.0 for your 5.0 environment.

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/zones_mn/dHRAYnRqZGhiZHAldA==

Let me know if that helps clarify things.

Jeremy Sage

[fischerprecise]

Here's what the documentation says about vShield:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsz_10_quickstart.pdf

The following components comprise the vShield Zones solution:

• vShield Manager: The vShield Zones management center that manages all of the distributed vShield

instances. Provides for monitoring, configuration, and software updating of your vShields.

• vShield: The active security component of vShield Zones that inspects traffic flow and provides firewall

protection. You install a vShield on each ESX host you want to protect. A vShield installs within the traffic

path to monitor all traffic into and out of an ESX host, as well as between virtual machines on the host.