Chapter 5. Security Management

In this chapter, we will discuss some aspects of security management of vCenter Server and ESXi hosts.

We will focus on users and groups, and see the logic behind them, as well as focusing on user authentication, roles, and permissions. Correct permissions assigned to the right users and groups are a basic starting point for the security of any system or application. At the same time, it's the key basis for further security improvements and enhancements.

In the second part of this chapter, we will explore the ESXi firewall, security certificates, and ESXi lockdown mode.

In this chapter, the following topics will be covered:

• User authentication

• Users and groups

• Roles and permissions

• ESXi firewall

• ESXi security certificates and encryption

• ESXi lockdown mode