Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for Microsoft Hyper-V Release Notes, Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1)
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Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for Microsoft Hyper-V Release Notes, Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1)
Dynamic (Virtualization-Aware) Operation
Setting Up Cisco VSG and VLAN Usages
Open Caveats—Cisco VSG Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1)
Cisco Virtual Security Gateway Documentation
Cisco Virtual Network Management Center Documentation
Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch Documentation
Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request
Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for Microsoft Hyper-V Release Notes, Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1)
Current Release: Cisco VSG Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1)
This document describes the features, limitations, and caveats for the Cisco Virtual Security Gateway and Cisco Virtual Network Management Center software. Use this document in combination with documents listed in the “Related Documentation” section. The following is the change history for this document.
Introduction
The Cisco Virtual Security Gateway (VSG) for Microsoft Hyper-V platform is a virtual firewall appliance that provides trusted access to virtual data center and cloud environments with dynamic policy-driven operation, mobility-transparent enforcement, and scale-out deployment for dense multitenancy. The Cisco VSG enables a broad set of multitenant workloads that have varied security profiles to share a common compute infrastructure. By associating one or more Virtual Machines into distinct trust zones, the Cisco VSG ensures that access to trust zones is controlled and monitored through established security policies.
Together, the Cisco VSG and Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtual Ethernet Module provide the following benefits:
- Efficient deployment—Each Cisco VSG can protect Virtual Machines across multiple physical servers, which eliminates the need to deploy one virtual appliance per physical server.
- Performance optimization—By offloading Fast-Path to one or more Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM vPath modules, the Cisco VSG boosts its performance through distributed vPath-based enforcement.
- Operational simplicity—You can insert a Cisco VSG in one-arm mode without creating multiple switches or temporarily migrating VMs to different switches or servers. Zone scaling is based on security profile, not on vNICs that are limited for virtual appliances.
- High availability—For each tenant, you can deploy a Cisco VSG in an active-standby mode to ensure a highly available operating environment with vPath redirecting packets to the standby Cisco VSG when the primary Cisco VSG is unavailable
- Independent capacity planning—You can place a Cisco VSG on a dedicated server, controlled by the security operations team so that maximum compute capacity can be allocated to application workloads. Capacity planning can occur independently across server and security teams, and operational segregation across security, network, and server teams can be maintained.
Software Compatibility
The servers that run the Cisco Nexus 1000V VSM and VEM must be in the Microsoft Server Hardware Compatibility list, which is a requirement for running the Microsoft Hyper-V software.
For additional compatibility information, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V Compatibility Information, Release 4.2(1)SV2(2.1) .
Features
This section provides the following information about this release:
- Product Architecture
- Trusted Multitenant Access
- Dynamic (Virtualization-Aware) Operation
- Setting Up Cisco VSG and VLAN Usages
Product Architecture
The Cisco VSG operates with the Cisco Nexus 1000V distributed virtual switch in the Microsoft Hyper-V. The Cisco VSG leverages the virtual network service data path (vPath) that is embedded in the Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtual Ethernet module (VEM). vPath steers traffic, whether external-to-VM or VM-to-VM, to the Cisco VSG of a tenant. A split-processing model is applied where initial packet processing occurs in the Cisco VSG for policy evaluation and enforcement. After the policy decision is made, the Cisco VSG off-loads policy enforcement of remaining packets to vPath.
Trusted Multitenant Access
You can transparently insert a Cisco VSG into the Microsoft Hyper-V environment where the Cisco Nexus 1000V distributed virtual switch is deployed. Upon insertion, one or more instances of the Cisco VSG is deployed on a per-tenant basis, which allows a highly scaled-out deployment across many tenants. Because tenants are isolated from each other, no traffic can cross tenant boundaries. Depending on the use case, you can deploy Cisco VSG at the tenant level, at the virtual data center (vDC) level, or at the vApp level.
Note
The Cisco VSG is not inherently multitenant. It must be explicit within each tenant.
As VMs are instantiated for a given tenant, association to security profiles and zone membership occurs immediately through binding with the Cisco Nexus 1000V port profile. Upon instantation, each VM is placed into a logical trust zone. Security profiles contain context-aware rule sets that specify access policies for traffic that enters and exits each zone. The profiles are applied to zone-to-zone traffic and external-to-zone/zone-to-external traffic. This enforcement occurs within a VLAN because a VLAN often identifies a tenant boundary.
The Cisco VSGs evaluate access control rules and then offloads enforcement to the Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM vPath module for performance optimization. Access is permitted or denied based on policies. The Cisco VSG provides policy-based traffic monitoring capability and generates access logs.
Dynamic (Virtualization-Aware) Operation
A virtualization environment is dynamic, where frequent additions, deletions, and changes occur across tenants and especially across VMs. Live migration of VMs can occur due to manual or programmatic VM motion events.
A Cisco VSG operates with the Cisco Nexus 1000V (and vPath), which supports a dynamic VM environment. Typically, a tenant is created with the Cisco VSG (standalone or active-standby pair) and on the Cisco Virtual Network Management Center (VNMC). Associated security profiles are defined that include trust zone definitions and access control rules.
Each security profile is bound to a Cisco Nexus 1000V port profile (authored on the Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtual Supervisor Module and published to the Microsoft SCVMM). When a new VM is instantiated, you can assign appropriate port profiles to the virtual Ethernet port of the VM. Because the port profile uniquely refers to a security profile and VM zone membership, security controls are immediately applied. A VM can be repurposed by assigning a different port profile or security profile.
As VM motion events occur, VMs move across physical servers. The Cisco Nexus 1000V ensures that port profile policies and associated security profiles follow the VMs. Security enforcement and monitoring remain transparent to VM motion events.
Setting Up Cisco VSG and VLAN Usages
A Cisco VSG is set up in an overlay fashion so that VMs can reach a Cisco VSG irrespective of its location. The vPath component in the Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM intercepts the packets from the VM and sends them to the Cisco VSG for further processing.
A Cisco VSG is configured with three vNICS that are each connected to one of the VLANs. The VLAN functions are as follows:
- The Management VLAN connects management platforms such as the Microsoft SCVMM, Cisco Virtual Network Management Center, Cisco Nexus 1000V VSM, and the managed Cisco VSGs.
- The Service VLAN provides communications between the Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM and Cisco VSGs. All Cisco VSGs are part of the Service VLAN.
- The HA VLAN identifies the active and standby relationship.
You can allocate one or more VM Data VLAN(s) for VM-to-VM communications. In a multitenant environment, the Management VLAN is shared among all tenants. The Service VLAN, HA VLAN, and the VM Data VLAN are allocated on a per-tenant basis. When VLAN resources are scarce, you can use a single VLAN for Service and HA functions.
Limitations and Restrictions
The Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for Nexus 1000V Series switch has the following limitations and restrictions:
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- SNMP is not supported on Cisco VSG on Nexus Cloud Services Platform.
- Jumbo frames cannot be configured for the Cisco VSG management interface.
- If the VSM is down when the Cisco VSG is powered on, the Cisco VSG continuously tries to reboot.
Workaround: To prevent this situation, configure the Service VLAN and the HA VLAN used by the Cisco VSG as system vlan vlan_number in the uplink port profile.
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Configuring a rule with a reset action for the non-TCP/UDP protocol will result in dropped traffic. However, the syslog generated for this traffic shows that the action performed for the traffic is reset as shown below:
Open Caveats—Cisco VSG Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1)
The following are descriptions of the caveats in Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for Microsoft Hyper-V, Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1). The ID links open the Cisco Bug Toolkit.
Related Documentation
This section contains information about the documentation available for Cisco Virtual Security Gateway and related products.
Cisco Virtual Security Gateway Documentation
The following Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for the Nexus 1000V Series Switch documents are available on Cisco.com at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11208/tsd_products_support_model_home.html
- Cisco Virtual Security Gateway, Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1] and Cisco Virtual Network Management Center, Release 2.0 Installation Guide
- Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for Microsoft Hyper-V License Configuration Guide, Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1)
- Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for Microsoft Hyper-V Configuration Guide, Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1)
- Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for Microsoft Hyper-V Command Reference, Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1)
- Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for Microsoft Hyper-V Troubleshooting Guide, Release 5.2(1)VSG1(4.1)
- Cisco vPath and vServices Reference Guide for Microsoft Hyper-V for Microsoft Hyper-V
Cisco Virtual Network Management Center Documentation
The following Cisco Virtual Network Management Center documents are available on Cisco.com at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11213/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch Documentation
The Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch documents are available on Cisco.com at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9902/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request
For information on obtaining documentation, using the Cisco Bug Search Tool (BST), submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html .
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