Automated Traffic Visibility for Software Defined Data Centers using VMware NSX Dynamic Service Insertion

Another week, another advancement in GigaSECURE Security Delivery Platform from Gigamon, the leader in the Traffic Visibility space!

Previously, my colleague Johnnie discussed GigaSECURE solutions to ‘Secure the promise of SDDC Micro-Segmentation’.

Now, we are excited to announce at VMworld Barcelona, new extensions to GigaSECURE, specifically GigaVUE-VM that will automate traffic visibility for securing the micro-segmented SDDC. Collaborating with VMware and using NSX Dynamic Service Insertion, this new functionality will enable SecOps and NetOps teams to automate the selection, filtering and forwarding of the ever growing east-west virtual traffic for security and monitoring analytics.

The Gigamon and VMware integration leverages the power of the NSX network virtualization platform and distributed service insertion framework for automated deployment of virtual components in the GigaSECURE Security Delivery Platform, while also enabling dynamic provisioning of visibility traffic policies within customers’ software defined data centers.

As customers ramp up their SDDC deployments they need to automate the deployment and orchestration of advanced operationalization tools. Our vision is focused on leveraging VMware NSX service automation capabilities to help customers scale their deployments seamlessly.

That’s all nice and cool, but how does this really work? Let us take a look at couple of deployment models.

Figure 1: Secure the SDDC with GigaSECURE – Dynamic Service Insertion of GigaVUE-VM

Figure 2: Tenant level Traffic Visibility for Monitoring – Dynamic Service Insertion of GigaVUE-VM

Rich operational visibility is essential in modern security deployments as it not only delivers pervasive reach to information across the physical and virtual enterprise, but it also maximizes the effectiveness of customer investments in network, application and security monitoring tools.

Here is a scenario to ponder. What if a DC or Cloud operator wants to provide Security inspection or monitoring services to their tenants? Using the deployments above, customers can use VMware’s cloud management platform (vRealize Automation) and / or NSX Manager to automatically,

• Insert a ‘Visibility Service’ using GigaSECURE’s Virtual Visibility component, GigaVUE-VM,
• Define security or traffic policies that select, filter and forward the tenant’s virtual traffic to security and monitoring tools for analysis.

This service and the traffic policies can be auto-updated as new tenants come onboard or existing tenant’s security groups scale dynamically.

This integration is now available for customer trials. Come visit us at our booth in Barcelona to see this in action!