Check Point Adds Virtualization to Security Lineup (
Page 1 of 2 )
The Check Point VPN-1 VE is designed to protect resources in VMware ESX and ESXi environments. While the VPN-1 VE does reduce security risk in these deployments, IT administrtors will need some consulting help or staff with knowledge of both VMware ESX and security to take full advantage of the product.The Check Point VPN-1
VE (Virtual Edition) is the first release of the company’s security
gateway delivered as a virtual appliance for deployment in VMware ESX
and ESXi environments.
VPN-1 VE runs on the same Check Point SecurePlatform as a physical
VPN-1 software appliance and can easily be integrated into existing
Check Point security management consoles. VPN-1VE provides strong
protection for virtual machines that would otherwise have to route
network traffic to an external firewall/IPS device.
My tests showed that using the VPN-1 in VMware ESX installation can
significantly mitigate security risks while taking advantage of the
consolidation benefits of virtualization. However, taking full
advantage of VPN-1 VE requires more than knowing how to configure a
Check Point firewall. IT managers will need to engage consulting
services or have staff on hand who are fluent in both security and VMware ESX setup.
While alternative security solutions
are worth looking at for protecting virtual machines, none that I’ve seen is
significantly easier to configure than the VPN-1 VE. Plus, for shops that
already have Check Point solutions in place, benefits derived from unified management
and security policy creation are hard to beat.
With that said, however, the VPN-1
VE that I tested, which included VPN-1 UTM, costs $7,500 to secure five virtual
machines and $15,000 to secure an unlimited number of virtual machines. VPN-1
VE licenses can be used only on VMware ESX or ESXi servers. The VPN-1 VE
unlimited license is designed to use as many as four virtual cores.
A 15-day trial of VPN-1 VE, which
became available Sept. 15, can be downloaded from the VMware Virtual Appliance
Marketplace (look for the “certified production ready” section). This is where
you’ll also find several competitive products, including Stonesoft’s StoneGate
Virtual Firewall/VPN and Virtual IPS,
Vyatta’s Linux-based firewall/VPN, StillSecure’s Cobia Unified Network
Platform, BlueLane’s VirtualShield for VMware ESX Server 3, Reflex Security’s
Reflex VSA and Astaro’s Security Gateway.
