Tripwire ConfigCheck – free utility that rapidly assesses the security of VMware ESX
June 5th, 2008 | 
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VMware and Tripwire have released a free tool that analyzes the configuration of ESX servers and compares the results against established best practices. ConfigCheck is a free utility that downloads to your desktop where you can easily assess whether your VMware virtual infrastructure is properly configured for security. According to Tripwire’s download page the tool is available for both Windows and Linux. Tripwire Configcheck was developed as a no cost introduction to the fully featured and licensed version of Tripwire Enterprise.
Both VMware and Tripwire have information about the free product on their websites. The following information from both sources provides a good summary about what the tool can do.
From Tripwire:
“Tripwire ConfigCheck is a free utility that rapidly assesses the security of VMware ESX 3.5 hypervisor configurations compared to the VMware Infrastructure 3 Security Hardening guidelines. Developed by Tripwire in cooperation with VMware, Tripwire ConfigCheck ensures ESX environments are properly configured—offering immediate insight into unintentional vulnerabilities in virtual environments—and provides the necessary steps towards full remediation when they are not.
- Ensure recommended ESX configurations
- Discover possible vulnerabilities
- Deploy virtualization safely and securely
- Increase security posture of the entire enterprise
- Easily implement security and compliance best practices
- Reduce configuration drift”
From VMware:
“Tripwire ConfigCheck for VMware ESX lets IT administrators enforce policies in alignment with VMware best practices for security hardening by checking a wide range of configuration parameters such as:
- Virtual network labeling
- Port Group settings
- Network isolation for VMotion and iSCSI
- NIC Mode settings / Layer 2 Security settings
- MAC address parameters
- VMware ESX Service Console security settings
- SAN resource masking and zoning
- Disk partitioning for Root File System
- VirtualCenter database configuration
- Configuration changes”
Techworld has also released an article about ConfigCheck titled Free tool targets virtual configuration.
“The ConfigCheck tool is based on VMware’s own security hardening guidelines for ESX Server and future releases will also support VMware’s Infrastructure 3 products. The free tool notifies IT managers of potential conflicts in configurations and also offers fixes to the incompatibilities between actual and desired configurations. The tool links back to the vendors’ virtual security resource center.”
Tripwire ConfigCheck – Configuration Control for Virtual and Physical Infrastructures
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