VMware VCENTER CONFIGURATION MANAGER Quick guide

P R O D U C T D A T A S H E E T / 1
D A T A S H E E T
AT A G L ANCE
VMware vCenter™ Configuration Manager (formerly
EMC Ionix Server Configuration Manager) automates
configuration management across virtual and physical
servers and desktops, increasing eciency by
eliminating manual, error-prone and time-consuming
work. This allows enterprises to maintain continuous
compliance by detecting changes and comparing
them to configuration and security policies.
Configuration Manager remediates problems and
automates and optimizes server provisioning for
complete virtualized datacenter control.
K E Y B E N E F I T S
•Avoidcongurationdriftbyautomaticallydetecting
and comparing changes to policies and remediating
to bring systems back into compliance.
•Maintaincontinuouscompliancewithout-of-thebox
templates for standards and regulatory mandates
(suchasSarbanes-Oxley,PCIDSSandHIPAA).
•Automateandoptimizeserverprovisioningand
application stack deployment in the datacenter.
•StreamlineActiveDirectorymanagementand
compliance automation.
•Gainenterprisecontrolandbroadconguration
visibility.
vCenter Configuration Manager
Policy-Driven Configuration Management and Compliance Control
What Is VMware vCenter
Configuration Manager?
VMware vCenter Configuration Manager is a policy-driven
configuration automation solution that detects deep system
changes and checks whether those changes are compliant to
industry, regulatory or your own self-defined best practices. It
helps you avoid configuration drift by remediating systems to
bring them back into compliance, managing change, server
provisioning, and application stack optimization.
Configuration Manager automates critical IT configuration
management and compliance processes across thousands of
asset, security and configuration settings from VMware vSphere™,
VMware ESXi™ and ESX®, Windows, UNIX or Linux servers and
user desktops, providing a powerful, business-aligned system
with unified configuration insight.
How Is VMware vCenter
Configuration Manager Used?
VMware vCenter Configuration Manager ensures the integrity of
your virtualized datacenter and lowers IT audit costs by providing
automated compliance assessments against VMware and Microsoft
security best practice guides, industry best practices and your
own policies.
•Gain configuration insight and agility and avoid configuration
drift by automating discovery, collection, change detection and
policy violation identification for more than 80,000
configuration settings.
•Maintain continuous compliance with out-of-the-box templates
that contain policy-driven rules, reports and dashboards that
ensure security, regulatory and operational compliance.
•Automate server provisioning and optimize application stack
deployment with bare metal provisioning (BMP) and just
enough operating system (JeOS).
How Does vCenter
Configuration Manager Work?
vCenter Configuration Manager is the only end-to-end
configuration management solution that combines deep server
and workstation configuration management and provisioning
with out-of-the-box, built-in compliance intelligence, across

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Automate Server Provisioning, Optimize Stack
Deployment
•Commonprovisioningplatformforbothphysicalandvirtualservers
•Centralizedrepositoryformanagingsoftwarestacks
•BaremetalprovisioningofLinux,WindowsandESXimages
•OptimizedJeOS-basedsoftwarethatmaximizesvirtual
machine density, minimizes resource utilization and decreases
security vulnerabilities
•Applicationprovisioningthatensurestherightsoftware
packages are installed on proper systems
Active Directory Compliance
•StreamlineActiveDirectorymanagementandcompliance
automationbycollectingActiveDirectorycongurationdata,
objects and changes made.
•Trackaccesscontrolentry(ACE)orothercriticalsecurity-based
changes that may not be approved or occur outside designated
change windows.
•ViewchangestogroupmembershipacrossActiveDirectory
servers—in one report.
•Manageuseraccounts,enforceorganizationstandardsforuser
accounts and monitor changes.
Powerful Enterprise Control and Visibility
•High-leveldashboardsprovidetherightlevelofinformation
needed to make change, configuration and patch management
processes more eective.
•ViewdetailsaboutthechangeshappeninginyourIT
environment and track their impact against service levels and
compliance.
•Role-basedaccesscontrolsuseofreportsandoperational
actionsbasedonActiveDirectoryrights,rolesandresponsibilities.
Find Out More
For information or to purchase VMware products, call
1-877-4VMWARE(outsideofNorthAmericadial[phone]),
visit www.vmware.com/products for more information. For detailed
product information and systems requirements, please refer to
additional detail online.
physical and virtual environments, giving the policy-driven
automation and control required to deliver IT as a service.
•Deep Collection and Visibility
Discovercongurationsacrosstheenterprisewithscalable,
secure data collection, and track changes to them automatically.
•Compliance Policy Intelligence
Ensure compliance with various industry and regulatory
standards and requirements on a continuous basis.
•RemediationandPatchManagement
Detectandxcongurationproblemsandsecurityvulnerabilities
automaticallyacrossmultiplesystems.Assessthestatusofapatch,
deploy a new patch and verify correct deployment of a patch.
•ServerProvisioningandApplicationStackDeployment
Provision Linux, Windows and ESX images and optimized
JeOS-based application stacks.
•MultiplatformSupport
Support Windows desktops and servers, UNIX and Linux
servers, and vSphere.
Key Features
Configuration and Change Management
•Automatedcollection,analysis,remediation,andpatch
management lowers IT audit costs by significantly reducing
the time and labor associated with time-consuming manual
processes.
•ToolconsolidationincreasesITeciency,removingthehassles,
headaches and time associated with using multiple separate
systems for managing server changes, patches, configurations
and remediation.
•Centralizedviewintoconguration,securityandoperational
compliance.
•Discover,collectanddetectchangesandidentifypolicy
violations for more than 80,000 configuration settings.
Out-of-the-Box Compliance Templates
•Ensurecontinuouscompliancewithsecuritybestpracticesand
hardeningguidelinesforVMware,Microsoft,andApple
•Enforcestandardsandregulatorymandatesincludingthefollowing:
–Regulatorymandates(suchasSarbanes-Oxley,HIPAA,DISA,
ISO17799,802-53andBaselII)
–Industrystandards(suchasPCIDSSandNIST)
vCenter Configuration Manager