Security

VirtualMetric uses Microsoft IIS Server as its Web server, so VirtualMetric Dashboard and the VirtualMetric API can always be made up-to-date and secure via Microsoft Update. VirtualMetric also uses Microsoft SQL Server as its database server where it stores user, inventory, and monitoring data. As a result, you can use Microsoft authentication and encryption methods to make Microsoft SQL Server secure as well.

We put a lot of effort to make VirtualMetric suitable for enterprises and meet the requirements of their network and security policies. For example, VirtualMetric does not require an agent to connect to servers. This is a great advantage for enterprises because VirtualMetric does not touch any system files, does not require any registry changes, and does not load any DLLs or drivers to the monitored servers. This can help keep security scans simple as there are no system changes on your servers. Similarly, VirtualMetric connects to Windows, VMware, and Linux servers remotely to collect monitoring and inventory data, so we focus on making this remote connection as secure as possible.

Further details of these can be found in the relevant sections.

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Authentication

VirtualMetric allows you to use two different authentication methods to connect to servers: Basic and Active Directory.

• If you set up VirtualMetric on an Active Directory member server, you can start VirtualMetric Collector with a privileged account on Active Directory. By doing so, you can avoid the need to type any usernames/passwords to connect to servers in the same Active Directory.

• If you want to use Basic Authentication to connect servers, VirtualMetric uses the Advanced Encryption Standard or AES with a 128-bit key to encrypt your passwords. This is one of the most secure encryption methods used in most modern encryption technologies, and is considered to be logically unbreakable.

	Password in Database?	Password Security
Active Directory Authentication	No	No
Basic Authentication	Yes	AES 128-bit

We suggest you to prefer Active Directory Authentication if it's possible to use on your environment.

When you create a user to connect to VirtualMetric API or the Dashboard, we also encrypt your user passwords with MD5 hashing. VirtualMetric Databases only contain MD5 hashes of your passwords. When a user tries to log in to VirtualMetric, we only send an MD5 hash over the network.

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Encryption

Communication between VirtualMetric and the monitored servers is encrypted at the protocol layer. When VirtualMetric connects to your servers, it uses the SSL protocol to protect your sensitive data from prying eyes.

Platform	Secure Authentication	Encrypted Data Transfer	SSL Supported?
Windows	✓	✓	✓
VMware	✓	✓	✓
Linux	✓	✓	✓

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Connection Protocols

If you use Active Directory authentication for your Windows Servers, VirtualMetric uses PowerShell Remoting to connect to them. PowerShell Remoting is a solution to some of the security and consistency issues that IT professionals currently have to work around. It is built on Microsoft's implementation of the Web Services for Management (WSMan) protocol, and it uses the Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service to manage communication and authentication. This framework was designed to be a secure and reliable method for managing computers, and it is built on well-known standards like Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The communication between VirtualMetric and the monitored server is encrypted at the protocol layer except when basic access authentication is used, which is intended for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) sessions. Since we use WinRM, you can always configure WinRM security, change the encryption type, and set an SSL certificate to make communication even more secure.

For VMware Servers, VirtualMetric uses VMware vSphere Web Services to connect to the hosts. By default, VirtualMetric uses the SSL protocol to connect to VMware hosts, but you can always change this communication protocol as well.

For Linux Servers, VirtualMetric uses SSH to connect to the servers. You can use basic authentication or key-based authentication. VirtualMetric supports RSA and DSA private keys. You can also use pass phrase for your keys.

Platform	Connection Protocol	Firewall Friendly?	Supported Protocols
Windows	WS-Man	✓	HTTP / HTTPS
VMware	SOAP	✓	HTTP / HTTPS
Linux	SSH / SCP	✓	SSH / SCP

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Required Firewall Ports

VirtualMetric was designed to become a firewall-friendly monitoring solution. Many monitoring solutions on the market require RPC/DCOM/SNMP protocols to monitor servers. Because of their protocols, they usually require complex firewall configurations due to their dynamic port settings. VirtualMetric only uses the HTTP/HTTPS protocols to connect to Windows and VMWare servers. For Linux servers, VirtualMetric uses the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, so you can easily configure the access via the firewall.

Client Access to VirtualMetric Dashboard

Source	Destination	Protocol	Ports	Action
Client	VirtualMetric Dashboard	TCP	80/443	ALLOW
Client	VirtualMetric API	TCP	8080	ALLOW

Server Monitoring

Source	Destination	Protocol	Ports	Action
VirtualMetric Trigger	VirtualMetric API	TCP	8080	ALLOW
VirtualMetric Trigger	Windows Server	TCP	5985/5986	ALLOW
VirtualMetric Trigger	VMware Server	TCP	80/443	ALLOW
VirtualMetric Trigger	Linux Server	TCP	22	ALLOW
VirtualMetric Trigger	Network Device	UDP	161	ALLOW
Windows / VMware / Linux Server	VirtualMetric API	TCP	8080	ALLOW
sFlow Endpoint	VirtualMetric Trigger	UDP	6343	ALLOW
NetFlow Endpoint	VirtualMetric Trigger	UDP	2055	ALLOW
IPFIX Endpoint	VirtualMetric Trigger	UDP	4739	ALLOW