6.3 Mask and zone SAN resources appropriately

Information

Use zoning and LUN masking to segregate SAN activity. For example, zones defined for testing
should be managed independently within the SAN so they do not interfere with activity in the
production zones. Similarly, you can set up different zones for different departments. Zoning
must take into account any host groups that have been set up on the SAN device. LUN masking
is a process that makes a LUN available to some hosts and unavailable to other hosts.

*Rationale*

Zoning provides access control in the SAN topology. Zoning defines which HBAs can
connect to which targets. The devices outside a zone are not visible to the devices inside
the zone when SAN zoning is configured.
Zoning has the following effects-. Reduces the number of targets and LUNs presented to a host.
. Can prevent non-ESXi systems from accessing a particular storage system, and from
possibly destroying VMFS data.
. Can be used to separate different environments, for example, a test from a
production environment.

NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

With ESXi hosts, use a single-initiator zoning or a single-initiator-single-target zoning. The
latter is a preferred zoning practice. Using the more restrictive zoning prevents problems
and misconfigurations that can occur on the SAN.For detailed instructions and best zoning practices, contact storage array or switch
vendors. Zoning and masking capabilities for each SAN switch and disk array are vendor
specific.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/145

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|SC-4

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 792308213354ef944f63460143ee9c445d43bcd956b2cafc992e092c7c9ca36a