Prioritizing Security and Stability: Why ZSphere is the Virtualization Solution You Need

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, virtualization has emerged as a cornerstone of modern IT infrastructure. It enables organizations to optimize resource utilization, reduce costs, and enhance agility. However, as with any technology, virtualization also presents its own set of challenges, particularly in the realms of security and stability.

Analysis of Virtualization Market Trends

The virtualization market is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by both policy initiatives and evolving market demands. According to the 2024 China Virtualization Market Research Report by CCID Consulting, the Chinese server virtualization market reached a size of approximately USD 690 million in 2023, with a year-on-year growth of 14.7%. This robust growth is anticipated to persist in the coming years, fueled by increasing demand for infrastructure security upgrades across diverse industries and the growing need for virtualization stock replacement following adjustments in VMware’s service models. The market size is projected to reach USD 1,051 million by 2026.

From the perspective of market trends, the report points out five major trends: security and stability remain the top concerns of virtualization users; Virtualization products with multiple architectures and strong compatibility are more popular with users. Software and hardware decoupling demands higher requirements for virtualization software capabilities. Virtualization and containers complement each other, and the hybrid ownership model is gradually increasing. The development of artificial intelligence technology will bring new vitality to the virtualization market.

Security and Stability Challenges in Virtualization

Virtualized environments, while offering numerous benefits, introduce a new layer of complexity that can amplify security risks. Traditional security measures designed for physical infrastructure may not be sufficient to protect virtualized assets.

Evolving Security Threats in Virtualized Environments

• Hypervisor vulnerabilities:The hypervisor, being the foundation of a virtualized environment, becomes a prime target for attackers. Vulnerabilities in the hypervisor can potentially compromise the entire virtualization stack, leading to data breaches and service disruptions.
• Virtual machine sprawl:The ease of creating and deploying virtual machines can result in uncontrolled virtual machine sprawl, making it challenging to manage and secure the environment effectively. Unpatched and unmanaged virtual machines can serve as entry points for attackers.
• Inter-VM attacks:Virtual machines, although logically isolated, share physical hardware resources. Attackers can exploit vulnerabilities in one virtual machine to gain access to other virtual machines on the same host, potentially leading to lateral movement within the environment.

Ensure business stability and continuity when problems arise

Business continuity is paramount in today’s digital age. Virtualization plays a crucial role in ensuring uninterrupted operations, but it also introduces potential points of failure.

• Single Point of Failure:If a hypervisor fails, all VMs running on that hypervisor will be impacted, potentially leading to service outages.
• Data Loss:Data stored within virtual machines is vulnerable to loss in case of hardware failure or data corruption.
• Downtime During Maintenance:Routine maintenance or upgrades of the virtualization infrastructure can result in downtime, impacting business operations.

How ZStack ZSphere Addresses Security and Stability Concerns

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform is a next-generation server virtualization software based on high performance, high security, high stability, and a strong focus on in-house development. It combines the ZStack Cloud platform engine with 4S features, employing cutting-edge technologies like server virtualization, network virtualization, and storage virtualization, along with intelligent advanced operation and maintenance capabilities. Users can leverage ZStack ZSphere  virtualization platform to rapidly build virtualized data centers or combine it with ZStack’s product line to build an integrated IaaS to PaaS solution.

The Security Fortress of ZSphere

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform distinguishes itself by offering a multi-layered security framework designed to safeguard virtualized workloads effectively. This layered approach combines multiple security measures to create a robust defense against a wide range of threats. Let’s examine the key elements of ZSphere’s security framework:

Network Security: Multi-Directional Traffic Control

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform’s network security controls are designed to regulate traffic flow and prevent unauthorized access. Its integrated security features include:

• Distributed Firewall and Security Groups:This combination ensures that only legitimate traffic can reach virtual machines. The distributed firewall allows for granular control over traffic flow, while security groups define rules that govern communication between virtual machines. This approach enhances security by filtering traffic in both north-south (between the virtualized environment and external networks) and east-west (between virtual machines within the environment) directions.
• IP/MAC/ARP Spoofing Prevention:ZSphere actively combats IP/MAC/ARP spoofing attacks, preventing attackers from impersonating legitimate devices on the network and gaining unauthorized access to sensitive information. This feature protects against a common attack vector used to intercept network traffic and steal data.

Business Security: Proactive Threat Mitigation

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform takes a proactive approach to securing business operations by integrating a combination of security tools:

• Virtualization Anti-Virus:This essential component detects and removes malicious software targeting virtual machines, protecting them from viruses, worms, Trojans, and other threats that could compromise system integrity or steal data.
• Agentless Virtualization Security Protection Engine:This engine simplifies security management by providing a centralized approach to threat detection and prevention without requiring agents to be installed on individual virtual machines. The agentless approach reduces overhead and ensures consistent security policy enforcement across the virtualized environment.

System Security: A Holistic View of Vulnerabilities

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform equips organizations with a comprehensive view of their security posture by integrating security analysis and monitoring tools, along with commercial vulnerability scanning tools. These tools help organizations:

• Identify and Address Vulnerabilities:Proactively identifying and addressing vulnerabilities before they can be exploited is crucial to minimizing security risks. Regular vulnerability scans, coupled with timely patching and updates, help maintain a strong security posture.
• Reduce Post-Breach Costs:By addressing security weaknesses proactively, organizations can significantly reduce the costs and disruption associated with recovering from security breaches.

 Data and Account Security: The Cornerstones of Trust

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform prioritizes data and account security to build a foundation of trust within the virtualized environment:

• Encryption of Sensitive Commercial Data:Employs encryption to safeguard sensitive business data from unauthorized access. This measure ensures data confidentiality and protects against data theft, even if unauthorized individuals gain access to storage systems.
• Robust Identity Authentication:Stringent authentication mechanisms control access to the virtualized infrastructure. ZSphere’s support for commercial passwords and encryption algorithms ensures that user accounts are adequately protected from compromise, preventing unauthorized access to critical systems.

The Unwavering Stability of ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform

Stability is the cornerstone of any successful virtualization platform. It ensures business continuity, minimizes downtime, and safeguards critical data and applications. ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform stands out for its unwavering commitment to stability.

Stable Architecture: A Foundation Built to Last

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform’s exceptional stability stems from its robust and resilient architecture.

• Full plug-in architecture:ZSphere’s modular design allows for seamless integration of new features and functionalities without disrupting the core system. This ensures stability and flexibility as your business needs evolve.
• In-process microservices:ZSphere’s microservices architecture promotes isolation and fault containment. By running microservices within the same process, communication overhead is minimized, enhancing performance and stability.
• Redundant databases:Leverage redundant databases to eliminate single points of failure. This ensures data availability and consistency, even in the event of hardware failures.
• Metadata consistency:It meticulously maintains metadata consistency, ensuring that the system always has an accurate and reliable view of its resources. This prevents data corruption and enhances overall system stability.

Stable Mechanisms: Ensure business continuity

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform implements multiple high availability (HA) features that contribute to stable and uninterrupted operations:

• Management service HA:Itemploys high availability (HA) for its management services, ensuring continuous operation even if a management node fails.
• Network HA:It ensures network resilience through network HA, minimizing the impact of network disruptions on virtual machines.
• Virtual machine HA:Virtual machine HA automatically restarts failed virtual machines on healthy hosts, minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity.
• Virtual machine fault detection:It proactively monitors virtual machines for signs of trouble, enabling early detection and resolution of potential issues.
• Business fault detection:Extends fault detection to the business level, monitoring critical applications and services for anomalies and triggering corrective actions.

Rigorous Testing for Unwavering Reliability

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform undergoes a battery of rigorous tests to guarantee unwavering reliability.

• High-intensity use case testing:ZSphere has passed over 100,000 high-intensity use case tests, simulating real-world scenarios and pushing the platform to its limits.
• Automated testing:Each version of ZSphere undergoes 1,000 hours of automated testing, covering all aspects of the platform, from basic functionality to advanced features.
• Violent power outage testing:To ensure resilience against power failures, ZSphere undergoes an average of 4,500 machine violent power outage tests per month.

Stable Practice: Production grade verification

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform’s stability is not just theoretical; it’s been proven in challenging production environments:

• 60,000+ Hours of Stable Operation:ZSphere has a proven track record of managing mission-critical workloads, operating stably for over 60,000 hours in production settings.
• Supporting Financial-Level Core Trading Systems:ZSphere’s exceptional stability and security make it a reliable choice even for the most demanding financial-level applications.

ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform product Competitive Advantages

• Virtualization Leaders quadrant:ZStack ZSphere virtualization platform is ranked in the leader quadrant of CCID Consulting’s China Virtualization Market Research Report
• 4000+ enterprise customer cases:It covers 30+ countries and regions in the world, covering 10+ important industries and fields such as government, telecommunications, finance, education, energy, transportation, medical care, and manufacturing
• International user experience:One-click migration deployment of physical machines and VMS, consistent with the experience of mainstream virtualization vendors, does not change the deployment mode and O&M process, and does not require relearning operations. Five-step rapid VM creation, low-cost application transformation
• 300+ partners worldwide：More than 300 partners, covering more than 30 countries and regions around the world, serving customers closely

ZStack Company introduction

ZStack is a leading provider of cloud computing technology, focusing on the development of cloud computing software and hardware. It has obtained strategic investors from many large enterprises such as Alibaba Cloud, China Telecom and Shenzhen Capital Group. ZStack ranks TOP5 in IDC cloud system software market report, and ranks first among independent cloud vendors . Its product matrix covers data center cloud infrastructure, covering product lines such as virtualization, cloud platform, container cloud platform, distributed storage, hyperconverged all-in-one machine, cloud-native hyperconverged, multi-cloud management platform, database cloud platform, etc. Helping more than 3,600 companies transform digitally. zstack also started and continues to maintain an open source IaaS community, ZStack.io, which has quickly become one of the most influential in China. zstack.io has inspired a community of over 10,000 users with its cloud software downloads, online documentation, training courses, knowledge base, and many other resources.