Chapter 1: Overview

	cOS Core Getting Started Guide for VMware	Next

	Note: This document is also available in other formats
A PDF version of this document along with all current and older documentation in PDF format can be found at https://my.clavister.com. It is also available as a single HTML page.

Note: This document is also available in other formats

A PDF version of this document along with all current and older documentation in PDF format can be found at https://my.clavister.com.

It is also available as a single HTML page.

cOS Core with VMware

By using the VMware product suite, it is possible to have a single computer running multiple, virtual Clavister NetWall Firewalls with each virtual firewall running a separate copy of cOS Core. This technique is referred to as virtualization and each virtual firewall can be said to be running under a VMware host in its own virtual machine. This is the basis for the Clavister Virtual Series of products, which also includes cOS Core running in the KVM and Hyper-V virtual environments.

Not only can cOS Core run in its own virtual machine under VMware, the management workstation that is used to administer cOS Core can also run under the same VMware installation. This workstation might be running InControl, the Web Interface or a CLI console through an SSH client.

	Important: A virtual host should run only cOS Core as a guest
	To provide maximum security, the virtual host should be running cOS Core as the only guest. This defends against security attacks against vulnerable hardware, where local data in a processor might be read by other software sharing the same processor. The attacks known as "Spectre" and "Meltdown" are examples of this.

Supported VMware Servers

cOS Core can run under the following VMware products for x86 hardware:

VMware Server (the "classic" server).
VMware ESXi Server.

	Note: From cOS Core 11.00, only ESXi 4.1 or later is available
	Beginning with cOS Core version 11.00, only the files for VMware ESXi version 4.1 and later are available for download. However, 11.00 versions and later can run under VMware Server or ESXi 3.5 by upgrading an earlier cOS Core distribution for these VMware platforms.

The cOS Core installation files for these servers can be downloaded from the Clavister website https://www.clavister.com. These files are also available for download from the VMware virtual appliance web page at https://www.vmware.com/appliances.

Referencing VMware Documentation

This guide describes the steps involved when installing cOS Core with VMware on x86 hardware as well as covering many of the issues that may be encountered with cOS Core running in a VMware virtual environment.

The guide tries to deal specifically with the subject of cOS Core running under VMware and unless relevant, does not detail the installation of VMware itself or issues which are related only to VMware. Pure VMware subjects are best explained by VMware's own, comprehensive product documentation which can be found at http://www.vmware.com.