6.5.2 vSphere Auto Deploy Server Security Considerations
For vSphere Auto Deploy, secure your network as you would for any other PXE-based deployment method. vSphere Auto Deploy transfers data over SSL to prevent casual interference and snooping. However, the authenticity of the client or of the vSphere Auto Deploy server is not checked during a PXE boot.
The boot image that the vSphere Auto Deploy server downloads to a machine can have the following components:
• The VIB packages that the image profile consists of are always included in the boot image.
• The host profile and host customization are included in the boot image if vSphere Auto Deploy rules are set up to provision the host with a host profile or a host customization setting.
o The administrator (root) password and user passwords that are included with host profile and host customization are MD5-encrypted.
o Any other passwords associated with profiles are in the clear. If hosts have been configured on an Active Directory domain, the passwords are not protected, and therefore the vSphere Authentication Proxy must be employed to avoid exposing Active Directory passwords being stored in plain text in the host profiles.
• The host's public and private SSL key and certificate are included in the boot image.
• As mentioned previously, reduce the security risk of vSphere Auto Deploy by completely isolating the network where it is used.