When EMC purchased
RSA Security last year, experts wondered what the information systems
provider would do with the security vendor’s assets.
Would EMC operate RSA separately, or bundle the security technology across
its storage systems?
EMC answered that question today at the RSA Conference
2007 in San Francisco, revealing that it has stitched core RSA security
software into its top-of-the-line Symmetrix DMX-3 storage array.
The company’s goal is to combine the network security characteristics of
firewalls, intrusion prevention systems and endpoint protection with
information security, which covers identity management, access and audit
management and encryption.
The news will be a key part of a keynote session in which EMC CEO Joseph
Tucci and former RSA CEO and current EMC Executive Vice President Art
Coviello will discuss the EMC/RSA integration roadmap among other security
technology enhancements.
For now, Symmetrix Service Credential, Secured By RSA preserves the
integrity of the information housed in Symmetrix DMX-3 systems by requiring
authentication of users accessing the Symmetrix service processor.
Administrators who want to tap into the Symmetrix must use encrypted
credentials and individual passwords; the service credential then authorizes
their actions and prevents unauthorized actions.
Did someone say Big Brother is watching?
The new tamper-proof Audit Log allows datacenter administrators to record
and track all service or management activities on a Symmetrix DMX-3 system,
including those that could impact the integrity of the information stored in
the array.
Finally on the security front, EMC has spruced up its disk erasure
technology with the new Certified Data Erasure capabilities for Symmetrix
DMX-3 systems.
EMC Certified Data Erasure makes sure that information on failed drives
is erased before they are removed from the system, reducing the risk of
sensitive data leaving the company. This feature is in keeping with
Department of Defense (DOD) specification 5220.22-M, providing an auditable
record of data erasure.
Why roll the RSA security features into the Symmetrix servers?
Bob Wambach, director of EMC Symmetrix product marketing, said that
customers prefer security tools to be built-in instead of just being bolted
on, an antiquated method of adding security to storage practiced by rivals
like IBM and HP
.
He also said the move is the tip of the iceberg for integrating RSA’s IP
into EMC systems but declined to provide more specifics.
Finally, Wambach said EMC added new utilities to improve the performance of
the Symmetrix DMX-3 system, adding support for 4 gigabit-per-second Fibre
Channel and FICON connectivity, support for RAID 6.
Another new tool, Dynamic Cache Partitioning, lets Symmetrix customers split
memory resources in as much as eight partitions for different applications.
While most partitions in mainframes and other servers are static, or
unchangeable, these partitions can be expanded or contracted according to
performance requirements.
Wambach also said it has boosted its asynchronous replication software for
copying data over thousands of miles. SRDF/A Reserve Capacity safeguards
continuous remote data replication by buffering in-transit data to disk
during temporary outages.
The tool can “self-heal around link outages,” Wambach said.
Available in the first quarter, the Symmetrix Service Credential, Audit Log,
RAID 6 and enhanced SRDF/A replication capabilities are included with
Enginuity operating system release 5772.
Enginuity 5772 will be available as an upgrade from the 5771 operating
system for existing Symmetrix DMX-3 customers enrolled in a maintenance
plan, or with new Symmetrix DMX-3 purchases.
EMC Certified Data Erasure, 4GB/s support and Dynamic Cache Partitioning
will be available as standalone, chargeable offerings.
