Novell ZENworks Endpoint Security Management 3.5 User Manual

Page of 245
ZENworks® ESM 3.5
Administrator’s Manual
15
Securing Server Access
Physical Access Control
Physical access to the Distribution Service Server should be controlled to prevent access by 
unauthorized parties. Measures taken should be appropriate to the risks involved. There are 
multiple available standards and guidelines available, including NIST recommendations, HIPAA 
requirements, ISO/IEC 17799, and less formal collections of recommendations such as CISSP or 
SANS guidelines. Even when a given regulatory frameworks is not applicable, it may still act as a 
valuable resource and planning guide.
Likewise, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity mechanisms to protect the Distribution 
Server should be put in place to protect the server if an organizational risk assessment identifies a 
need for such steps. The mechanisms best used will depend on the specifics of the organization 
and its desired risk profile, and cannot be described in advance. The same standards and 
guidelines sources listed above can be helpful in this decision as well.
Network Access Control
The Distribution Server can be further protected from unauthorized access by restricting network 
access to it. This may take the form of some or all of the following:
restricting incoming connection attempts to those ports and protocols from which a 
valid access attempt might be expected; 
restricting outgoing connection attempts to those IP addresses to which a valid access 
attempt might be expected;  and/or
restricting outgoing connection attempts to those ports and protocols to which a valid 
access attempt might be expected.
Such measures can be imposed through the use of standard firewall technology.
High Availability
High Availability mechanisms for the Distribution Server should be put in place if an 
organizational risk assessment identifies a need for such steps. There are multiple alternative 
mechanisms for building high availability solutions, ranging from the general (DNS round-
robining, layer 3 switches, etc.) to the vendor specific (the Microsoft web site has multiple 
resources on high availability web services and clustering issues). Those implementing and 
maintaining an ESM solution should determine which class of high availability solution is most 
appropriate for their context. It should be kept in mind that the Distribution Server has been 
architected to function in non-high-availability situations, and does not require High Availability 
to provide its services.