The brand-new VMware Compliance Checker for vSphere tool has just been made available for download, allowing you to scan your ESX and ESXi hosts for compliance with the VMware vSphere hardening guidelines. This useful new tool can assist you in ensuring that your hosts are correctly configured and meet industry standards by performing a thorough compliance analysis.
The software is easy to use and does not require any specialized knowledge to operate. You only need to click Next a few times during the installation process, which is completed in seconds. After installation, you can launch the tool and choose the ESX or ESXi host you want to scan or your vCenter setup.
The tool runs for a while before presenting you with an HTML-based report that highlights any compliance issues discovered during the examination. This report will assist you in keeping track of your compliance level over time and provide documentation for internal audits.
Although the VMware Compliance Checker for vSphere is a helpful tool, it has some limitations. It only runs on Windows machines, and because it is Java-based, you must have Java installed on the machine before using it. Additionally, the software cannot schedule scans, which is a feature that would be quite useful in future updates.
If you’re looking for a more comprehensive compliance checking solution, William Lam’s Perl-based vSphere Security Hardening Report Script may be worth considering. This script conducts more thorough tests and has the advantage of being operating system agnostic, which means it can run on any machine. Additionally, you can establish automated cron jobs to perform scans for you, a feature that is currently lacking in the VMware tool.
In conclusion, the VMware Compliance Checker for vSphere is a valuable tool that can assist you in ensuring your ESX and ESXi hosts are properly configured and meet industry standards. Although it has some limitations, such as not being able to schedule scans or run on non-Windows machines, it is still a useful tool to have in your vAdmin toolkit.