This document discusses how security functions that were traditionally performed by specialized hardware can now be virtualized and performed in software. It notes that hardware is no longer needed for common security functions like inspection, encryption/decryption, and behavior prevention. It also discusses some of the problems with relying on physical hardware security appliances, like cost, need for updates, and lack of availability across cloud environments. The document promotes a software-based security solution as offering more flexibility, agility, and cost savings compared to traditional hardware-based security approaches.

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Virtualize Application Security Today -
Hardware is No Longer Needed

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Common Security Functions
Inspect and allow/block Encrypt/Decrypt content Prevent bad behavior (DoS)

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Security Requires Horsepower
• Layer 4-7 content inspection
• Full packet payload inspection
• Assembly/disassembly
• Faster networks
• Encryption
• Complex algorithms
• A lot of data
• Increasing complexity
• Application awareness
• Context-aware

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Security Requires Specialized Horsepower (?)
• Encryption/decryption
silicon
• DPU/GPU/FPGA
^^^^^^^^^^^

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Problems With Hardware

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Physical Dependencies
Only usable where installed Not available in the cloud
Datacenter 2
Datacenter 1

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Cost
Specialized hardware is expensive
SSL acceleration card
can cost >$7000

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Keeping Current
Technology advances require updated hardware
i.e. - ECC encryption
Time

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More Horses Off the Shelf (OTS)

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Moore’s Law

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CPU Performance With TLS Encryption
Source: https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/measuring-the-performance-impact-of-tls-
encryption-using-tpcc/ (2021)

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TLS in CPU
Source: https://istlsfastyet.com/

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Software-based Security Matters

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Load Balancing and Security Makes Sense
L3/4/7 ACLs
Encryption
User Authentication
Application Rate Limiting
Bot Management
Security
Insights
Security score
Attack insights
SSL Insights
WAF analytics
Web Application Firewall
Data Center Public Cloud
Private Cloud
AV Malware Protection
DDoS Protection
PULSE Cloud Services
Live Updates

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Legacy Hardware / Software LB Challenges
NSX Advanced Load Balancer delivers Business Agility, Operational Simplicity, and Cost Savings
DC
1
DC2
DEPT1 DEPT2
Active Standby
0% Used
Capacity
Control
Plane
Control
Plane
Separate control
points – operational
complexity
Over provisioning,
manual capacity
management
Hard to troubleshoot,
finger-pointing
Network Team
App Owners
Not designed for modern
new environments
• Central orchestration and
management
• Active-Active deployment
• Elastic scaling and self-healing
• Per-app / per-tenant
• Multi-cloud
• Rich visibility and analytics
• Automation/self-service
15%
?
Customer-managed / SaaS
vRA
Custom
X
On-premises Cloud Container

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Control Plane
Bare Metal Virtualized Containers
ON PREMISES
PUBLIC CLOUD
Distributed Architecture for Multi-Cloud Application Services
Centralized policies and full lifecycle management
Data Plane
Controller
(Customer-managed | SaaS)
ELASTICITY
Application Services Fabric
ANALYTICS /
OBSERVABILITY
AUTOMATION
RESILIENCE
Pulse Cloud
Service
CENTRAL
ORCHESTRATION

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Protect your application attack surface
Application Security Solution
App Security
Visibility
API Protection
Bot Management
Web Application Firewall
Attack Types
Actors: Human vs Bot
File Uploads
API / App
Web Traffic
Pulse Cloud Services Threat Intelligence
Threat Research Signature Updates 0-day analysis Rule Updates

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Switzerland of Load
Balancers & Web
App Security
Modern software-defined
distributed architecture
Multi-cloud consistency
and operational simplicity
API-driven integrations and
analytics-driven decisions
A single platform for all
application services
12000+
Hardware Appliances
Replaced

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Demo
A single application
services fabric across
multiple clouds
Virtualized Containers
Bare Metal Virtualized Containers
Virtualized Containers
On-premises
Clickthrough Demo
Web App Security

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Software = Flexibility and Agility
Source: The Business Value of VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer (IDC # US49589722, August 2022)
27% higher application
development
productivity gains
90% faster
scale to
capacity
54% fewer
unplanned outages
per year
43% lower
cost of
operations

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Next Steps
LEARN
avinetworks.com/
docs | webinars
TRY
vmware.com/go/try-
avi-networks
vmware.com/go/aviw
orkshops
TRAIN

22. Thank You
©2023 VMware, Inc.