Security

RSA 7.1 supported under ESX 3.5

René Jorissen on July 23, 2009 7 Comments • Tags: #35 #71 #esx #rsa #support #vmware

More and more people would like to implement OTP (One Time Password) solutions. RSA is one of multiple vendors for OTP solutions. I also notice the wish to implement and support OTP with on-demand tokens, like SMS and e-mail.

RSA supports on-demand tokens, but the minimum RSA Authentication Manager version required is 7.1. Not only on-demand tokens, but also virtualization (like VMware) is very hot. For a long time, RSA 7.1 was only supported on physical servers. Running RSA 7.1 on a physical server doesn’t always perform very well, especially compared to RSA 6.1. This version performs well on a physical server as well on a virtual server.

RSA Authentication Manager 7.1 is now supported under VMware ESX server, hosting 3.5. You can check all supported platforms on the RSA website.

I guess I have to install this version under ESX to see how it performs, but maybe someone can tell me their own experience….

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René Jorissen

Co-owner and Solution Specialist at 4IP Solutions
René Jorissen works as Solution Specialist for 4IP in the Netherlands. Network Infrastructures are the primary focus. René works with equipment of multiple vendors, like Cisco, Aruba Networks, FortiNet, HP Networking, Juniper Networks, RSA SecurID, AeroHive, Microsoft and many more. René is Aruba Certified Edge Expert (ACEX #26), Aruba Certified Mobility Expert (ACMX #438), Aruba Certified ClearPass Expert (ACCX #725), Aruba Certified Design Expert (ACDX #760), CCNP R&S, FCNSP and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEF) certified. You can follow René on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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  1. Dean says:

    Hi Mate,

    I noticed you had performance issues with installing RSA 7.1 on a vmware server, so did i,

    I installed on an esx server and assigned 2cpu’s and 4gb ram and performance was horrid, i went straight back to 6.1

    I have to get this running soon and i am deciding if to try again with 7.1 SP on vmware or go for a physical server,

    have you tried SP2 on vmware?

  2. Dean,

    I have installed 7.1 (with the patch) under VMware 3.5 once and it is performing fine. This week I will install RSA 7.1 under VMware 4, so I will let you know how it performs.

    René

  3. Julian says:

    René,

    do you have some new information how rsa 7.1 performs under VMware 4?

    Julian

  4. Hey Julian,

    I installed RSA 7.1 SP2 under VMware 4 and it performs perfectly. I also installed RADIUS and I am using hardware tokens and On Demand tokens.

    Be sure to install SP2, because of the fixes for ESX.

    René

  5. Linus says:

    I have installed RSA Authenitcation Manager 7.1 SP2 on a VMware ESX 3.5 and the performance is horrible. I cannot installa vSphere 4 just yet.. You guys have any ideas? RSAs support forums is worthless :|

    Thanks

  6. Ana says:

    I am thinking to install RSA 7.1 in VMWARE ESX 3.5 but I am reading the implementation manual and it just says that RSA 7.1 just supports Windows 2003 server, I was wondering if anybody has installed RSA 7.1 in windows 2008 server or what Authentication manager have you installed to work in this OS?

    Thank you,
    Ana

  7. Hey Ana,

    I learned from installing RSA under VMware while it wasn’t supported yet. So I haven’t tried to install RSA 7.1 under Windows Server 2008. I guess the problem with Windows Server 2008 is the 64-bits OS. Currently RSA 7.1 including RADIUS can only be installed on 32-bits Windows Server 2003.

    My advise: as long as Windows Server 2008 isn’t supported officially, do not install RSA under Windows Server 2008!!

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