Key Management Server (KMS) for Multiple vCenter Clusters and Nodes [Part 5 of 8]

We often get questions from MSPs about deploying our Alliance Key Manager solution across multiple vCenter nodes. Here is some good news for our MSP partners:

Multiple MSP Hosting or Cloud Locations

Many MSPs operate multiple regional hosting centers. Even small MSPs will typically have two locations in order to support high availability and backup. Each physical location will have one or more vCenter servers. Multiple vCenter clusters are not uncommon at a single data center location. Global MSPs often have to work within a country’s data sovereignty laws. This means a data center in each designated country. This increases the number of key management servers (KMSs) that must be deployed.

Production and High availability Key Servers

Under the Townsend Security MSP partner program, there are no licensing restrictions and you can run as many KMS servers as you wish. This typically means running two key servers in each vCenter environment – one for production and one for high availability (HA) failover. Since the MSP partner program involves a usage based cost model, you can deploy as many KMS servers as you need. You only pay for the encrypted VMs and vSAN directories regardless of physical location and number of key servers.

Customer Dedicated Key Servers

You may find the occasional customer who doesn’t want to share a key server with other customers. VMware makes this easy to accomplish. You can just create a new KMS Cluster definition and add the new production and failover key servers to this configuration. The start encryption of VMs and vSAN for that end customer using this new KMS Cluster configuration. Voila! Since there is no licensing cost for deploying key servers this is a cost effective way of meeting this customer requirement. You just report this customer’s encrypted VMs and vSAN directories during normal monthly reporting.

On-premise to Hosted or Cloud vCenter Nodes

If you are managing an end customer’s on-premise IT infrastructure, you can also deploy Alliance Key Manager on-premise and mirror to a hosted or cloud vCenter node. This is especially helpful to MSPs who are providing Disaster Recover as a Service (DRaas). The production environment can be in the end customer’s data center and you can mirror encryption keys to an Alliance Key Manager failover key server in your own environment. This helps achieve seamless failover for your customer.

Customer Dedicated vCenter Nodes

It is also not uncommon for an MSP to dedicate a vCenter server to a specific customer. That customer may have heightened security concerns, or may not want to share infrastructure with other customers. There may be corporate governance and security restrictions that require this. Again, MSPs only pay for the number of encrypted VMs and vSAN directories, regardless of the number of vCenter clusters and how they are used, and regardless of physical location.

In summary, we provide our MSP partners with all of the flexibility they need to support current customers and attract new customers. VMware encryption is a core security control that your customers demand, and you now have the tools to meet the need.

[For More Reading]

Part 1: Why Do MSP Customers Want Encryption of Their VMs and vSAN?

Part 2: What Has VMware Done to Help with Encryption Security

Part 3: What are the Biggest Obstacles to Offering VMware Encryption to Customers

Part 4: How Does Townsend Security Help and MSP Overcome the KMS Challenge?

Part 5: KMS for Multiple vCenter Clusters and Nodes

Part 6: As an MSP, How Do I Ensure High Availability (HA) for Encrypted VMs?

Part 7: How Can an MSP Use Encryption Security to Improve Revenues and Profitability?

Part 8: Some Common Questions and How to Get Started with the Townsend Security MSP Partner Program