Inside Microsoft's virtualization strategy

Mike Schutz, Director of Product Management in the Microsoft Windows Server Division and a seven-year Microsoft veteran, joins us to talk about securing Windows Hyper-V. If you want to know what’s happening with virtualization in Windows Server, Remote Desktop Services (formerly Terminal Services) and Hyper-V, Mike’s guy in the know.

Virtualization brings many benefits, especially during our budget challenged times, but new security challenges and threats also present themselves. During the interview, Mike and I discuss ways that Hyper-V facilitates patching virtual machine images (running and dormant), steps for hardening Hyper-V, locking down access administrative access to Hyper-V, SAN and network attached storage issues, file system security, server role configuration, and other best practices for security Hyper-V. It’s also worth noting that these best practices helped Hyper-V receive Common Criteria EAL4 certification, which is no small feat if you’ve been through Common Criteria certification. If you’re using virtualization, and we all will sooner or later, Mike’s insights and the resources he provides lay a good foundation for securing Hyper-V environments. Check out the Windows Virtualization Team blog too. They aren’t shy about taking on what Microsoft sees are myths other virtualization vendors are portraying about Hyper-V.