An industry-standard protocol through which a client application talks to a key management server. vCenter acts as a KMIP client for a standard key provider, whereas vSphere Native Key Provider does not need a KMIP server at all.
Also called Key Management Interoperability Protocol.
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In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains KMIP in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- KMS
A KMIP-compliant key server, separate from vCenter, that provides KEKs through a standard key provider. When vSphere Native Key Provider is used, no such server is required.
- vCenter
Management software for VMs, clusters and ESX hosts. Each domain in VCF gets a dedicated one.
- Standard key provider
Uses an outside KMIP key management server as the source of encryption keys for vCenter. Since vSphere 9.0, wrapped key mode is the default, so many keys sit under a single wrapping key held by the KMS (the Native Key Provider needs no KMS at all).
- vSphere Native Key Provider
Built into vCenter, this provider generates encryption keys itself, so no external KMS is needed; back it up before first use.
- ALL
A DAX function that ignores any filters and gives back every row of a table or every value of the named columns. Used within CALCULATE, it works as a modifier that clears filters, although REMOVEFILTERS states that intent more clearly where it is available.