Broadcom's NSX-based Layer 2-7 stateful firewall. It runs either distributed, inside each ESX host for east-west micro-segmentation, or as a gateway firewall at NSX Edges for north-south traffic; full distributed use requires an extra security licence over base VCF.
Read more: Broadcom TechDocs
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains VMware vDefend Firewall in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Agents (classic) API
First-generation Foundry Agent Service API, based on threads, messages and runs. It is deprecated, replaced by conversations and responses, and retires on 31 March 2027.
- ESX
VMware's bare-metal hypervisor, installed on each host in a VCF fleet. Up to version 9.0 it was known as ESXi.
- Gateway Firewall
Stateful NSX filtering at Tier-0 or Tier-1 gateways for north-south flows crossing them. The distributed firewall handles east-west flows at each virtual NIC instead.
- NSX
Software that handles networking and security across VCF, covering firewalling, load balancing, NAT, VPCs, overlay segments and Tier-0/1 gateways.
- AMPRS
An acronym for availability, manageability, performance, recoverability and security: the five design qualities used to sort non-functional requirements and to weigh up trade-offs between design decisions.
- Licence
What entitles one particular user to the services a subscription offers. Each product licence is made up of several service plans (one per app or service), and before giving it to someone an admin has to record that user's usage location.
- OVER
Gives a T-SQL window function its window: PARTITION BY, ORDER BY and, if wanted, a ROWS or RANGE frame. Rankings and running totals can then be worked out while every row is kept.
- VMware Cloud Foundation
Broadcom's platform for private cloud. It unifies management of NSX, vSAN, vSphere, VCF Automation and VCF Operations as one fleet; VVF, by contrast, lacks automation and cloud management.
Related terms
- vDefend Advanced Threat Prevention
IDS/IPS, sandboxing and network traffic analysis layered onto VMware vDefend Firewall, with NDR correlating their findings.