STE WILLIAMS

VMware’s advised on how to mitigate the Meltdown and Spectre chip design flaws in several of its products.

The workarounds cover vCloud Usage Meter, Identity Manager (vIDM), vCenter Server, vSphere Data Protection, vSphere Integrated Containers and vRealize Automation (vRA).

The knowledge base articles for all the products state that Meltdown and Spectre can create problems for virtual appliances, explain that the mitigation tactics will stop attacks but must be considered “a temporary solution only and permanent fixes will be released as soon as they are available.”

Several of the workarounds, listed here, require logging on as a privileged user and then type a couple of commands. Others require more effort.

The workarounds are important because VMware ships some of its products as appliances. vCenter, for example, now ships as an appliance because VMware would rather you did not install it as a guest.

So crack open your command lines, vAdmins: there’s work to do.

And in case you are super-keen on VMware and or wonder about what Dell plans to do with it , consider its SEC filings and those of the Dell Technologies tracking stock that’s tied to Virtzilla. Both record that colossal investment management outfit Blackrcock Inc has recently increased its holdings in both stocks above the five per cent level that makes public disclosure compulsory. That kind of buy is sometimes a signal that an investor wants its opinions to be given greater weight.

So once you finish your workarounds, grab some popcorn. ®

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Article source: http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2018/02/09/vmware_temp_fixes_for_meltdown_spectre_for_virtual_appliances/