Configuresoft Announces Free Utility to Assure Compliance of VMware ESX Deployments.

Compliance Checker delivers immediate assessment against VMware ESX Hardening Guidelines and the CIS VMware ESX Server Benchmark

LAS VEGAS -- Configuresoft, a leading enterprise server configuration management company, today announced the immediate availability of Configuresoft Compliance Checker, a free, downloadable utility that helps VMware customers assure that security guidelines across their ESX virtual infrastructure are in compliance with industry standards and best practices.

Configuresoft's Compliance Checker provides real-time compliance assessment of multiple ESX hosts against the VMware Infrastructure 3 Security Hardening Guidelines, and the Center for Internet Security (CIS) VMware ESX Server Benchmark. This extended assessment delivers the industry's broadest collection of best practices and security hardening guidelines in a free utility that helps VMware customers assure that the ESX hypervisor and ESX hosts are configured to ensure optimal operational security.

Compliance Checker delivers compliance assessment and audit quality reports for multiple ESX hosts at a time, testing compliance against a library of over 250 rules. Compliance or violation is reported against each rule and the user can then simply drill into the violation to quickly understand the problem in more detail, and gain expert opinion on remediation from a knowledge base developed and maintained by Configuresoft's renowned Center of Policy and Compliance (CP&C).

"Misconfiguration is one of the most common reasons that security vulnerabilities occur in both physical and virtual infrastructures; however, in the virtual world the demand for new systems puts added pressure on the deployment process and can accelerate the problem for the IT organization," said Neil MacDonald, VP and Gartner Fellow. "Enterprises need to evaluate their processes and extend configuration compliance checks using tools that can quickly and seamlessly assess a wide cross section of the infrastructure, including virtualized infrastructure, as well as provide actionable information for remediation."

"Managing the pace of change and growth as applications and services are deployed into the virtual infrastructure is challenging for every IT organization, and ensuring compliance with security guidelines and best practices is a priority for many," said Andrew Bird, Vice President for Configuresoft. "Compliance Checker provides organizations a quick and easy way to assess the security profile of multiple ESX hosts, identifying misconfigurations and enabling IT operations to rapidly and proactively secure their environment. Delivering this CIS certified technology as a free utility provides VMware's customers immediate access to the tool, and allows them to quickly add another layer of protection and confidence that their critical infrastructure is secure and compliant."

Compliance Checker will be available at Configuresoft's booth #1040 at VMworld, Las Vegas, September 15-18, and also available at http://compliancechecker.configuresoft.com/cc-download.html.

About Configuresoft

Configuresoft, the world's leading enterprise configuration management provider, delivers automated and optimized Lean IT, secure and compliant Clean IT, and energy efficient Green IT to IT Operations. Hundreds of organizations, including 13 of the world's 25 largest companies, rely on Configuresoft to effectively and efficiently manage the complexity of today's physical and virtualized IT environments. Configuresoft's team of security and policy experts ensures continuous compliance with regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and industry standards such as PCI DSS and Microsoft and VMware Hardening Guides. To contact Configuresoft, please call [phone] or visit www.configuresoft.com.