Master templates are not stored on a separate partition.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-15887	ESX0910	SV-16828r1_rule	ECSC-1	Low

Description
The master templates will be stored in a separate partition (NTFS, VMFS, etc) from the production virtual machines. Partitioning the master templates isolates them from system, application, and user files. This isolation helps protect the disk space used by the operating system and various applications. Files cannot grow across partitions. Another advantage is that if a bad spot develops on the hard drive, the risk to the data is reduced as is recovery time. Furthermore, separate master template partitions provide the ability to set up certain directories as read-only file systems.

Description

The master templates will be stored in a separate partition (NTFS, VMFS, etc) from the production virtual machines. Partitioning the master templates isolates them from system, application, and user files. This isolation helps protect the disk space used by the operating system and various applications. Files cannot grow across partitions. Another advantage is that if a bad spot develops on the hard drive, the risk to the data is reduced as is recovery time. Furthermore, separate master template partitions provide the ability to set up certain directories as read-only file systems.

STIG	Date
VMware ESX 3 Server	2016-05-13

Details

Check Text ( C-16246r1_chk )
Perform the following on the ESX Server service console to determine if the /Master, /Utilities, /vmimages, or /(the name of the partition) are on separate disk partitions: # vdf -h Examine the Mounted on column for the disk device and ensure the device label for /Master, /Utilities, or /vmimages is not the same as the root filesystem. If they are the same, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-15847r1_fix)
Store all master templates on a separate partition.