A framework for secure live migration of virtual machines

Abstract

Server virtualization is an emerging technology that provides efficient resource utilization and cost-saving benefits. It consolidates many physical servers into a single physical server saving the hardware resources, physical space, power-consumption, air conditioning capacity and man power to manage the servers. Thus virtualization assists “Green Technology”. Live migration is an essential feature of virtualization that allows transition of a running virtual machine from one system to another without halting the virtual machine. Live migration extends the list of benefits server virtualization provides. Almost all virtualization softwares now include support for live migration of virtual machine. Live migration is in its infant stage where security of live migration is yet to be analyzed. The usages of live migration and security exploits over it have both increased over time. The security concern of live migration is a major factor for its adoption by the IT industry. In this paper we discuss the attack model on the virtualization system and design and implement a security framework for secure live migration of virtual machines. The framework is an integrated security solution that addresses role based access policy, network intrusion, firewall protection and encryption for secure live migration process.