1. Understanding the Exhibit and NSX Security Segmentation

The diagram representsNSX-T logical segmentationfor amicroservices-based financial company.

It categorizes workloads intothree distinct risk levels:

High Risk (Red)

Medium Risk (Yellow)

Low Risk (Blue)

The objective is toenforce security policies with minimal management overheadwhilemaintaining isolation between risk levels.

2. Why "One Security Policy Per Level of Security" is the Best Choice (B)

Grouping workloads based on security levels (High, Medium, Low) simplifies firewall rule management.

By defining a single security policy per level of security, it reduces the need to create multiple firewall rules for each microservice individually.

Advantages of this approach:

Scalability:New workloads caninherit existing security policieswithout manual rule creation.

Simplification:Instead of hundreds of firewall rules, a few policies handle traffic isolation effectively.

Automation-Friendly:Security policies can beapplied dynamically using NSX-T security groups.

3. Why Other Options are Incorrect

(A - Create One Firewall Rule Per Application Tier)

High overhead and complexity: Each application has its own rule, making it harder to scale as the number of applications grows.

Requires continuous manual rule creation, increasing administrative burden.

Better suited for small, static environmentsbutnot scalable for microservices.

(C - Create One Firewall Rule Per Level of Security)

Firewall rules alone do not provide granular segmentation.

A single firewall rule is insufficientto define security controls across multiple application tiers.

Security policies provide a more structured approach, including Layer 7-based controls and dynamic membership.

(D - Create a Security Policy Based on IP Groups)

IP-based security policies are outdated and not scalable in a dynamic microservices environment.

NSX-T supports workload-based security policies instead of traditional IP-based segmentation.

Microservices often use dynamic IP addresses, makingIP-based groups ineffective for security enforcement.

4. NSX Security Best Practices for Microservices-Based Designs

Use NSX Distributed Firewall (DFW) for Micro-Segmentation

Apply securityat the workload (vNIC) levelto prevent lateral movement of threats.

Enforce Zero Trust security modelby restricting traffic between risk zones.

Group Workloads by Security Posture Instead of Static IPs

Leverage dynamic security groups(tags, VM attributes) instead of static IPs.

Assign security rules based on business logic(e.g., production vs. development, PCI-compliant workloads).

Use Security Policies Instead of Individual Firewall Rules

Policies provide abstraction, reducing the number of firewall rules.

Easier to manage and apply to multiple workloads dynamically.

Monitor and Automate Security Policies Using NSX Intelligence

Continuously analyze workload communication patternsusingVMware Aria Operations for Networks (formerly vRealize Network Insight).

Automate rule updatesbased on detected traffic flows.