Network Security and protection best practices

Network security is one of the important components when you are planning to secure your whole IT Landscape. Below is the list of some of the equipment with versions, which are available in the market to protect your network services –

Network Tools	Version	Details	Use Case	Layer
VMware vCenter	8.0 Update 3d (March 2025)	A centralized platform for managing VMware’s vSphere environments.	Manage multiple ESXi hosts, enable features like vMotion, High Availability.	N/A (Not specific to OSI)
F5 BIG-IP SSL Orchestrator	17.5.0	A tool for TLS decryption, traffic steering, and advanced security.	Securely inspect TLS traffic, manage encrypted connections.	L7 (Application Layer)
Cisco Firepower	7.7.x (March 2025)	A next-generation firewall with intrusion prevention and advanced threat detection.	Protect network from threats, monitor and block malicious traffic.	L3/L4 (Network/Transport Layers)
Cisco IOS XE	17.17.1 (March 2025)	The latest operating system version for Cisco Catalyst switches.	Enable efficient network routing and switching with enhanced features.	L3 (Network Layer)
Palo Alto PAN-OS	11.2 (March 2025)	Operating system for Palo Alto’s next-gen firewalls with enhanced security features.	Secure enterprise network with next-gen firewalls and policy enforcement.	L3/L4 (Network/Transport Layers)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)	Premium Support (2025)	Linux-based OS with options for standard and premium support.	Run enterprise-grade applications with reliable support and scalability.	N/A (Not specific to OSI)

VMware ESXi

8.0 Update 3d (March 2025)

A type-1 hypervisor for deploying and managing virtual machines directly on hardware.

Virtualize physical servers to run multiple VMs, optimize resource utilization.

L2/L3 (Data Link/Network Layers)