Case Study: VMware achieves secure container-to-container networking with Cloud Foundry

VMware secures container-to-container networking with Cloud Foundry on port 61443

VMware, a leading enterprise software company, utilized Cloud Foundry to address a challenge in securing communications between microservices. As applications are increasingly built with a microservice architecture, the need for secure, container-to-container networking within the Cloud Foundry platform became critical. The default configuration did not allow secure, encrypted communication between application containers, which could pose a security risk.

To solve this, Cloud Foundry implemented a platform-enabled HTTPS solution for container-to-container networking. This involved introducing a dedicated port (61443) where the Envoy proxy within each container automatically terminates TLS, handling certificate generation and validation. This allows applications to communicate securely over HTTPS without requiring any code changes, as they continue to run standard HTTP internally. The solution provided by Cloud Foundry enhanced security without sacrificing the dynamic routing capabilities that developers rely on.

VMware