The best practices to manage IT security are already documented by several sources. The practices can certainly be used to also secure Linux on System z. However, when you define the security policies, consider several unique technologies that this platform uses. These technologies can potentially harden the overall security by providing centralized management capabilities and reducing the number of control checks compared to a server farm that is based on physically distributed servers. This web document describes the best practices for securing your network. It was written as as part of IBM Redbooks publication Security for Linux on System z, SG24-7728.

Securing the network
The first step to set up your virtual environment in a secure fashion is to take care of the items in the following list. Your company most likely has specific requirements, in terms of information security, and these requirements must be considered when you build your own check list. This high-level list can be easily adapted and used for most environments.