Next Generation Firewalls are capable of analyzing application traffic at Layer 7 of the OSI model. Layer 7 is the Application Layer, which is where the application-level protocols, such as HTTP and FTP, are implemented. Next Generation Firewalls are able to inspect the application traffic and apply rules based on the content of the application-level packets.

For more information on the OSI model and Next Generation Firewalls, please refer to the following resources:

* OSI Model:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model* Next Generation Firewalls:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next-generation_firewall

For further reading, see the VMware NSX-T Data Center Administration Guide (https://pubs.vmware.com/NSX-T-Data-Center/index.html#com.vmware.nsxt.admin.doc/GUID-E6B25C6F-1F25-4B0F-B8AF-6B8C00F9C3A3.html)for more information on configuring the Distributed IDS/IPS.

An administrator can implement Distributed Intrusion Detection as a distributed solution across multiple NSX Edge nodes in an NSX-T Data Center. This allows for real-time monitoring of network traffic, as well as detection and prevention of malicious activity. Additionally, it can be used to identify, investigate, and respond to potential security threats. Reference: [1]https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/3.0/vmware-nsx-t-30-administration-guide/GUID-1F8741C0-D1CD-4EA3-A2BB-98CEF7F8D1DA.html[2]https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/techpaper/vmware-nsx-data-center-for-vsphere-distributed-intrusion-detection-deployment-guide.pdf

NSX-T Endpoint Protection provides agentless antivirus protection for virtual machines running on VMware ESXi hosts. It uses the VMware vShield Endpoint API to scan the virtual machines without requiring the installation of antivirus agents. The service is integrated with third-party antivirus solutions, such as McAfee and Symantec, to provide real-time protection against malware and other threats.

For more information on NSX-T Endpoint Protection, please refer to the NSX-T Data Center documentation:https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/nsx-t-3.0-endpoint-protection/GUID-25C22F02-4B30-47D4-8F0C-3BC9F9C3AFD3.html

The NSX Edge nodes require access to the Internet to download category and reputation definitions, and a layer 7 gateway firewall rule must be configured on the tier-1 gateway uplink to capture DNS traffic. This will allow the URL Analysis service to analyze incoming DNS traffic and block malicious requests. For more information, please see this VMware Documentation article[1], which explains how to configure URL Analysis on NSX.

[1]https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.1/nsxt_31_url_analysis/GUID-46BC65F3-7A45-4A9F-B444-E4A1A7E0AC4A.html