Firewall rule creation in a virtualized computing environment

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that includes a set of instructions which, in response to execution by a processor of a network management entity, cause the processor to perform a method of firewall rule creation in a virtualized computing environment that includes the network management entity, a first endpoint and a second endpoint, wherein the method comprises:

• obtaining flow data associated with an application-layer protocol session between the first endpoint and second endpoint;
• identifying, from the flow data, an association between a control flow and at least one data flow of the application-layer protocol session;
• based on the association, creating a firewall rule that is applicable to both the control flow and at least one data flow;
• and
• instructing a first firewall engine associated with the first endpoint, or a second firewall engine associated with the second endpoint, or both, to apply the firewall rule during the application-layer protocol session, wherein the first firewall engine, or the second firewall engine, or both processes packets in response to the instructing to apply the firewall rule.

A computer system configured to perform firewall rule creation in a virtualized computing environment, the computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• obtain flow data associated with an application-layer protocol session between a first endpoint and a second endpoint in the virtualized computing environment;
• identify, from the flow data, an association between a control flow and at least one data flow of the application-layer protocol session;
• based on the association, create a firewall rule that is applicable to both the control flow and at least one data flow;
• and
• instruct a first firewall engine associated with the first endpoint, or a second firewall engine associated with the second endpoint, or both, to apply the firewall rule during the application-layer protocol session, wherein the first firewall engine, or the second firewall engine, or both processes packets in response to the processor instructing to apply the firewall rule.