**This page has been updated to reflect updated links July 1st, 2020.**
There’s a lot of literature out there about VMC on AWS for sure. Much of it provided by VMware themselves. The community has come together and provided various posts and videos. However, most provide you only a tiny view into the service in a myopic way. Where do we begin?
Although not sponsored or endorsed by VMware, I have to disclose that I do work for VMware and represent this product. It is intended to inform and introduce you to what the service is in a basic style. I have provided additional links to help you continue your journey in learning about VMC on AWS toward the end. This is not intended to be a comprehensive post covering all aspects of the service. It is meant to start your exploration on the VMC on AWS service. Let us begin.
July 2019
What is VMC on AWS?
First, it’s a packed acronym. VMC refers to VMware Cloud. What’s that? It’s the 3 core infrastructure software products that VMware sells. Aka, vSphere – virtualization of compute, vSAN – virtualization of storage, and NSX – virtualization of networking. If you ever hear me speak, I refer to the combination as the nut or horsepill of VMware software.
Now, here’s a little background.
VMware Cloud is the embodiment of VMware’s Validated Designs, often referred to as VVD’s. VMC on AWS is one form of that design executed. VMware’s Validated Designs are, in layman’s terms, VMware’s best practices when deploying all three of these products together for a resilient and highly available infrastructure based on VMware software. I could use a lot more marketing terms but I find it unnecessary.
One more term and we should be set to lay out the product.
VMware’s Validated Designs are intended to create a SDDC, a Software Defined DataCenter. You will see that acronym, SDDC, thrown around a lot and folks at VMware use it like it’s going out of style. All your IT stuff in the datacenter is now driven by 1’s and 0’s and is divorced from your hardware vendors. No more dependency on server vendors, storage vendors, and networking vendors.
Ok, now. VMC on AWS is exactly what it sounds like now, right? It’s VMware software on AWS’ bare metal hardware. No, it’s not EC2 instances. No, it’s not containers. ESXi is directly installed on AWS’ actual hardware and we are in their datacenters. No, it’s not installed at a colo. I’ve actually heard that no sentient beings walk in AWS’ datacenters. It’s robots only. Freaky, right? No wonder we got FedRAMP quick.
So you end up having an entirely prebuilt VMware stack installed in AWS’ AZ, according to VMware’s best practices and serviced by VMware. VMware Cloud on AWS allows you to deploy a SDDC in the AWS cloud.
Plumbing? Not your problem.
Heating? Not your problem.
Racking and stacking? Not your problem.
Configured correctly? Not your problem.
Failing hardware? Not your problem.
Need more capacity? Click a button and 9 minutes later, voila, more capacity.
Going global? We got you covered.
I think you get where I’m going with this.
So what?
So you can basically move your stationary vmdk workloads to the cloud with *minimal* effort.
So now I want you throw some glitter and fairy dust, or imagination, on that……
What comes to mind for most businesses is
Why would my business/organization care?
Because if any of your management has a hybrid or cloud strategy and you house your workloads today in vSphere, this is a simple solution to achieve that strategy.
We see 4 scenarios that make the most sense:
- Datacenter migration
- Datacenter expansion/burst capability
- DR
- Building apps in the cloud
I will keep it brief and leave these topics as is for now. To explore these topics more, either check out the links below or call your local VMware expert to explore how these scenarios can play out for you.
Facts about the service that make people happy:
No egress charges
So the hardware and location are a part of AWS and gives VMware Cloud on AWS direct(I would say easy and no cost) access to most of AWS’ services. The agreement that VMware and AWS have in place allows customers using the VMC on AWS solution the ability to move data between the AWS and VMC services without ingress and egress fees IF they are in the same Availability Zone. If you need to move data out of the service, you will pay a fixed cost(egress) that VMware and AWS have agreed on. Egress charges are passed on by VMware to the customer. It’s not something VMware controls since we are just using AWS’ hardware.
No learning a new skill
ESXi and vCenter installed on premises and ESXi/vCenter in the VMC on AWS service is the same software(except the magic sauce that VMware and AWS engineer’s built to make the hypervisor work on AWS’s hardware, which you don’t do anything with so what do you care anyways?) Remember, this is a service so IT people won’t be installing the hypervisor or configuring any of the plumbing. We use the AWS’ model of responsibility whereby VMware/AWS is responsible for the OS(hypervisor) on down, and you will be responsible for your vm workloads. By the way, VMware runs the service – you chat VMware when it doesn’t work, not AWS.
Now there are a lot more “facts” but these are the ones that put a smile on my face so excuse my bias. Perhaps I’ll write more commentary postings to cover the basic steps of VMC on AWS in the near future. For now, this is intended to describe the service and what it is.
I can hear you already. Details! We want details!
How many CPU’s are in these hosts?
How much memory is in these hosts?
How much does it cost?
How do I know how much I need?
Does it take a credit card?
Can I buy by the vm?
..
..
..
I deliberately left these details out as the service is being updated every ~90 days, which would make this post outdated in …..oh, 90 days!
So here are those links I promised:
Official site: https://cloud.vmware.com/vmc-aws
This will have the service details and pricing as it currently stands.
William covers a lot of the more advanced features in granular detail:
https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/vmware-cloud-on-aws
Michael Kolos covers the updated prep and standup of the service in an official VMware blog post very well:
For video’s, I liked Narayan’s session during Tech Field Day 2020 to start out with:
VMware’s cloud team has a pretty complete list of youtube video’s:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJNlZUnysgHG4VLhEFz4-FBjDEv68mQup
Please keep the dates in mind, especially if they are > 9 months old as the service is constantly being updated and some of the content will be outdated.
A few more notes.
If this looks highly promising for you, take the actual course VMware Cloud on AWS: Deploy and Manage from VMware. It’s only 3 days and will go over the service in detail.
The service has been pretty popular since it launched. At times, we have given some of these AWS locations a run for their money hardware wise so beware that some locations are still gated(wait listed).
That is the basics of what VMware Cloud on AWS is. VMC on AWS is a powerful option for many organizations that struggle with going to the cloud, a hybrid strategy, aging hardware, and more. I hope the potential of this solution stirs your imagination and inspire you to take a closer look at what your future infrastructure could be!