VMware Cloud on AWS

VMware Cloud on AWS is a jointly engineered service by VMware and Amazon Web Services that delivers a native vSphere-based environment running on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud bare metal infrastructure. It enables organizations to extend or migrate their on-premises data center workloads to a consistent hybrid cloud operating model without requiring application refactoring. The service is sold, operated, and supported by VMware as an on-demand offering, leveraging the global footprint and breadth of services within the AWS Cloud.

Overview

Announced as a strategic partnership in 2016, the service became generally available in 2017, marking a significant collaboration between the leading private cloud virtualization provider and the dominant public cloud platform. It is designed to provide a seamless operational experience, allowing system administrators and DevOps teams to use familiar VMware vCenter Server management tools. This consistency reduces the complexity and risk associated with moving applications to the cloud, supporting initiatives like data center evacuation, disaster recovery, and cloud migration.

Architecture

The foundational architecture consists of a VMware Software-Defined Data Center stack, including vSphere, vSAN, and NSX-T Data Center, deployed on dedicated, elastic, bare-metal AWS infrastructure. These resources are provisioned as a VMware-managed cluster within an AWS account and an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud. The underlying hosts are Amazon EC2 i3.metal instances, providing direct access to NVMe-based local storage for high-performance vSAN datastores. Network connectivity is facilitated through a high-bandwidth, low-latency AWS Direct Connect link or over the public internet.

Features and capabilities

Core features include automated lifecycle management for the SDDC software stack, performed by VMware, and built-in disaster recovery to AWS using VMware Site Recovery Manager. The environment supports advanced capabilities like vMotion between on-premises and cloud environments, Distributed Resource Scheduler, and integration with the VMware vRealize Suite for cloud management. Security is enforced through micro-segmentation via NSX-T, and compliance is aided by the service's alignment with various frameworks available in the AWS compliance program.

Use cases

Primary use cases encompass data center extension to alleviate capital expenditure constraints, cloud migration projects for legacy applications, and modern application development with consistent infrastructure. It is extensively used for implementing robust business continuity plans, providing a recovery site on AWS that is operationally identical to the primary data center. Other common scenarios include burst capacity for seasonal workloads, virtual desktop infrastructure deployments, and maintaining regulatory compliance for sensitive workloads.

Integration with AWS services

The service offers deep native integration with a broad portfolio of Amazon Web Services. This includes direct VPC peering for low-latency access to services like Amazon Relational Database Service, Amazon Simple Storage Service, and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service. Data can be protected using AWS Backup, and analytics can be performed with Amazon Redshift or Amazon Athena. Furthermore, applications can leverage AWS Lambda for serverless functions and Amazon CloudWatch for comprehensive monitoring and observability.

Deployment and management

Deployment is initiated through the VMware Cloud console, where users select an AWS Region and configure the initial SDDC cluster size. The entire provisioning process is automated, with infrastructure ready for use in under two hours. Ongoing management is performed through the same vSphere Client interface used on-premises, with additional governance and automation available via the VMware Cloud Services portal and its REST API. Day-two operations like adding hosts or clusters are simplified through elastic resource scaling.

Pricing and licensing

The service employs a consumption-based subscription model billed hourly or through one or three-year reserved instance commitments. Costs are primarily based on the number of hosts provisioned, with each host including configured CPU, memory, and vSAN storage capacity. Licensing for the core VMware stack is bundled into the host price. Separate fees apply for add-on services like VMware Site Recovery or VMware vRealize Operations Cloud. Customers can use existing VMware Enterprise Agreement benefits and purchase through the AWS Marketplace.

Category:Cloud computing Category:VMware Category:Amazon Web Services