Subtitle: A Strategic Alliance Streamlining the Path to Hybrid Cloud Adoption
The Challenge
As an Cloud Solutions Architect, I am intimately involved with the hottest topics in my field, and the union of VMware and AWS is undoubtedly one of them. In fact, as I craft this article, I am being interviewed by Amazon for a Specialist Solutions Architect position in Australia. Before delving into the subject matter, it is essential to establish a common understanding, laying the groundwork for a fruitful discussion. We can all agree that we are headed toward a multi-cloud world, where the decision of whether to deploy workloads on-premises or in the cloud is no longer binary. Our clients can now choose both, and this article will focus on that very prospect. Essentially, we can now deploy to a hybrid cloud, tapping into AWS services while no longer restricting ourselves to choosing between platforms. Instead, we can utilize the best features and services from both VMware and AWS.
In my current role, many of our clients discuss the challenges they face when building different clouds or expanding to the cloud. The primary issue is operational consistency. When workloads are run on-premises and then in a public cloud, inconsistencies inevitably arise due to differing platforms. This also applies to skill sets and tools, as different clouds require different tools, APIs, and script rewriting. Moreover, each cloud is managed differently, so if you have workloads running on multiple clouds, you must manage and control them individually rather than as a cohesive unit.
Additionally, our clients want to run their production and high-performance workloads wherever they choose without encountering compatibility issues. Some applications may be latency-sensitive, while others may face privacy, data, and compliance challenges. These factors make it difficult for clients to adopt a multi or hybrid cloud strategy. This is where VMware and AWS enter the picture.
Introducing VMware Cloud on AWS
The recent partnership between VMware and AWS is, in my opinion, well-conceived and highly strategic. Both companies play vital roles in the cloud landscape. AWS is the public cloud market leader, holding more than 33% of the market share. Meanwhile, VMware is the go-to choice for enterprise organizations worldwide for private clouds. Their partnership is incredibly exciting, as it is likely to pave a faster, more secure, and more flexible path to hybrid cloud adoption.
Now, VMware (and any organization running VMware on-premises) can create an environment for clients that runs solely on AWS’s sophisticated global infrastructure (bare-metal) and uses VMware as a Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC). This is a game-changer, and I will provide a more hands-on article on SDDCs soon.
For now, let’s briefly discuss the illustration above. On the left-hand side is a typical on-premises data center running on a private cloud. You are responsible for everything from power and cooling to application patching. On the far right-hand side are AWS services, where your workloads would reside if you have worked with AWS. VMware Cloud on AWS sits between these two environments. Since the entire stack is part of Amazon’s global infrastructure, you can access all native AWS services and provide a genuinely hybrid approach to environments and applications. Furthermore, your ESXi runs on a Single Dedicated EC2 Host, not EC2 instances or nested virtualization. This is dedicated hardware for the client, spun up with vSphere, vSAN, and NSX.
Moreover, you can achieve a certain level of operational consistency through the Hybrid Linked Mode, which allows you to see and manage both environments from the same vCenter vSphere client that you already use on-premises. This marriage of simplicity and sophistication is what makes the VMware-AWS partnership
How can this benefit you?
For global companies, the partnership between VMware and AWS unlocks the ability to leverage AWS’s global infrastructure and geographically distribute your environments without the need for on-premises data centers in other countries or expansion to those regions. AWS boasts over 220 points of presence worldwide! Additionally, you can utilize this partnership to enhance your disaster recovery strategy and save on costs. The flexibility provided by VMware and Amazon’s global footprint simplifies operations for both you and your clients.
Based on available documentation, there are three out-of-the-box use cases for this partnership.
Maintain and Expand: If your on-premises data center is running out of space or requires additional locations, VMware Cloud on AWS is the perfect solution to address these needs.
Consolidate and Migrate: This use case is ideal for companies consolidating multiple data centers and seeking a larger global footprint without the need to sign another agreement for building or leasing additional data centers.
Flexibility When Needed: This scenario caters to companies requiring temporary workloads, such as development and testing environments in the cloud. It may involve bursting up to the cloud or running workloads for several weeks or months. The partnership provides the ability to use hourly, on-demand resources as needed by your customers or your organization.
In summary, the strategic alliance between VMware and AWS has the potential to revolutionize hybrid cloud adoption, streamlining operations, and offering unprecedented flexibility to businesses worldwide. By leveraging the strengths of both VMware and AWS, organizations can create a seamless, efficient, and cost-effective path to the hybrid cloud, allowing them to focus on growth and innovation.