When you think of VMware, virtualization is often the first thing that springs to mind. And what could be more natural than to associate virtualization with the cloud, which was built on the same foundation? Indeed, cloud computing has taken the possibilities offered by virtualization even further, enabling businesses to benefit from a flexible, scalable IT infrastructure that's available on demand.
Cloud? What's it all about?
Migration to the cloud is now an unavoidable trend for many companies, and the options are many. Among the most popular cloud platforms are AWS, Azure, GCP and Oracle Cloud, to name but a few.
VMware, now under the Broadcom umbrella, has always had an agnostic stance on the cloud market. Rather than playing favorites, the pioneers of x86 virtualization have decided to let their customers choose the solution that suits them best.
Over the past few years, hosting VMware environments as cloud services has become widely democratized among hyperscalers, and we've seen a flowering of services for hosting VMware environments: Amazon has released VMC on AWS, while Microsoft offers AVS, Google has launched GCVE and Oracle has introduced OCVS. What all these offerings have in common is that they are based on VMware's flagship Software-Defined Data Center products.
... and what about licenses?
Since Broadcom's takeover of VMware, rumors have been swirling about licenses, but rest assured: on cloud services, licenses are already included! This means you no longer have to worry about this tedious part, and can concentrate on what's really important: using your VMware environment in the cloud.
What's the difference ?
Cloud services include managed services such as VMC on AWS, AVS and GCVE, where the provider takes over the lifecycle management of your VMware environment and gives users partial access to the infrastructure. Conversely, Oracle Cloud stands out as the only provider to offer a "full control" service, providing an identical experience to that on-premises. With this service, you have total control over your ESXi and continue to manage your VMware environment as you did before.
Another notable difference between cloud services lies in the choice of servers offered by providers. Some only offer servers with integrated storage, while others offer servers with outsourced storage. This difference enables users to choose the configuration best suited to their needs, and to scale accordingly. There are 16 different server types at Oracle, 4 at AWS and Microsoft and 1 at Google.
To choose the cloud solution best suited to your needs, it's important to define your strategy in advance. Do you want to move away from your current datacenter, or opt for a hybrid approach? Do you need a disaster recovery plan to ensure maximum resilience in the event of a major outage, or would you rather set up a scalable VDI environment in the cloud?
Once you've defined your strategy, the next step is to carry out an assessment of your current environment. This will enable you to determine the resources required for your migration to the cloud, and choose the solution best suited to your needs. However, we may come back to this point in more detail in a future article!
Conclusion
In conclusion, VMware offers cloud services to host your VMware environments. Core products and licenses are included in these services, providing a seamless, unchanging experience for you. Cloud computing continues to offer new prospects for virtualization, and VMware (by Broadcom) remains a key player in this constantly evolving field.
Thank you for reading this article to the end! I hope you've learned some interesting things about VMware Cloud Services and that it's whetted your appetite for more. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or if you'd like me to cover another topic in a future article.