VMware Cloud on AWS | Features

VMware Cloud on AWS provides the VMware SDDC software stack to the highly scalable AWS Cloud, including vSphere, vSAN, NSX, and vCenter Server. Each SDDC consists of 3 to 16 hosts, each with 36 cores, 512 GiB of memory, and 15.2TB of raw NVMe storage. You can deploy a fully configured VMware SDDC Cluster in under a few hours, and scale host capacity up and down in minutes.

Each SDDC cluster utilizes an “all flash” vSAN storage solution built on NVMe instance storage. Each ESXi host has NVMe storage. You can manage your storage SLAs on a per-application basis through your existing Storage Policy-Based Management provided by vSphere. You can also take advantage of advanced data services, including Quality of Service, snapshots, erasure coding, and VMware APIs for third-party data protection (VADP).

Recently announced in preview, VMware vSAN can also utilize Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) with VMware Cloud on AWS running on new Amazon EC2 R5.metal instances to augment existing SDDC for storage-dense environments.  Storage per host ranges from 15 to 35 TB in increments of 5 TB.  User chooses amount of storage desired and used on all hosts within the cluster.  R5.metal clusters can be added to an existing SDDC with at least one existing provisioned cluster.

VMware Cloud on AWS provides separate, dedicated high performance networks for management and application traffic, connected through the VMware NSX networking platform, and provides support for networking multicasting. ESXi hosts are connected to an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) through Elastic Networking Adapter (ENA), which supports throughput up to 25 Gbps.

• NSX and AWS Direct Connect Integration: Now generally available, NSX integrates with AWS Direct Connect for end-to-end private networking. This is ideal for customers with traffic-heavy workloads. This enables private and consistent connectivity between VMware workloads running on AWS and those running on-premises and also accelerates migration to cloud and enables multi-tier hybrid applications. Customers can now use AWS Direct Connect for all of their hybrid connectivity requirements.

VMware Cloud on AWS lets you benefit from the AWS security-first approach, including IPSec VPN connectivity between your on-premises environment and VMware Cloud on AWS. You can utilize Network Address Translation (NAT) to establish connectivity for workloads running in your private subnet with VMware Cloud on AWS, and leverage network ACLs to control traffic to and from the subnet.

• Micro-segmentation with NSX: Offers granular protection for each application workload, preventing the lateral spread of threats in cloud environments. This feature enables granular control over East-West traffic between application workloads running in the VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC. Security policies are dynamically enforced at the VM-level, preventing security threats from spreading across network.
• vSAN encryption with AWS Key Management System (KMS):This enables encryption of data at rest with AWS’s managed service for creating and controlling the encryption keys. All data in VMware Cloud on AWS is encrypted at no additional cost.

In addtiion to many security capabilities, VMware Cloud on AWS also has been independently verified to comply with ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, SOC 1 (type 1 and 2), SOC 2 (type 1 and 2), SOC 3, and HIPAA. Furthermore, VMware Cloud on AWS complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

VMware Cloud on AWS supports custom-sized VMs, runs any OS supported by VMware, and makes use of single-tenant bare metal AWS infrastructure so that you can bring your Windows Server licenses to the AWS Cloud.

Support for leading ISV partner solutions across categories including Data Protection, DevOps, Cloud Migration and Security. For details, see the VMware web site here.

Single Host SDDC is our low-cost gateway into the VMware Cloud on AWS hybrid cloud solution. Typically purchased as a 3+ host service, it is the perfect way to test your first workload and leverage the additional capability and flexibility of VMware Cloud on AWS for 30 days.  Try it now.