Dell and VMware integrate VMware Cloud Foundation and VxRail platforms.
/ photo PD
Why this is necessary
According to a State of Cloud survey, hybrid cloud. Last year this figure was 51%. On average, one organization “holds” about five different services in the cloud. At the same time, the introduction of a hybrid cloud is a priority for 45% of companies. Among organizations that are already using hybrid infrastructure, SEGA, Oxford University and ING Financial.
The increase in the number of cloud environments leads to the complexity of the infrastructure. Therefore, now the main task for the IT community creation of services that will simplify the work with multicloud. One of the companies developing in this direction is VMware.
At the end of last year, the IT giant , which promotes tools for deploying Kubernetes. Last week it became known that VMware is launching a joint solution with Dell. This is a system for creating hybrid cloud environments based on the Dell EMC VxRail hyperconverged complex and the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform.
What is known about the new product
VMware has updated its VMware Cloud Foundation cloud stack to version 3.7. From April this year, the solution will be pre-installed on the Dell VxRail hyperconverged system. The new platform, VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail, will provide APIs that connect Dell network devices (such as switches and routers) to VCF software components.
The VCF architecture includes vSphere server virtualization software and vSAN storage creation system. Additionally, it includes NSX Data Center technology, designed to optimize and manage virtual data center networks. NSX Opportunities as You Move to Hyperconverged Infrastructure at the English hospital Baystate Health. According to the IT specialists of the hospital, the system allowed to achieve a high level of integration of all software and hardware, as well as drivers.
Another component of VMware Cloud Foundation is the vRealize Suite hybrid cloud management platform. She includes tools for analyzing the operation of virtual infrastructure, estimating the cost of cloud resources, monitoring and troubleshooting.
As for VxRail, it consists of Dell PowerEdge series servers. One device can support up to two hundred virtual machines. If necessary, servers can be combined into a cluster and work with 3 thousand VMs simultaneously.
In the future, they plan to develop solutions as a single system - for this, Dell and VMware synchronize product updates for VxRail and VMware Cloud Foundation.
What the community thinks
On representatives of VMware, the updated integrated platform significantly increases the performance of a hybrid IT infrastructure - an increase of 60% compared to the old version of VxRail. Also, VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail will reduce the cost of companies to create a cloud infrastructure. Its cost of operation for five years than the public cloud.
One of the main Dell and VMware systems - automate the configuration and management of physical network devices. However, analysts also see potential problems that IT giants may face. Perhaps the main one is . In recent years, companies have entered many new markets for themselves (including HCI, SDN and SD-WAN), where large players already operate. To grow further, IT giants need new features that will set their solutions apart from the competition.
One of these areas machine learning technologies for data center management that Dell and VMware are already implementing in their products.
/ photo PD
Similar systems
Hyperconverged systems for the hybrid cloud are also being developed by NetApp and Nutanix. The first company offers a system for creating a private cloud with an integrated Data Fabric platform that links the on-premise infrastructure with public cloud services. The product is also based on VMware technologies such as vRealize.
distinctive solutions - separate server nodes for compute and storage. According to company representatives, such an infrastructure structure helps data centers allocate resources more efficiently and not overpay for unnecessary equipment.
Nutanix is also building a hybrid cloud management platform. For example, an organization's portfolio includes a system for configuring and monitoring IoT systems and a tool for working with Kubernetes containers.
In general, more hyperconverged infrastructure providers are entering the multicloud market. This trend is expected to continue in the near future. In particular, the joint solution of Dell and VMware will soon part of a larger project, Project Dimension, which will combine cloud computing with edge computing devices and on-premise hardware.
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Source: habr.com