Defining VMware’s hosted services can be confusing. Many hosted infrastructure services run your infrastructure for you, and there are cloud computing services that let you use virtualized resources on-demand, but what do the two have to do with each other?
This article explores how VMware hosted private cloud works, why you might want to make the transition, and how to get started on the right foot.
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What is VMware Hosting?
VMware hosting allows you to bring multiple physical servers under a single management umbrella. Once you do that, you can access multiple servers as one server or cloud instance, which means that your new virtualized environment gets all of the benefits of having one large server at your disposal.
VMware also means reduced hardware costs because you don’t need to maintain more than one physical machine.
Different Types of Private Cloud
No matter what type of business you’re in, chances are that you can benefit from using a private cloud. With so many options to choose from, it’s important to understand how they work and which one is right for your organization.
Virtual Private Cloud
In a virtual private cloud, your company subscribes to a cloud platform from a hosting provider. If you want to run an entire data center of virtual machines, it makes it possible to do so without VMware. You simply need to buy or rent enough physical hardware and use that as your private cloud.
Hosted Private Cloud
A VMware hosted private cloud is called VMware vCloud Hybrid Service. A hybrid cloud solution transforms an organization’s on-premises IT infrastructure into a high-performing, multi-tenant public cloud with no up-front capital investment in servers or storage.
It creates instant capacity for growth, eliminates any worries about server failure, and simplifies management of an organization’s private cloud.
Managed Private Cloud
A Managed Private Cloud is a hybrid cloud solution that uses on-premises equipment and virtual servers hosted at a Liquid Web data center. Liquid Web hosts both on-premises and off-site equipment, but you maintain control over your on-premises hardware while handling your private cloud management.
VMware Host Features
VMware vSphere High Availability (HA)
High Availability is a method of keeping your data safe by using more than one server to provide access to that data. This way, if one of those servers fails, then your data will remain intact and accessible via another server.
Distributed Resource Scheduler
In order to support a wide range of workloads, vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) monitors resource utilization and migrates virtual machines across hosts in a vCenter Server cluster as appropriate.
vMotion
A vMotion is a live migration of a virtual machine from one host to another without downtime.
Storage vMotion
VMware vSphere Storage vMotion amplifies the powerful storage-moving feature of vMotion that allows you to move virtual machine disk files from one datastore to another without disrupting any of your virtual machines or applications.
vSWAP
VMware’s Virtual Storage Appliance (vSwap) is a software-defined storage solution that you can install on your existing servers to create private cloud storage.
VMware Snapshots
Taking snapshots of your virtual machines is a great way to backup critical data. Snapshots are point-in-time images of your VMs that take up little space and allow you to revert back to a specific time.
Enhanced vMotion Compatibility
Before vSphere 5.5, moving a virtual machine from one host to another was impossible if they connected via networks using different versions of VMotion, but Enhanced vMotion Compatibility makes live migration between these types of hosts possible.
Thin Disk Provisioning
Thin provisioning is a technology that allocates storage space on a virtual disk on an as-needed basis. According to Liquid Web, “Thin provisioning means that you can run applications on less physical storage than would be needed without thin provisioning.
” In other words, configuring your VM with 100GB of disk space and 10GB of actual data, you could claim up to 110GB—the unused 10GB of disk space being available for use by other VMs.
How VMware Private Cloud Works (Simplified)
When you break VMware private cloud down, there are three main concepts:
1. Virtual machines act as templates that act as hosts for virtual services.
2. Each virtual service is independent and can be deployed on any template without interference with other instances.
3. All of the above is backed by the management control panel. If you’re a service provider and want to give customers the best experience possible, consider making the switch to VMware Private Cloud. It’s easy to use, simple to implement and can feel like a break from your existing infrastructure
