Azure VMware Solution (AVS) is a private VMware environment, fully managed and supported by Microsoft, running on dedicated hardware in Azure. Developed through a partnership between Microsoft and Broadcom, this solution allows you to move or extend VMware environments to Azure leveraging existing VMware tools, knowledge, and processes. Unlike other cloud adoption strategies such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS), Azure VMware Solution enables you to quickly migrate your existing VMware workloads to the cloud, whether you choose to modernize these workloads or run them as-is.
Fully Managed Infrastructure in Azure
Azure VMware Solution is a private cloud deployment that contains VMware vSphere clusters build from dedicated bare-metal hyperconverged infrastructure. There is a minimum initial deployment of three hosts, up to a maximum of 16 hosts per cluster. Hosts can be added or removed on demand, after the initial deployment. All private clouds have VMware vCenter Server, VMware vSAN, VMware vSphere and VMware NSX, allowing you migrate on-premise workloads, deploy new virtual machines as well as connect directly to Azure services without going over the public internet.
This is diagram shows the general configuration of an Azure VMware Solution deployment.
Storage
The primary storage for Azure VMware Solution is the hyperconverged system’s storage configured with VMware vSAN. You can also add additional storage with Azure Blob Storage and Azure NetApp Files.
Azure Elastic SAN, currently in Preview, is also available for scalable, cost-effective and high-performance storage with the same simplified management as your on-premise SAN.
Networking
Azure VMware Solution connects back to your on-premise site through different options, including Azure ExpressRoute, that creates a private direct connection to Azure Datacenters.
ExpressRoute connections don’t route through the internet and providing greater reliability, faster speed and lower latency between Azure and your on-premise systems, with connection speeds up to 100 Gbps.
If an ExpressRoute is not available, VPN or Azure Virtual WAN could be used to connect to Azure VMware. However, specific firewall ports and network address ranges would be required.
More details can be found on Microsoft’s site. For examples, see Azure Cloud Adoption Framework – Network topology and connectivity for Azure VMware Solution.
Security and Compliance
Azure VMware Solution security is implemented at three levels – Azure integrated security, VMware provided security and private cloud security.
Azure integrated security features:
- Certified datacenters
- Certified hardware
- Certified cloud environment
- Network edge security and DDoS protection
VMware provided security features:
- Certified datacenters
- Certified hardware
- Certified cloud environment
- Network edge security and DDoS protection
VMware provided security features:
- Certified datacenters
- Certified hardware
- Certified cloud environment
- Network edge security and DDoS protection
Shared Responsibility
Since Azure VMware Solution is a private VMware cluster on Azure infrastructure fully managed and supported by Microsoft, there is a shared responsibility model, where specific roles and responsibilities are divided between you and Microsoft. This is defined in the following Shared Responsibilities Matrix.
Azure VMware Solution Common Use Cases
- Datacenter expansion
- Datacenter footprint reduction
- Disaster recovery and business continuity
- Application modernization
- Hybrid cloud IT operations
Learn More
If you are using VMware in your environment, and would like more details about how Azure VMware Solution can accelerate your cloud migration and reduce costs, all while leveraging existing VMware skills, tools and processes, Nephele Technologies’ cloud experts can help. Ask about our case studies in your industry.
