Common VCF Use Cases
- Data center consolidation and infrastructure standardization
- New, greenfield data center
- Hardware refresh (servers and storage)
- Cloud native application development or new container deployment
- Application refactoring
- Self-service development
- Business continuity and disaster recovery
- Application and workload migration
- Cloud repatriation
Use Case 1: Data Center Modernization
Customer Challenges
- Managing slow and complex traditional architecture
- Overcoming slow legacy infrastructure that’s unable to keep up with application demand
- Improving operational efficiency in patching and maintaining infrastructure
- Managing a server or storage refresh, purchase, expansion or aging server and storage assets
- Balancing shrinking IT budgets and limited IT staff working in silos with a lack of agility to meet new business demand
Conversation Starters
- How long does it take you to service an infrastructure request?
- How long does it take to deploy infrastructure on day zero and integrate infrastructure operationally on days one and two?
- What performance related issues are you experiencing in your environment?
- How much time are you spending managing and patching your virtual infrastructure?
- As you upgrade infrastructure, how can you deliver a more cloud-like experience to your users?
- Do you have an up coming server or storage purchase or refresh? What does that look like?
- Are you looking to consolidate workloads on a standard infrastructure? What does that look like?
- Do you have enough IT budget to meet growing demands of the business? How do you manage this?
- Do you have the required skillsets to manage your future-state infrastructure? How do you manage this?
Problems Solved with VCF
- Integrated architecture with compute, storage, networking, and management for both on-prem and public cloud environments
- One management tool, standardized hardware and an automated, policy-driven approach to simplify operations
- Rapid deployment and maintenance of infrastructure with enterprise scale, performance, resiliency, and consistency to meet business needs
- Consistent infrastructure that is easy to manage and upgrade as needed
- Investment protection for the future regardless of the cloud operating model
- Automation that rapidly provisions and maintains infrastructure and allows your experts to strategically manage policies as opposed to infrastructure
- Reduced operational overhead and complexity resulting in lower TCO
- Up-skilled and cross-trained staff resulting in happier and highly skilled employees
Use Case 2: Modern Application
Customer Challenges
- Managing both traditional and modern applications with the same tools and processes is difficult
- Providing developers with access to resources via inefficient ticket- based systems, reducing productivity
- Managing inefficiencies involved in operating in and patching legacy and containerized applications
- Maintaining IT control over apps being deployed in clouds; managing security and control challenges (e.g., Kubernetes sprawl)
Conversation Starters
- What are your biggest struggles when it comes to managing and deploying your cloud-native applications?
- How happy are your developers with their productivity?
- Do your developers spend a lot of time patching and upgrading Kubernetes clusters? How are you managing these inefficiencies?
- How satisfied is the business with the rate of innovation IT can help them achieve?
- What challenges do you have in securing or monitoring your cloud-native applications?
- How are you securing workloads in the cloud?
- How are you managing and bridging security policies in your data center and public cloud?
Problems Solved with VCF
- Single platform for VMs and containers with familiar, industry standard tools
- Fast and easy way to manage and deploy a Kubernetes and traditional environment at the same time
- Self-service access to infrastructure and other resources by developers to accelerate velocity and boost productivity
- Streamlined operations and automation help for IT in competing with public cloud models
- Tools to become relevant to business imperatives and initiatives
- Greater stability and efficiency via automation
to manage both VMs and containers on a unified platform
- Efficient management of both VMs and containers while maintaining enterprise-class policies for resiliency, quality of service, security and access controls for modern apps
- All Kubernetes clusters managed from a single point of control and with greater compliance
- Extended security policies from the application VM on-premise into any cloud with network virtualization
Use Case 3: Hybrid Cloud
Customer Challenges
- Deploying new workloads (traditional and cloud native) that require federation
- Managing cloud repatriation given the high cost of the public cloud in the long term
- Cost-effectively scaling IT up or down when needed
- Overcoming increased security challenges with private and public cloud operating environments
- Managing workloads across multiple clouds (many tools and silos)
- Handling the costs of business continuity and disaster recovery (DR plans not tested)
Conversation Starters
- Are you looking to build more cloud native apps in the future? How so?
- How do you manage the many applications that need to be refactored to the cloud or brought into your on-prem environment?
- How are you cost-effectively running burst capacity or workloads during peak demand?
- How are you ensuring your IT infrastructure is secure at the highest levels?
- How time-consuming and difficult is it to manage applications running on-prem and in the public cloud?
- How expensive is it to recover operations during a disaster?
- How has your DR solution been tested?
Problems Solved with VCF
- Extension of on-prem infrastructure to the public cloud with VMware Cloud on AWS or other public cloud vendors like Microsoft, Google and IBM providing seamless solution whether on prem or in the cloud, providing consistent operations and management
- Flexibility to build baseline capacity, allowing for the purchase of peak capacity from the cloud when needed
- Intrinsic enterprise security at every layer of the stack including extending into the cloud for container and VM-based services
- Single pane of management for managing your workloads on a private data center or in the public cloud
- Protection through disaster recovery as a service with VMware Site Recovery (VSR) where you can securely replicate on-prem VCF workloads to VMware Cloud on AWS on demand, avoiding the need for an expensive secondary data center
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Source: VMware VCF Solution – PDC 2020