Google Cloud

VMware Engine
Migrate, scale and innovate at speed.
Table of contents

Executive summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 03

Why is getting to the cloud so tough for enterprise? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04

Compatibility
Operations
Innovation

What you need to succeed in the cloud. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05

Introducing Google Cloud VMware Engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06

Benefits of Google Cloud VMware Engine

Three key components for a smarter, more innovative cloud . . . . . . . . . 08

Hyperconverged infrastructure
Simplified management
Edge networking services
Google Cloud innovation

Bringing it all together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Executive summary

Every enterprise is striving to adopt a cloud-first strategy - but

making that happen is easier said than done. Until now, moving,
scaling, building and deploying on clouds has caused a lot of
roadblocks and detours for IT teams.

Google Cloud VMware Engine bypasses the challenges of moving

and modernizing critical workloads to the cloud - enabling
business agility without risk, app refactoring or having to reskill
your teams. The service enables customers to seamlessly
migrate their VMware workloads from on-premises data centers
directly into Google Cloud too.

This paper will show you how you can deploy VMware
infrastructure to Google Cloud natively and securely, giving
you access to cloud scalability and cost savings as well as
development and management services from both providers
- helping you build the future, faster than ever.

What is hybrid cloud?

Hybrid cloud is a cloud computing architecture

consisting of one or more on-premises
environments connected to a public cloud with
orchestration between the two platforms.

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Why is getting to the cloud so tough for enterprise?

Cloud adoption is driven by a desire for agility. Operations

Organizations want an infrastructure they can shape
fluidly as their needs change, without being locked into It’s not enough to just move a workload to the cloud.
a fixed, costly and complex on-site environment. They Once you migrate, things can get difficult for IT teams
also want access to unique public cloud services that as they contend with the challenges of operating across
allow for faster and more far-reaching innovation, and multiple environments.
leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning and
Many providers only deliver the bare minimum when it
automation. But if your enterprise wasn’t born in the
comes to hosting VMware SDDC services. They install
cloud, getting there can be a challenge.
VMware on public cloud hardware and leave the job
of configuring, managing, and operating the
infrastructure to the enterprise. Inconsistencies
between environments mean organizations often
struggle to manage workload, policy and compliance
compatibility, as well as training training staff in the use
of new and unfamiliar tools.

As IT operators extend their remit beyond the data

center their responsibilities compound. Without
Compatibility
automated capabilities these already stretched-thin
The cloud is a natural fit for new apps, but rewriting teams can become mired in operational complexity.
and refactoring existing apps to make them cloud-
compatible is far more complex. It can be costly,
error-prone and more time-consuming than most
Innovation
enterprises have the patience for. Today, only a few When it comes to delivering innovation, not all public
virtual machines (VMs) exist in the top three clouds. clouds are created equal. Modern IT teams are being
pushed to deliver the latest capabilities to developers,
The complexities of inconsistent infrastructure, policies so that they can build new and better services at the
and tools also make it difficult to monitor, troubleshoot, speed customers and competition demands.
network, secure, backup, audit, and establish
compliance and do many other typical enterprise IT Access to Google Cloud provides developers with
support operations from on-premises to the cloud. leading artificial intelligence, machine learning (ML), big
data analytics solutions they can use to drive innovation.
Unsurprisingly many enterprise apps have remained However, without consistency between environments,
locked into their fixed, on-premises infrastructures, developers often get caught in operational bottlenecks,
slowing the path to growth, innovation, and new unable to access the services they need, when they
service delivery. need them.
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What you need to
succeed in the cloud

Enterprises need a specific set of

capabilities that removes operational
complexity and provides speed and
fluidity to developers so that they can
build the future.

You need a solution that delivers:

Operational continuity Unified networking and Access to

The same operation, security configurations innovative services
support, monitoring and The same network Once running in the cloud
processing tools to manage configurations, and security, you need the ability to adopt
both on-premises and cloud compliance, monitoring and the latest AI, ML, automation
environments, with seamless chargeback policies across and analytics services to
API management - to environments, to ensure data query your data and derive
migrate without refactoring is safe and compliant, new insights.
or reskilling. whether at rest or in transit.

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Introducing Google Cloud VMware Engine

VMware Engine is fully managed, integrated offering that delivers the consistency and innovation enterprises need,
with a simple and seamless way to migrate to the cloud and unlock big data insights. With this service, you can
deploy VMware workloads natively on isolated and dedicated bare metal infrastructure, delivering the business
agility you need while unlocking native access to cloud services.

Because you run VMware vSphere, vCenter, vSAN and The result is fast migration and scalability, without
NSX natively in Google Cloud - compatibility is a given. downtime or management headaches - allowing you
This allows you to migrate, manage and scale to shift workloads to Google Cloud in minutes and
workloads from your data center to the cloud, bypassing planning, procurement, rack-n-stack network
without refactoring or causing disruption to your design and configuration. You also lower your total cost
network or security policies. of ownership with on-demand provisioning, paying only
for what you use as you shrink and grow usage based
Google Cloud’s API lifecycle management enables your on your needs.
teams can easily manage their policy configurations and
workloads, using the same tools and skills they use With seamless connectivity to Google Cloud, your
on-premises. IT operations workloads are also application developers have direct access to services
unburdened from infrastructure management with for Kubernetes, data analytics (BigQuery), Cloud AI and
the help of VMware Engine’s OS orchestration and machine learning. Consistency between environments
automation capabilities, sidestepping the complexity allows them to spend less time worrying about
of managing an expanding architecture. infrastructure, and more time harnessing big data
to deliver the innovative services customers demand.

VMware vSphere Stack

On-Premises
Dedicated private Cloud
VMware vSphere Stack
vCenter
vCenter VM VM
VM VM ESXi Hosts
ESXi Hosts Storage Network
Storage Network

Google Cloud

Figure 1: VMware Engine Integrates an On-Premises VMware vSphere

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Stack, natively with dedicated, private cloud.
Benefits

The service gives you the secure and flexible infrastructure you need to power your business ahead
of the competition.

Flexibility and speed Elevated privilege Hassle-free infrastructure

Dedicated, isolated private cloud Easily configure ISV apps (like DR Unburden IT from infrastructure
with full access to Google Cloud, and backup) on your VMs with management with automation and
enabled by Google Cloud’s API elevated privileges, allowing users orchestration, creating more time
management. to make changes for limited for innovation.
periods of time.
Unified management On-call support
Single portal to view your VMware Complete security We’re always ready to lend a hand
and Google Cloud environments, Move fast with confidence, with with on-demand support.
providing visibility for both cloud security built into every layer and
admins and app developers. a dedicated isolated environment Big data insights
that maintains compatibility Turn data into actionable insights
Consistent operations and mobility. with a comprehensive and
Leverage familiar VMware or serverless data analytics and
Google Cloud tools depending on Intuitive elasticity machine learning platform.
preference and without disruption Scale elastically into the cloud as Accelerate time to insights and
to established network, security, and when needed, provisioning in leave the complexities of data
data protection, or audit policies. as little as 30 minutes and paying analytics behind.
only for what you use.

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Three key components for a smarter, more innovative cloud

Google Cloud VMware Engine consists of three key components:

Hybrid cloud infrastructure Operating System Network edge services

Dedicated, isolated, private cloud The hybrid cloud management Enable communication between
deployed on a hyperconverged platform that orchestrates, your hybrid architecture and the
infrastructure stack. This enables automates, and maintains public internet with advanced
you to run VMware natively within availability across the VMware networking and security capabilities
Google Cloud, along with back-end bare metal and Google Cloud provided by Google Cloud.
operations and support for the infrastructures. This is managed
entire solution, and separated via a through a single management
data plane for additional security. portal, through which you can
view both VMware and Google
Cloud environments.

Google Cloud

Google Cloud VMware Engine

Dedicated VMware Stack Google Cloud Console

On Prem VMware
VMware vCentre VMware Engine UI

VMware vCentre VM VM VM VM
Billing, IAM, etc.
VM VM VM VM ESXi Hosts
Closed Storage Network
ESXi Hosts Interconnect/
VPN Google Cloud Services
Storage Network Storage, Operations,
BigQuery, Anthos, etc

Third-Party Services
Bare Metal
Zerto, Veeam, etc.

Figure 2: Key components of VMware Engine. 8

Hybrid cloud infrastructure VMware partner ecosystem services
The dedicated, isolated, and private cloud abilities The dedicated, isolated, private environment enables
of VMware Engine, means that it offers a broad set access to the entire vSphere ecosystem of third-party IT
of capabilities to drive business success and management tools, as well as the complete core
modernization. vSphere platform and its default interface, vCenter. This
allows you to access provisioning, monitoring, support,
inventory management, backup and disaster recovery,
Hot, cold and bulk migrations security, network and IP address management, identity
Complete compatibility between the environments management, and ticketing capabilities - all managed
enables organizations to move on-premises workloads through a single pane of glass.
to the cloud with standard VMware tools. In a hot
migration, you can use vMotion to transfer a live,
Google cloud innovation
powered-on virtual machine between data centers,
clusters, or hosts without downtime. You can achieve A dedicated VMware SDDC in Google Cloud means you
the same function with a cold migration, moving the have high speed VLAN connectivity to innovative
virtual machine in a powered-off state. These two services. This is ideal for developing next generation
methods work best for serial migrations. apps that take advantage of Google Cloud’s services
that harness the power of Google’s big data. For
You can also use VMware HCX (included in the service), example you can build and run AI and ML apps in the
to schedule migration of workloads en masse using public cloud, while leveraging your database that resides
replication. After you replicate your workloads to a new on your dedicated cloud.
environment, HCX will automatically power-off data
center workloads and power-on the workloads With a single portal to both VMware and Google Cloud
in your cloud. environments, application developers can build, manage
and deploy their workloads directly in a self-service
manner using tools they are already familiar with. They
can perform power operations and configure them with
the appropriate amount of disks and network interfaces.

They can also create additional VMs within the limits

of resources allocated to them by administrators. For
example: developers may wish to deploy their web-
facing app layers in Google Cloud where they have
configured a load balancer, auto scale, and public IP
addresses. This layer then has the ability to talk
to databases deployed in VMware’s SDDC, establishing
the appropriate security rules between layers.

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Google Cloud VMware Engine OS
These capabilities ensure organizations can maintain
The service provides a cloud operating system and OS
and manage environments on an ongoing basis, with
that integrates services and innovations that optimize
role-based levels of access control configured between
VMware administration tasks. Key to this is provisioning
user and administrators. The solution establishes the
a portal for self-service consumption, control and
right access control levels for each of the 350+
ownership for Private Cloud resources. In addition, it
operations supported by the vSphere platform.
serves to integrate Private Cloud and Public
consumption in the same interface, thus fostering
hybrid application development. Finally, this integration Google Cloud Edge Network
provides direct access to backup services, event
Edge Network enables communication between the
logging, and for monitoring the health, performance,
internet and your hybrid environment. It runs on Google
availability, and capacity of clusters.
Cloud, leverages cloud edge security, and simplifies
For example, developers can use VMware Engine network setup and direct access to vCenter for
Hybrid Templates to repeatedly deploy their application managing VMs.
during every stage of the application lifecycle: Dev,
Test or Production. Edge Networking Services establishes access to the
public internet using Google Cloud connectivity, and
Rather than relying on a lower cost “secondary” store allows public IP addresses for virtual machines to be
for backup and archival data, VMware Engine targets published with the right level of network isolation
cloud object storage directly, so customers can choose without having to configure many different systems and
redundancy and availability levels as appropriate, or devices. Google Dedicated Interconnect provides
configure their own automated tiering. You can also secure, high-speed connections to the public cloud from
enable backup strategies for environments in the on-premises environments.
VMware Engine portal, integrated into Google Cloud and
then configure these with a plugin to the vSphere UI. Edge Network also protects the traffic between
VMware Engine also supports the most common workloads and application layers flowing to/from VPN
backup tools used in VMware vSphere environments. (supporting site-to-site or point-to-site), public internet
and public IPs, and across all subnets and
The service establishes the level of probes and error environments. This allows organizations to take
logs best-suited for you, and enables continuous advantage of Google Cloud’s edge network security and
collection of performance data so that issues can be advanced level of DDOS protection.
detected and resolved quickly. The OS also schedules
custom maintenance times for VMware upgrades and The solution also allows you to maintain compatibility
patches based on customer convenience. Critical with existing vSphere network designs, including NSX-T,
security or stability patches are performed with full Port Groups and Distributed Virtual Switches, enabling
customer awareness and approval, and minimal easier migration with minimal re-architecture.
disruption to workloads.

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Bringing it all together

Many enterprise cloud strategies involve both exiting expensive

on-premises data centers as well as digitally transforming their
processes. Taking advantage of these at scale means moving
or redeploying to a public cloud.

VMware Engine offers the only platform that provides a

managed, dedicated cloud in Google Cloud for VMware
workloads. By providing a complete platform that incorporates
management, networking, isolation, and high speed
connections to Google Cloud resources, VMware Engine gives
enterprises a fast and secure way to meet their digital
transformation goals on time.

Google Cloud VMware Engine is verified by VMware.

VMware and Google are trademarks of VMware and Google respectively.
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