VMware environments and their usage are not new to businesses. Many companies have leveraged vSphere, vSAN, and NSX to virtualize workloads. However, with growing market demand, enterprises need more scalable and flexible virtualization solutions. This is where Azure VMware Solution (AVS) comes into play.
It allows businesses to run virtualized workloads on the Microsoft Azure cloud environments natively. Azure VMware solution closes the gap between on-premises data centers and the cloud. It enables organizations to use their VMware investments to benefit from Azure’s scale and flexibility.
This article focuses on AVS, its features and benefits, and the step-by-step process for migrating workloads.
Azure VMware Solution: An Overview
Azure VMware Solution is a cloud offering of Microsoft Azure through which organizations can native-run VMware workloads. This service’s flexible nature makes it ideal for businesses using VMware technologies.
As a result, it enables a ‘light’ touch transition to the cloud while allowing applications and business staff to remain unaffected by re-architecting and retraining.
Key Features of Azure VMware Solution
Here is a list of key features offered by Azure VMware Solution:
- Native VMware Experience- In AVS, VMware’s stack (vSphere, vSAN, NSX-T, and vCenter) is fully integrated into Azure. In other words, you can use the familiar VMware tools and interfaces to manage your VM workloads, simplify operations, and reduce the learning curve.
- Enhanced Scalability- Azure offers a flexible infrastructure to build up or down your VMware workloads as required. This is perfect elasticity to handle varying loads and simultaneously use the resources optimally.
- Hybrid Cloud Capabilities- AVS helps create a hybrid cloud environment in which workloads are migrated between Azure and your on-premises data centers. This flexibility supports disaster recovery, backup solutions, and extending existing applications in the cloud.
- Security and Compliance- AVS provides a robust security framework for workloads running on AVS, which means you will have the advantage of advanced security features, compliance certification, and enterprise-level data protection provided through Microsoft Azure.
- Integration with Azure Services- When using AVS, organizations can use other Azure services, such as AI and analytics, databases, and serverless computing, to enhance functionality and innovation.
- Managed Services- AVS is a fully managed service. So, whenever Microsoft takes care of the underlying infrastructure, your IT teams can spend more time on higher-value tasks, reducing your operational burden.
Key Use Cases of Azure VMware Solution
The Azure VMware solution presents several exciting use cases demonstrating its utility in hybrid cloud ecosystems and the migration of VMware workloads to Azure. Some of them will be described here.
1. Datacenter Exit: Many times, organizations prefer to move out from their existing data centers, i.e., the AVS on-premises VMware environment, to AVS. This Azure VMware migration helps streamline the organization’s structure without sacrificing the comfort of the existing mechanisms.
2. Disaster Recovery: The best part about AVS is that it supports disaster recovery by adopting the Azure hybrid cloud solution. Thanks to VMware HCX, enterprises can build a reliable infrastructure for their workloads so that they can be restored in case of failure quickly.
3. Hybrid Cloud: Organizations using AVS can deploy hybrid clouds that link their on-premises VMware infrastructure to the Azure data centre. It augments the hyper-scale of the two data silos by allowing resource movement between the two without any limits to the extent of desirable benefits realized from the Azure cloud by VMware workloads.
4. Application Modernization: The Azure VMware solution allows companies to modernize their applications. This includes adopting Azure services for better capabilities and using their existing VMware management tools. The Azure VMware integration simplifies operations and makes it easy to access advanced Azure VMware functions.
5. Cost Optimization: The adoption of the Azure VMware solution can help businesses to optimize their operational costs. By using the Azure Hybrid Benefit and Extended Security Updates, organizations can also reduce their licensing costs by migrating their legacy applications to the cloud and the Azure VMware benefits.
Step-by-Step Process of Migrating Workloads to Azure VMware Solution
Moving workloads to Azure VMware solutions can be structured, enabling a smooth transition. Here’s a step-by-step guide based on the available resources:
1. Assess Your Environment
Check your current VMware environment. With tools like RVTools, you can generate reports on the existing virtual machines (VMs) and get an insight into your resources and dependencies. It helps you visualize your migration steps effectively.
Additionally, you can use Azure Migrate to assess your on-premises workloads. Azure Migrate provides a centralized hub to track discovery, assessment, and migration of your on-premises applications and workloads to Azure. It offers insights into your environment, helps identify dependencies, and provides cost estimates for running your workloads in Azure.
2. When you provision Azure VMware Solution
Register your solution in the desired Azure region using the Azure VMware solution. You can use the private Azure cloud for VMware workloads and configure the necessary networking components. During this phase, you’ll deploy an essential set of VMware components, such as vCenter Server, NSX-T Manager, and SDDC Manager.
3. Networking Setup
Set up the networking parts of your Azure VMware solution. This involves creating an Azure Virtual Network and enabling an ExpressRoute connection with low latency and high bandwidth between your on-prem data center and Azure.
4. Prepare for Migration
Define the migration strategy before it migrates workloads. There are two aspects of the environment’s needs on which you must choose an agent-based or agentless migration approach. Ensure that all the systems and the applications are ready to collapse but can be changed for compatibility while changing VM architectures.
5. Execute the Migration
Either use the VMware vMotion technology for live migration or use Azure Migrate tools to complete the migration of the VMs — for which vMotion is crucial because it keeps the VMs all up and running during migration, ruling out downtime, which is critical for ensuring business continuity.
6. Post-Migration Configuration
Next, verify successful migration and set up in the Azure environment. It consists of Validation application connectivity, Azure monitor for monitoring, and backup protocols set using Azure backup for resilience and compliance.
7. Monitor and Optimize
Then, you can use an Azure monitor to oversee your workload’s performance. Learn about cost management and views, and analyze the correct optimal use with the budget.
8. Hand Over Management
With these workloads, your IT team can start to manage them using tools you know and love (VMware tools) in Azure and can lift and shift to ongoing operations. It enables monitoring, checking compliance, and revising experience for continuous performance improvements.
Once you migrate all the workloads, there are some key considerations to keep in mind.
As detailed in the article, after AVS workload migration, several factors should be considered for proper running of operations in the cloud.
Key Considerations Post Migration to AVS
- Post-Migration Validation: Once data has been migrated, all the routines, applications, databases, and services must be tested and verified for functioning. These are accomplished by verifying the dependencies and the key performance indicators to ensure they comply with business needs and service level agreements (SLAs).
- Optimization for Cloud: Use capabilities like Azure Monitor, Azure Automation, and Azure Cost management tools and services to get more out of your workloads while indicating their cost efficiency. Contingent performances can be periodically reviewed and analyzed to make the right improvements to operational flow and to spend resources better.
- Establish Secure Connectivity: Make sure that there is a secure separation between the on-premises network and Cisco AVS. This may include establishing Site-to-Site VPNs or ExpressRoute connections meeting routing and firewall requirements.
- Security Best Practices: The required security features include identity and access management, security controls right for the cloud, and compliance checks. Interestingly, for some, using the already integrated tools into Azure can improve your security.
- Evaluate Long-Term Strategy: The situation after migration should determine whether institutions shall use AVS as an ordinary solution or if businesses plan to shift to cloud native. This evaluation can assist in planning future expenditures on cloud technologies.
- Capacity Planning: AVS makes it possible to scale the resources required for execution on demand. This makes it easy for businesses to scale up or down their infrastructure depending on the workload needs more than what is required to meet anticipated needs.
- Cost Management: Consider the prices Azure continually charges for running workloads in AVS. Azure Cost Management can be employed at Azure to monitor costs across subscriptions and manage spending most effectively per consumption rate.
Conclusion
Azure VMware Solution provides organizations with a simple and affordable approach to cloud migration and managing VMware workloads. Being native VMware, more scalable, hybrid cloud-capable, secure, and embedding Azure services, AVS offers a much-needed solution for businesses embarking on a proactive IT transformation strategy.
Maximize the benefits of your VMware environment and move your workloads to the Azure VMware Solution. You’ll gain the advantages of easy scalability, the ability to have workloads in both an on-premises environment and the Microsoft Azure cloud, secure operations, and seamless integration into Microsoft Azure services. Contact us today to talk to one of our professionals and start your cloud migration process.
