vCloud on Vblock Design Considerations (Updated 10/04/11)

Update for 8/22/11 – Kendrick Coleman has added some more details and revised the document for version 1.1

Update for 10/4/11 – Kendrick Coleman has updated some of the networking sections

In a previous post a few months ago regarding vCloud on Vblock – Findings from the field, I posted some raw data that was more around what we saw with some initial implementations.  Over the past few months, this generated a lot of talk between myself, another VMware colleague, and a few folks from VCE about what to do on a larger scale.

The gentlemen from VCE that I started talking to had actually attended a VMware training on vCloud Director architecture, and starting asking some of the same questions I did.  They ended up finding my blog article, and reached out to me to start thinking about some ways we can address the challenges.  The result after a few months of editing, back and forth conversations is the attached document on design considerations.

The paper was a grass roots effort with he help of Kendrick Coleman, Jeramiah Dooley, Sony Francis, and Sumner Burkhart.  All of whom added various sections to what we feel is a good presentation of ideas based on vCloud 1.0.x technology.  We may need to make some adjustments to this for the newly announced vCloud 1.5 and changes to Vblock, but many of the sections will still apply.

The four major areas discussed here in the paper based on where we felt the most confusion are:

  • Management Infrastructure
  • Networking Infrastructure
  • Storage Infrastructure
  • Scalability

As always there is a disclaimer here, and on the paper itself in case you print it.  The opinions expressed are ours and not necessarily supported or endorsed by VMware or VCE.  The five authors simply wanted to put together something that could help folks out in the field try to decide on some directions with this architecture.  Hopefully it helps some of you out, and feedback is always welcome.

VMware vCloud on Vblock Design Considerations

You can find the full document on Scribd as well as the other authors blog sites when they post.   If anyone has good additional data to add please contact one of the contributing authors and we can look to get it added in for a revision.  Please do not hesitate to reach out to any of the authors for more information.  We will actively be updating the paper as changes are needed for future releases.

 

About Chris Colotti

Chris is active on the VMUG and event speaking circuit and is available for many events if you want to reach out and ask. Previously to this he spent close to a decade working for VMware as a Principal Architect. Previous to his nine plus years at VMware, Chris was a System Administrator that evolved his career into a data center architect. Chris spends a lot of time mentoring co-workers and friends on the benefits of personal growth and professional development. Chris is also amongst the first VMware Certified Design Experts (VCDX#37), and author of multiple white papers. In his spare time he helps his wife Julie run her promotional products as the accountant, book keeper, and IT Support. Chris also believes in both a healthy body and healthy mind, and has become heavily involved with fitness as a Diamond Team Beachbody Coach using P90X and other Beachbody Programs. Although Technology is his day job, Chris is passionate about fitness after losing 60 pounds himself in the last few years.

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