VMware Cloud on AWS is now generally available and many VMware users are wondering what it can do for them. Despite its name, VMware Cloud on AWS is not much like AWS. In this webinar we will explain the architecture, technical limitations, pricing, and benefits.

1. UNDERSTANDING
VMWARE CLOUD ON AWS

2. • Brian Adler
• Director, Enterprise Architecture, RightScale
• Kim Weins
• VP Marketing, RightScale
Panelists

3. • What is VMware Cloud on AWS?
• Technical Architecture
• Who Manages What
• How it Connects to On-Prem and AWS
• Leveraging AWS Services
• How You Get Started
• Limitations
• Pricing Comparison
Agenda
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4. • AWS provides the datacenters/dedicated servers to VMW
• You buy from VMW, not AWS
• VMW determines all of the pricing and no AWS discounts apply
• You pay for each entire host (not VMs)
• The bill comes from VMW and is separate from your AWS bill
• VMW does all the patching/management of VMware stack
• It’s supported by VMW, not AWS
• It’s a separate “AWS account” than your normal AWS accounts
• There are VMW consoles to manage it, not AWS
It’s Not The AWS You Know
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5. Technical Architecture
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Source: Presentation at VMWorld

6. • One host type. Each host has
• 2 CPU (each with 18 cores running at 2.3GHz)
• 512 GB memory
• Local flash storage
• 3.6 TB cache
• 10.7 TB raw storage capacity
• 4 to 16 hosts
• All in AWS us-west-2 (Oregon)
• VMware responsible for failover in host failure using vMotion
Configurations Available to Start
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7. Host Failure: VMware Does Remediation
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Source: VMware Cloud on AWS Technical Overview

8. Who Manages What
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Source: VMware Cloud on AWS Technical Overview

9. Connectivity to AWS and On-Prem
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Source: Presentation at VMWorld

10. • Enables use of mix of VMware compute/storage/network and
AWS services for application workloads
• AWS Services will run out of your normal AWS accounts
• VMware services are in the “VMware Cloud” AWS account
• Access from VMware SDDC to VPC in AWS Account, through
VPC endpoint for the service desired
• High bandwidth, low latency access to AWS services with no need for
public Internet traversal
Leveraging Other AWS Services
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11. Hybrid with On-Prem
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Source: Presentation at AWS re:Invent 2016

12. • Create an SDDC
• Specify 4 to 16 Hosts (all hosts are a set size)
• Only us-west-2 (Oregon) initially – will roll out support for
additional regions over the next few months
• ESXi, vSAN, NSX and vCenter are set up automatically
• Pick a VPC from your “normal” AWS account
• Use Content Library to move content from on-prem to
VMware Cloud on AWS
How You Get Started
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13. • Two bills
• You pay for entire hosts whether you use them or not
• You can’t control versions or patching of ESXi, vSAN, NSX,
vCenter
• Manually provision hosts (no autoscaling currently)
• For now (VMW says these limitations will go away over time)
• One host size
• One region (Oregon)
• Minimum of 4 hosts, max of 16
• Cold migration from on-prem only
Limitations
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14. PRICING
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15. • You pay per dedicated host (4-16)
• On-Demand (Hourly)
• 1 Year Reserved
• 3 Year Reserved
• Price includes hardware, VMware stack, and Support
• Billing
• Separate bill from AWS
• Pay for Data transfer and IP charges separately
• Pay with
• Subscription Purchasing Program (SPP) or Hybrid Purchasing Program (HPP) Credits
• Hybrid Loyalty Program
• Up to 25% off based on on-premise licenses
Pricing Model for VMware Cloud on AWS
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16. • Host Level
• Use VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) host specs on VMC website
• Match up VMC host to AWS Dedicated Host
• Compare costs
• Instance Level
• Use “Reference VM” specs used to calculate TCO on VMC website
• Assume VMC host is broken down into Reference VMs (not
oversubscribed)
• Match to AWS Instance
• Compare costs without oversubscription
• Consider impact of oversubscription
How We Compared
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17. VMware Cloud on AWS AWS Dedicated
(i3)
Delta
(VMC on AWS as
Compared to AWS)
CPU 2 CPU, 36 cores, 72 vCPU 2 CPU, 36 cores, 72 vCPU
Memory 512 GiB 488 GiB
Local Storage 14.3 TB
10.7 TB + 3.6TB cache
15.2TB
Virtualization VMW Xen or BYOL
Support VMW included
Numbers below include
+10% for support
On-Demand Cost
Hourly
$8.3681 /hr $6.0401 /hr $2.328 (+39%)
1 Year Pay Upfront
Annual
$51,987 /yr $33,706 /yr $18,281 (+54%)
3 Year Pay Upfront
3 years
$109,366 /3yrs $67,147 /3yrs $42,219 (+63%)
Pricing Comparison: AWS Dedicated vs. VMware
Cloud on AWS Host
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18. VMware Cloud on AWS
Density=8
AWS Instance
i3.2xlarge
Delta
(VMC on AWS as
Compared to AWS)
CPU 8 vCPU (4 cores) 8 vCPU (4 cores)
Memory ~64 GiB 61 GiB
Local Storage ~1.3 TB
+ 450 GB cache
1.9 TB
Virtualization VMW Xen
Support VMW
Numbers below include
+10% for support
On-Demand Cost
Hourly
$1.046 /hr $0.6864 /hr $0.3596 (+52%)
1 Year Pay Upfront
Annual
$6,498 /yr
$0.742 effective hourly
$3,830 /yr
$0.437 effective hourly
$2,668 (+70%)
3 Year Pay Upfront
3 years
$13,671 /3yrs
$0.520 effective hourly
* $9,122 /3yrs
$0.347 effective hourly
$4,549 (+50%)
Pricing Comparison: AWS Instances vs. VMware
Cloud on AWS VMs (Density=8)
17*Uses 3yr Convertible RIs for AWS

19. Digging into VMware Published TCO
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Requires
46-69 VMs
per host.
46 VMs * 2 vCPUs each = 92 vCPUs * .5 cores/vCPU = 46 cores
69 VMs * 2 vCPUs each = 138vCPUs * .5 cores/vCPU = 69 cores
28% oversubscribed
92% oversubscribed
Physical cores = 36

20. • If your VM CPUs are underutilized such that you can
oversubscribe on VMware, you should be using a smaller,
less expensive instance on AWS.
• If the CPU load varies significantly on the VM, you should be
considering using auto-scaling with smaller instance sizes on
AWS to account for variable.
Notes
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21. • How to Think About It?
• VMware Cloud on AWS has per host pricing that includes:
• Datacenter costs (space, power, security, etc)
• Infrastructure (hardware, storage)
• VMware stack (ESXi, vSAN, NSX, vCenter)
• Maintenance of hardware and VMware stack
• Support up through VMware stack
• It does not include:
• Bandwidth costs
• What would my equivalent costs be in Datacenter?
• Use 3yr commitment for VMware Cloud on AWS to mirror datacenter
costs
A Framework for Pricing vs On-Prem
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22. • Think of it as VMware in a hosted facility, not as “nomal” AWS
• Benefits (more flexible than on-prem)
• Environment you know (existing tools and template)
• Easy to move workloads to “cloud”
• Easier to scale up/down than on-prem
• Leverage some AWS services
• Considerations (not as flexible as AWS)
• Not as scalable as AWS/public cloud (host vs. VM level, no auto-scaling)
• VMware “overhead” in cost
• Separate billing “silo” from other AWS services
• Likely more expensive than AWS (if you do AWS right)
Bottom Line:
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23. • For more information, contact sales@rightscale.com
Q&A
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