Building a hybrid vCloud

VMware announced that it is going to release the VMware vCloud Connector. With this connector you will be able to connect to public vCloud solutions that are provided by service providers like Bluelock and Colt and in the near future Verizon (currently in beta).

Over the last couple of months these service providers have been building public vClouds based on VMware vCloud technology. The VMware vCloud Connector is the missing piece of linking your private vCloud (a.k.a. vSphere) to one of the public vClouds of the service providers.

The following link gives a graphic representation on how you should visualize the creation of a hybrid vCloud using the VMware vCloud Connector.

The VMware vCloud Connector is a virtual appliance running in your own private vCloud. By using a plugin in your vSphere client you can use the vCloud Connector to connect to public vClouds that are provided by the service providers that have build vClouds that are accessible through the vCloud API.

By using your vSphere Client together with the vCloud Connector you create a “single pain glass” management console for managing both your private vCloud and public vCloud resources.

This creates a hybrid cloud management interface with the following capabilities :

• –  Visualize workloads and templates across vSphere and private/public vClouds
• –  Migrate workloads and templates between vSphere and vClouds
• –  Perform basic power and deployment operations on workloads and templates
• –  Access console of vApps in vClouds

For more information on the VMware vCloud Connector, have a look at the post created by VMware vCloud Architect Massimo Re Ferre’

The blog post by VMware can be located here.