Field CTO, Hybrid Data Center
Field CTO, Microsoft 365 & Azure
Azure VMware Solution (AVS) offers an advantageous path to extend VMware environments into Azure, enhancing interoperability with established VMware infrastructures and various Azure functionalities. This post is part of a series where we assess the pros and cons of various cloud solutions, highlighting the importance of choosing the right platform(s) for your business’s success. The best option varies depending on the specific needs and goals of your organization.
In this edition, we’ll explore the strengths of AVS when examined alongside a hybrid setup that incorporates conventional on-premises data centers and/or native Azure infrastructure approaches. Our analysis will cover several aspects, including strategic advantages, migration ease, disaster recovery/data protection strategies, staffing implications, and the financial impact.
Azure VMware Solution (AVS) is optimal for organizations looking to enhance their VMware-based operations via hybrid cloud. It suits those aiming to update their IT infrastructure partially or fully, with minimal interruption, using familiar tools and set expenses.
Common scenarios include:
| Azure VMware Solution (AVS) | Data Center / Azure Native |
Seamless Integration: AVS provides the same, familiar tools your organization leverages on-premises—allowing a like-for-like hybrid cloud configuration and a rapid migration or extension to/from the cloud.
Extended Capabilities: AVS extends on-premises VMware workloads to Azure, providing both VMware-based services, but also seamless connectivity into Azure IaaS, PaaS, and services that allow for flexible modernization efforts. |
Hybrid Complexity: Managing a hybrid cloud with VMware and Azure Native (IaaS) requires conversion of virtual machines between VMware (VMDK) and Azure IaaS (VHD) with 3rd party products, adding complexity.
Limited Flexibility: Traditional data centers often fall short in flexibility and scalability compared to cloud solutions, resulting in longer service delivery times and higher long-term capital expenditures (CapEx). |
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| Azure VMware Solution (AVS) | Data Center / Azure Native |
Ease of Migration: AVS supports lift-and-shift migrations with minimal reconfiguration (IP Addresses for example), reducing downtime and risk during migration. Migrating to and from Azure is point-and-click with VMware HCX and the ability to extend the network.
Compatibility: AVS maintains compatibility with existing VMware tools and processes, simplifying the migration process. |
Re-Architecting Required: Migrating to Azure Native often requires re-architecting applications to take full advantage of cloud-native features, adding an extra layer of complexity for workload mobility. Network extensibility between an on-premises data center and Azure introduces complexity.
Potential Disruption: Migration to a new environment in Azure or the Data Center requires extensive planning, configuration, testing, and procurement efforts, including disaster recovery and backup solutions. |
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| Azure VMware Solution (AVS) | Data Center / Azure Native |
Integrated DR Solutions: AVS is supported by traditional VMware-based disaster recovery and data protection solutions, allowing for less change in tooling and processes. Additionally, AVS integrates with Azure’s native disaster recovery and backup solutions, providing a cloud alternative to reduce data resilience cost and complexity.
Automated DR and Backups: Azure Site Recovery (ASR) and Azure Backup solutions, as well as third-party (with a little more configuration) can be easily integrated with AVS, ensuring data is protected and recoverable without managing the infrastructure to do so. |
Traditional DR Challenges: Procuring, configuring, and maintaining secondary data centers that you hope you never have to use is costly and oftentimes under-powered. Testing to ensure readiness can be disruptive and time intensive to business operations.
Complexity and Maintenance: On-premises solutions rely on additional infrastructure, manual processes, and additional resources to support underlying systems to maintain. |
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| Azure VMware Solution (AVS) | Data Center / Azure Native |
Familiar Environment: AVS allows IT teams to continue using familiar VMware tools and interfaces, reducing the learning curve and allowing for a smoother transition to cloud native skills.
Focused on Value: AVS takes 7 of the 10 core management tasks from your technology team and shifts them to a Microsoft-managed service, allowing your technology team to focus more time on value-creation activities vs. lower-value maintenance. Unified Management: AVS provides a unified management platform for both on-premises and cloud resources, simplifying operations. |
New Skill Sets Required: Moving to Azure Native requires IT teams to acquire new skills and knowledge, which can be time-consuming and costly.
Keeping the Lights On: With data center-based virtualization, your technology team is focused on managing, maintaining, and “keeping the lights on" activities versus creating new value for your users. Separate Management: Managing on-premises and cloud resources separately can increase complexity and overhead for technology teams, without adding in additional costly and complex tools. |
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| Azure VMware Solution (AVS) | Data Center / Azure Native |
Operational Cost Savings: AVS can support your migration to operational costs models that provide more consistent billing and lower cost growth overtime.
Cost Reductions: 1YR, 3YR, and 5YR reserved-instance availability allows for significant reduction in overall costs. Transferability of reserved instances allows for flexibility in migration to IaaS/PaaS Azure services over time without lock-in. Scalability: AVS offers scalable resources that can be adjusted based on demand one node at a time, optimizing costs and allowing you to scale up in hours versus months for scenarios, such as disaster recovery. |
CapEx Investments: Traditional data centers require significant capital expenditures for hardware, facilities, and maintenance.
Cost Difference: Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in the data center is elusive to most organizations. Cost of infrastructure is most often compared to cost of cloud services. Cost of facilities, power, cooling, maintenance, personnel, and other “softer” costs must be considered for effective comparison. Fixed Capacity: Data centers have fixed capacity, which can lead to underutilization or the need for unpredictable and costly maintenance/upgrades. |
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Utilizing Azure VMware Solution can provide benefits like improved integration, easier migration, better disaster recovery, increased team efficiency, and cost savings when properly implemented, according to specific requirements. Companies aiming to upgrade their IT infrastructures without interrupting their current VMware setups may find AVS to be an attractive option. We advise enterprises considering their infrastructure strategy for the next two to five years to undertake a planning process that prioritizes their distinct business needs before aligning technology solutions to those requirements. AVS constitutes just one of many alternatives, and determining its suitability for your organization depends on a variety of considerations.
Interested in exploring how Azure VMware Solution and other solutions can benefit your organization? Contact us today at info@eGroup-us.com or complete the form below to for an introduction and start your hybrid cloud infrastructure roadmap journey.
For more information, view our recent webinar VMware Renewals: Evaluating Your Options for Making Informed Decisions
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