VMC on AWS Outposts was announced a few years back to offer customers the benefits of VMC on AWS but on-premises. (For those who don’t about VMC on AWS Outposts, please check my older article here.)
Then in 2019 at re:Invent, VMware and AWS revealed the launch of a beta program in which some lucky customers were able to participate.
After a long wait and some delays, VMware finally announced at VMworld 2021 the launch of VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts. The service is only available in the US at the moment
and in some other locations around the world upon request.
What’s included in the package?
VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts comes with the following components:
- AWS Outposts 42u rack
- Dedicated Nitro-based EC2 I3.EN metal servers with local SSD storage (as per the order)
- VMware SDDC software – vSphere, vSAN, NSX-T, vCenter Server
- VMware HCX
- VMware Global Support and 24×5 IM Chat support
What about pricing?
VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts is priced as a package on a per configuration basis and to be purchased as a 3-years subscription option only. A configuration starts with 3-hosts and can include up to 8-hosts at the moment. You can visit the pricing page for the latest information on pricing.
How is the rack secured?
Please find below the rack’s security properties:
- Built-in Tamper Detection
- Enclosed rack with a lockable door
- Data on Outpost is encrypted
- Removable and destroyable hardware security key on each server
- Encrypted network connection to the AWS Region
- Physical security of the Outpost location is the customer’s responsibility
- Network Encryption between nodes in the Outposts
- Nitro security key protects data on the rack, key destruction is equivalent to data destruction
Now let’s see the network requirements
Network connection to an AWS region:
- AWS Direct Connect with public VIF or Private VIF (Optional)
- (Optional) – Private VIF will require additional information: Subnet, VIF-ID, ASN#
- Internet Connection via ISP
- Dedicated VLAN(s) for service link and local gateway link
- Dedicated subnet size of /26 for service link
- Dedicated subnet for a management network /23 minimum
- VPC CIDR/Subnet – Customer connected account
- CIDR(s) for compute network(s)
- Network device that supports 1, 10, 40, or 100 Gbps uplinks
- Minimum of 1Gbps bandwidth for service link
- At least 150ms of latency between parent region and rack location
Fiber Types:
The following fiber types are supported:
- Single-mode fiber (SMF) with Lucent Connector (LC)
- Multimode fiber (MMF) or MMF OM4 with LC
OK I’m in! What happens once I ordered until delivery?
Wrap up
It will be interesting to see how VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts will be adopted by customers, as it offers many possibilities. Using the power of VMware Cloud on AWS on-premises will help many customers to face some challenges such as latency issues, confidentials data that need to stay on premises etc…
I believe this is very promising solution that has a bright future ahead. We’ll see that soon or later. Hope you enjoyed that blogpost and see you next time!