VMware – VMworld 2017 – STO3194BU – Protecting Virtual Machines in VMware Cloud on AWS

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Disclaimer: I recently attended VMworld 2017 – US.  My flights were paid for by ActualTech Media, VMware provided me with a free pass to the conference and various bits of swag, and Tech Field Day picked up my hotel costs. There is no requirement for me to blog about any of the content presented and I am not compensated in any way for my time at the event.  Some materials presented were discussed under NDA and don’t form part of my blog posts, but could influence future discussions.

Here are my rough notes from “STO3194BU – Protecting Virtual Machines in VMware Cloud on AWS”, presented by Brian Young and Anita Thomas. You can grab a PDF copy of my notes from here.

VMware on AWS Backup Overview

VMware Cloud on AWS

  • VMware is enabling the VADP backup partner ecosystem on VMC
  • Access to native AWS storage for backup target
  • Leverages high performance network between Virtual Private Clouds

You can read more about VMware Cloud on AWS here.

 

Backup Partner Strategy

VMware Certified – VMware provides highest level of product endorsement

  • Product certification with VMware Compatibility Guide Listing
  • Predictable Life Cycle Management
  • VMware maintains continuous testing of VAPD APIs on VMC releases

Customer Deployed – Same solution components for both on-premises and VMC deployments

  • Operational Consistency
  • Choice of backup methods – image-level, in-guest
  • Choice of backup targets – S3, EBS, EFS

Partner Supported – Partner provides primary support

  • Same support model as on-premises

 

VADP / ENI / Storage Targets

VADP

  • New VDDK supports both on-premises and VMC
  • VMware backup partners are updating existing products to use new VDDK to enable backup of VMC based VMs

Elastic Network Interface (ENI)

  • Provide access to high speed, low latency network between VMC and AWS Virtual Private Clouds
  • No ingress or egress charges within the same availability zone

Backup Storage Targets

  • EC2 based backup appliance – EBS and S3 storage
  • Direct to S3

 

Example Backup Topology

  • Some partners will support in-guest and image level backups direct to S3
  • Deduplicates, compresses and encrypts on EC2 backup appliance
  • Store or cache backups on EBS
  • Some partners will support vaulting older backups to S3

 

Summary

  • VADP based backup products for VMC are available now
  • Elastic Network Interface connection to native AWS services is available now
  • Dell EMC Data Protection Suite is the first VADP data protection product available on VMC
  • Additional VADP backup solutions will be available in the coming months

 

Dell EMC Data Protection for VMware Cloud on AWS

Data Protection Continuum – Where you need it, how you want it

Dell EMC Data Protection is a Launch Partner for VMware Cloud on AWS. Data Protection Suite protects VMs and enterprise workloads whether on-premises or in VMware Cloud

  • Same data protection policies
  • Leveraging best-in-class Data Domain Virtual Edition
  • AWS S3 integration for cost efficient data protection

 

Dell EMC Data Domain and DP Suite

Data Protection Suite

  • Protects across the continuum – replication, snapshot, backup and archive
  • Covers all consumption models
  • Broadest application and platform support
  • Tightest integration with Data Domain

Data Domain Virtual Edition

  • Deduplication ratios up to 55x
  • Supports on-premises and cloud
  • Data encryption at rest
  • Data Invulnerability Architecture – best-in-class reliability
  • Includes DD Boost, DD Replicator

 

Dell EMC Solution Highlights

Unified

  • Single solution for enterprise applications and virtual machines
  • Works across on-premises and cloud deployments

Efficient

  • Direct application backup to S3
  • Minimal compute costs in cloud
  • Storage-efficient: deduplication up to 55x to DD/VE

Scalable

  • Highly scalable solution using lightweight stateless proxies
  • Virtual synthetic full backups – lightning fast daily backups, faster restores
  • Uses CBT for faster VM-image backup and restore

 

Solution Detail

Backup of VMs and applications in VMC to a DD/VE or AWS S3. The solution supports

  • VM image backup and restore
  • In-guest backup and restore of applications using agents for consistency
  • Application direct to S3

 

ESG InstaGraphic

  • ESG Lab has confirmed that the efficiency of the Dell EMC architecture can be used to reduce monthly in-cloud data protection costs by 50% or more
  • ESG Research has confirmed that public cloud adoption is on the rise. More than 75% of IT organisations report they are using the public cloud and 41% are using it for production applications
  • There is a common misconception that an application, server, or data moved to the cloud is automatically backed up the same way it was on-premises
  • Architecture matters when choosing a public cloud data protection solution

Source – ESG White Paper – Cost-efficient Data Protection for Your Cloud – to be published.

 

Manage Backups Using a Familiar Interface

  • Consistent user experience in cloud and on-premises
  • Manage backups using familiar data protection UI
  • Extend data protection policies to cloud
  • Detailed reporting and monitoring

 

Software Defined Data Protection Policies

Dynamic Polices – Keeping up with VM data growth and smart policies

Supported Attributes

  • DS Clusters
  • Data Center
  • Tags
  • VMname
  • Data Store
  • VMfolder
  • VM resource group
  • vApp

 

Technology Preview

The Vision we are building towards (screenshot demos).

 

Further Reading

You can read more in Chad’s post on the solution. Dell EMC put out a press release that you can see here. There’s a blog post from Dell EMC that also provides some useful information. I found this to be a pretty useful overview of what’s available and what’s coming in the future. 4 stars.