Not every request has to be a support ticket
IT teams serving several companies, factories or customers from the same infrastructure face a similar workload: a new virtual server, an extra disk, a test environment. Every request opens a ticket, and every ticket passes through someone’s hands. How much of which resource is allocated to whom is often tracked in a spreadsheet.
VMware Cloud Director is a cloud service platform that divides vSphere infrastructure into isolated virtual data centres and offers them to tenants on a self-service basis through a web-based portal.
What does VMware Cloud Director do?
Keeps tenants separate from one another
Each tenant is an organisation with its own users, groups and resources. Users sign in to their own organisation and cannot see another tenant’s resources.
Allocates resources as virtual data centres
Provider-side capacity is divided into organisation virtual data centres. How much CPU, memory and storage each unit is allocated is defined up front and can be monitored.
Provides a self-service portal
In the tenant portal, with role-based access, users create and manage virtual machines and vApps. Thanks to catalogues holding approved templates, everyone starts from the same standard image.
Supports a sub-provider structure
Current versions include a sub-provider role that can create and manage tenant organisations beneath it. This suits holding structures in which a group company manages its own units.
VMware Cloud Director with Unna
With VMware Cloud Foundation 9, Broadcom positioned VCF Automation as its next-generation cloud management platform and offered a migration path from Cloud Director to VCF Automation. Cloud Director 10.6.2 was also announced as a release to prepare for this migration. Existing deployments continue to work; however, for a new project, the roadmap, licensing terms and support periods should be verified against current information. We carry out this assessment together with you.
- We listen first. We review how many tenants you have, how resources are allocated and which version you are running.
- We plan together. We compare the options of maintaining the current setup, moving to VCF Automation or returning to a simpler model in terms of cost and risk.
- We implement and migrate. We plan the upgrade or migration tenant by tenant, testing each organisation as we go.
- We stay by your side. We keep track of capacity, versions and support dates for you.
Part of the whole
- On our virtualisation page, we assess when a private cloud is needed.
- Cloud Director depends on the health of the VMware vSphere cluster running beneath it.
- With our data centre services, we plan the physical location of the infrastructure together.
- With disaster recovery, we build a way back at a second site for tenants’ critical systems.
Frequently asked questions
Can we keep using Cloud Director?
Yes, if you are on a version that is still supported. End-of-support dates are published on Broadcom’s product lifecycle page; we build a migration timeline based on these dates.
Does a single company need Cloud Director?
Usually not. In an environment managed by a single IT team, vCenter is sufficient. Cloud Director makes sense where resources are distributed on a self-service basis to several independent units.
