VMware Cloud Flex Storage FAQ

Introduction and General Information

Q: What is VMware Cloud Flex Storage?

A: Our vision for VMware Cloud Flex Storage is to deliver an enterprise-class storage and data management as-a-service for the multi-cloud. We plan to support a broad range of workloads by enabling multi-dimensional scaling of compute, storage performance, and storage capacity, while delivering a seamless and consistent data management experience across clouds.

VMware Cloud Flex Storage is built on a mature, enterprise-class filesystem that has been developed and production-hardened over many years, dating back to Datrium’s D­HCI storage product,  which VMware acquired in July 2020. It is the same filesystem that has been backing the VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery service. The filesystem has a two-tier design that allows for independent scaling of storage performance and capacity, using a Log-Structure Filesystem (LFS) design. You can read more about the filesystem architecture in Sazzala Reddy’s (Chief Technologist and a founder of Datrium) blog here. The combination of LFS with a 2-tier design, along with efficient snapshots and immutability, makes this a multi-purpose filesystem that unlocks many use cases, such as backup, disaster recovery, and ransomware recovery. With VMware Cloud Flex Storage, we are extending this proven technology to primary storage and making it available in the public cloud, where it delivers exceptional storage performance, scalability, and cost efficiency for traditional and modern workloads.

In the initial release, we are delivering a new approach to help VMware Cloud on AWS customers better align their cloud resources with the needs of their applications and data. Customers will be able to purchase a disaggregated cloud storage and data management service that is fully managed by VMware. It is scalable, elastic, and natively integrated into VMware Cloud on AWS. With just a few clicks in the VMware Cloud Console, customers can scale their storage environment without adding hosts, and elastically adjust their storage capacity up or down as needed for every application. Customers also benefit from a simple pay-as-you-go consumption model. We are offering VMware Cloud Flex Storage as supplemental storage to vSAN. Together with vSAN, VMware Cloud Flex Storage offers more flexibility and customer value in terms of resilience, performance, scale, and cost in the cloud.

Q: What is the underlying technology for VMware Cloud Flex Storage?

A: VMware Cloud Flex Storage is built on a mature, enterprise-class filesystem that has been developed and production-hardened over many years, dating back to Datrium’s D­HCI storage product,  which VMware acquired in July 2020. It is the same filesystem that has been backing the VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery service. The filesystem has a two-tier design that allows for independent scaling of storage performance and capacity, using a Log-Structure Filesystem (LFS) design. You can read more about the filesystem architecture in Sazzala Reddy’s (Chief Technologist and a founder of Datrium) blog here. The combination of LFS with a 2-tier design, along with efficient snapshots and immutability, makes this a multi-purpose filesystem that unlocks many use cases, such as backup, disaster recovery, and ransomware recovery. With VMware Cloud Flex Storage, we are extending this proven technology to primary storage and making it available in the public cloud, where it delivers exceptional storage performance, scalability, and cost efficiency for traditional and modern workloads.

A more detailed explanation of the availability of the architecture can be found here.

Q: Is VMware Cloud Flex Storage managed by VMware?

A: Yes, the service is fully managed by VMware.

Q: What AWS Regions is this available?

A: At launch, VMware Cloud Flex Storage will be available in AMER, EMEA and LATAM. APAC support is expected in subsequent release. VMware Cloud Flex Storage will be available in all AWS regions that support VMC and VMware Cloud DR.

Q: What are the key use cases of VMware Cloud Flex Storage?

A: Here are the key use cases of VMware Cloud Flex Storage:

• Seamless and cost-effective cloud migration: For customers who are looking to use VMware Cloud on AWS for a seamless and cost-effective cloud migration, VMware Cloud Flex Storage delivers true enterprise-class storage. It reduces complexity and time-to-value by supporting the lift and shift of virtual machines without a need to rework the data layer or re-architect the storage design. Customers can also simplify their operations with a storage solution that is natively built into the VMware Cloud on AWS service and readily available without manual configurations.
• Elastic data center extension: Customers who are looking to use VMware Cloud on AWS for data center extension can use VMware Cloud Flex Storage for easy access to additional storage capacity with dynamic scaling of resources. Common scenarios include high performance burst capacity, on-demand scaling for data analytics, or cost-effective long-term storage of data repositories in the cloud. This gives customers the choice of keeping their data where it best serves their consumption needs, across their data centers and the public cloud. As a result, customers benefit from a VMware-consistent, enterprise-grade hybrid cloud environment with a single pane of glass management through the VMware vCenter console.
• Scaling of storage-intensive workloads: For customers who are running certain workloads on VMware Cloud on AWS using local instance storage with VMware vSAN, but have other workloads that are storage bound, VMware Cloud Flex Storage offers a disaggregated storage service that allows them to independently, seamlessly, and optimally scale their performance and storage capacity to fit every workload individually. VMware Cloud Flex Storage is an ideal solution for scaling large volumes of data in an agile, flexible, and cost-effective way.

Q: How can I learn more about VMware Cloud Flex Storage?

A: For more information on this service, please visit the VMware Cloud Flex Storage page on https://www.vmware.com/products/cloud-flex-storage.html for more information on this service, and/or please contact your sales representative or partner for more information on this service and how VMware Cloud Flex Storage can help your business.