Modernizing VMware Stack with IBM Cloud
Key Points
- The foundational VMware stack for IBM Cloud consists of bare‑metal hardware topped by vSphere, with NSX for networking, vCenter as the management core, and optional components like vSAN for storage, all deployed automatically.
- IBM handles the full automation of component installation and can tailor the stack to different customer storage or networking preferences, making tools like NSX optional rather than mandatory.
- Modernizing legacy environments focuses on migrating from old hardware and vSphere 5.1 to newer releases (e.g., 6.7 and beyond) by using VMware HDX as the migration and hybrid‑cloud enablement tool.
- HDX creates a loosely‑coupled L2 network that “stretches” the existing network, allowing customers to retain their IP addresses and MAC addresses while moving workloads to upgraded hardware and supporting true hybrid or multicloud configurations.
- This approach delivers a flexible, automated path from legacy infrastructure to a modern, IBM‑cloud‑backed VMware environment with the ability to add day‑2 services as needed.
Sections
- VMware Stack Modernization Overview - The speaker outlines IBM Cloud’s automated, modular VMware stack—starting from bare‑metal infrastructure up through vSphere, vCenter, and optional NSX and vSAN—to enable flexible, modernized deployments.
- HCX Enables Cross‑Region Cloud Migration - A legacy vSphere workload was moved from an on‑prem datacenter in California to IBM Cloud in Washington DC, and despite added latency, newer hardware and HCX’s migration capabilities delivered superior performance, showcasing HCX’s ability to bridge legacy environments into a modern hybrid cloud.
Full Transcript
# Modernizing VMware Stack with IBM Cloud **Source:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqmlsQ57Lko](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqmlsQ57Lko) **Duration:** 00:06:24 ## Summary - The foundational VMware stack for IBM Cloud consists of bare‑metal hardware topped by vSphere, with NSX for networking, vCenter as the management core, and optional components like vSAN for storage, all deployed automatically. - IBM handles the full automation of component installation and can tailor the stack to different customer storage or networking preferences, making tools like NSX optional rather than mandatory. - Modernizing legacy environments focuses on migrating from old hardware and vSphere 5.1 to newer releases (e.g., 6.7 and beyond) by using VMware HDX as the migration and hybrid‑cloud enablement tool. - HDX creates a loosely‑coupled L2 network that “stretches” the existing network, allowing customers to retain their IP addresses and MAC addresses while moving workloads to upgraded hardware and supporting true hybrid or multicloud configurations. - This approach delivers a flexible, automated path from legacy infrastructure to a modern, IBM‑cloud‑backed VMware environment with the ability to add day‑2 services as needed. ## Sections - [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqmlsQ57Lko&t=0s) **VMware Stack Modernization Overview** - The speaker outlines IBM Cloud’s automated, modular VMware stack—starting from bare‑metal infrastructure up through vSphere, vCenter, and optional NSX and vSAN—to enable flexible, modernized deployments. - [00:03:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqmlsQ57Lko&t=190s) **HCX Enables Cross‑Region Cloud Migration** - A legacy vSphere workload was moved from an on‑prem datacenter in California to IBM Cloud in Washington DC, and despite added latency, newer hardware and HCX’s migration capabilities delivered superior performance, showcasing HCX’s ability to bridge legacy environments into a modern hybrid cloud. ## Full Transcript
We've got a few things already sketched out on the board,
but let's actually start with the stack that we need to get started with
modernizing with VMware.
Yeah, and IBM Cloud, kind of our basic, or fundamental, VMware software stack is quite simple.
You have your bare metal infrastructure,
where your environment runs on.
So, "bare metal infra".
And then on top, we have your vSphere
and so we actually do automated deployments of 6.5,
6.7, and any future releases from a VMware perspective.
We have NSX, which is the VMware networking tool.
And, sitting on top of that, kind of the brain of the whole operations is vCenter.
And when we look at this,
this is just the very basic fundamental stack.
There's tons of more components that you can add.
For example, you can add vSan, which is the storage option,
as well as any kind of day-2 operations on top of the stack.
So, for an end user who's coming in and they want to get started,
they could just go directly with vCenter
and IBM will automate and take care of the rest of these components,
get them all installed?
Absolutely, everything we do is from an automation perspective, too.
And we understand that people have different requirements.
I talked about vSAN earlier,
you know if customers prefer other types of storage compared to vSAN,
or they want to use other networking tools,
so they don't actually even need to use NSX, it's just an option,
and what we do from a stack perspective.
I see, OK.
So, we've got a number of things already sketched out here like I mentioned,
and we want to show and really break down how we modernize
from legacy architecture infrastructure to
something like VMware and IBM Cloud.
So, we've got some things sketched out, can you talk through what we have already?
Yeah, absolutely.
So, I think one of the things we were talking about earlier today
was "modernizing" means a lot.
And one specific use-case I want to look at is
modernizing from legacy hardware and legacy software,
and calling out VMware HDX.
So, HDX is a migration, hybridity modernization tool,
whatever acronym you want to put with that.
And so it allows customers to actually migrate from vSphere 5.1,
which can be running on any hardware you want,
and this is an old software stack.
And so, the nice thing that it allows you to do is actually create a connection
where you can actually go from old hardware in 5.1,
into the newest hardware in 6.7
and then whatever VMware is going to be releasing in the future.
And how it does this - it actually makes a kind of a loosely coupled network
which allows you to essentially just stretch your network.
And that's the really cool thing is
they're kind of stretching your L2 network.
It allows you to create these connections where you can bring your own IP,
you can bring your MAC addresses,
and the nice thing, since you're bringing those backwards and forth,
it really provides us true hybridity or multicloud approach.
Right, so, essentially all the connections that the applications may have had previously,
So, IP address, dependencies, and those kinds of things,
you don't really have to worry about refactoring or breaking all those down
since you're bringing your own IP,
since you're kind of having that that model,
those applications continue to work with each other even though now
you know, parts of them are on the cloud.
Absolutely, and one story
from one of our customers that I love to talk about is you know we had a customer
running on vSphere 5.0, on old hardware, they were in a datacenter in
California and they were looking to try VMware on IBM Cloud and they
actually moved that application from California all the way to Washington D.C.
So you're talking across the country and so obviously with that they increased
latency compared to the other VMs in their application, but that application
actually ran better in IBM Cloud you know even though it was in Washington D.C.
because it's running on a latest software and hardware version compared
to what the customer was running on-prem. So, the advantages in the compute
basically outweighed that the disadvantage of having latency across
the country. Exactly. Wow, okay. And so that's just kind of one of the use cases
we really like to look at because what HCX allows you to do it cuts this notion
of hey I'm in a monolithic, or in you know legacy app, you know hardware
applications, I can't move. HCX eliminates that by really providing
that backwards compatibility where you can take everything you have existing
today and move it into your future state. Right. So, in this kind of example we can
probably say this layer right here, or at least HCX is enabling that, excuse me,
that translation. So kind of moving forward, so let's say we
have that that hybrid model on-prem and on the cloud, what if we wanted to start
moving some of these assets, right. So we want to move those database pieces and
put them over here, is that is that something that HCX would help me do? Yeah,
absolutely. So the beautiful thing about HCX is it allows you to move when
you choose, right. I can group individual VMs, I can do a live migration, I can do
you know planned migration, and it ultimately depends on what the customer
is looking for, but really the thing that we see with HCX and you know any
migration tool it's a lot of it is analysis paralysis, and with what HCX
allows you to do is it allows people to feel comfortable because you can start
moving one VM, two VM, and start building up the comfort of moving you know back
and forth. Right, definitely. So, you know with HCX I can run this for
you know, let's say however long to make sure it's stable, we're not having any
downtime that you know critical business workloads are continuing to run and then
once we've kind of already we can start duplicating some of these assets, right.
So maybe run some of those DB pieces over here in the cloud, and I would guess
eventually even think about phasing this portion out. Absolutely, yeah, and it's all
a matter of what the customer is looking for but if you think about from a data
consolidation or a data evacuation use case that's exactly what we see with HCX,
you take what you have existing from an IP parameter and the nice thing you can
move to the cloud, if it doesn't work you can move it back, but if it moves it runs
better you can actually shut down your own data center and save you know a
significant amount of cost, but also get you to where you want to be, right, cloud,
multicloud environment. Right, exactly. So, Jordan thank you for breaking this
down for me and our viewers. If you have any questions, please drop us a line
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