Azure VMware Solution

Abstract:

The purpose of this document is to assist Customers during a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) to deploy and consume services within an Azure VMware Solution environment. Since PoC’s are associated with a predetermined time, the intent is to provide explanations with screenshots and brief videos as well as with references to public documents from both Microsoft and VMware.

Azure VMware Solution (AVS)

What is Azure VMware Solution?

Azure VMware Solution (AVS) is a cloud solution provided by Microsoft that supports the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) framework while using dedicated hardware within the Azure data centers while allowing seamless integration with native Azure services.

Microsoft Documentation: Azure VMware Solution

How Do I Connect from On-Premises to AVS?

Azure VMware Solution (AVS) leverages Azure’s Express Route (ExR) and Global Reach services to provide a Layer-3 (L3) service from end-to-end. This allows for the flexibility to connect to AVS from On-Premises as well as connect to Native Azure Services via the same L3 connection. This connectivity option provides flexibility for different AVS/Native Azure Deployment Models:

Connect from On-Premises to AVS using Azure’s Express Route

Azure VMware Solution (AVS) Network Planning Checklist

What are the AVS Deployment Models with Native Azure?

Since Azure VMware Solution leverages the L3/ExR backbone from Microsoft Azure, it provides flexible connectivity options for different AVS/Native Azure Deployment Models without the need to use additional L3 routers/platforms in order to connect from the AVS SDDC Instance to the Native Azure vNets:

  • (1) AVS SDDC Instance : (1) Native Azure vNet
  • (Many) AVS SDDC Instances : (1) Native Azure vNet
  • (1) AVS SDDC Instance : (Many) Native Azure vNets
  • (Many) AVS SDDC Instances ” (Many) Native Azure vNets

Why ExpressRoute and Global Reach for AVS?

AVS ExpressRoute / Global Reach Overview (YouTube): https://youtu.be/W-gMLM28Teo

AVS ExpressRoute / Global Reach Demonstration (YouTube): https://youtu.be/HwrKtTZz3Ts

In order to connect a customer’s On-Premises environment to Azure VMware Solution, the following two Native Azure networking constructs are required:

  • ExpressRoute (ExR)
  • ExpressRoute Global Reach (ExR GR)

To understand why both constructs are required for AVS, we need to understand first how Microsoft Azure has traditionally connected two On-Premises data centers since AVS is essentially connected to the ExpressRoute backbone in a similar approach as an On-Premises data center.

Independent from Azure VMware Solution, Microsoft has offered customers the option to use ExpressRoute as a private link service to connect from On-Premises Data Centers to Native Azure. The following diagram shows how the ExR service is connected via a 3rd-Party Cloud Service Provider (Megaport or Equinix) and leverages a “Service Key” to orchestrate the ExR connections:

Note: Please refer to the above recordings, above, for further detail.

Within this diagram, customers would still require a separate connection of their own between the the “DC1” and “DC2” data centers. Since there are two ExR connections connecting to the Microsoft backbone, there is a secondary Microsoft Azure service termed “ExpressRoute Global Reach” which connects the two ExR connections together via an “Authorization Key” (Note: Details in the recorded demonstration) in order that the two different data centers are able to communicate over the Microsoft backbone. With the combination of the ExpressRoute (ExR) to connect from On-Premises to the Microsoft Azure backbone and the ExpressRoute Global Reach (ExR GR) service to connect the two ExR connections over the same backbone, customers could consider the options to remove their local connection between data centers :

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/expressroute/expressroute-global-reach

In relationship to Azure VMware Solution, the AVS SDDC instance is directly connected to the Microsoft Azure backbone by a dedicated ExR connection so, it looks like a “Branch” location from an ExR backbone perspective and in order to connect to the On-Premises Data Center to AVS SDDC, it requires the secondary “ExpressRoute Global Reach” to be deployed. From an ExR perspective, the connectivity deployment model between an On-Premises data center to an AVS SDDC is the same as connecting two separate On-Premises data centers as mentioned in the previous section.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Regarding the topic of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) for Azure VMware Solution (AVS), the official information is provided on the Microsoft-external website and is based on a Single AZ / Unstretched SDDC Cluster deployment.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) for Azure VMware Solution:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/legal/sla/azure-vmware/v1_1/

If there is a need to enhance the mentioned SLA percentages, one option would be to enable Disaster Recovery to an On-Premises location or to another SDDC location.

Azure VMware Solution – Regional Availability

During Customer Workshops related to Azure VMware Solution, a common question that is asked is about the current status of Regional Availability for Azure VMware Solution. The current and future status an Azure VMware Solution Regional Availability can be located on the following public website from Microsoft:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/services/?products=azure-vmware&regions=all

For additional information, the best approach would be to contact your regional Microsoft sales account team.