{"id":2315,"date":"2012-06-05T12:05:30","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T16:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chriscolotti.us\/?p=2315"},"modified":"2012-06-12T16:00:26","modified_gmt":"2012-06-12T20:00:26","slug":"how-to-handle-some-vcloud-director-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chriscolotti.us\/vmware\/how-to-handle-some-vcloud-director-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Handle Some vCloud Director Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The other day I was sent a link to a 9-slide deck titled &#8220;Life before and after vCloud Director&#8221;, put\u00a0together by someone I do not know that takes time to point out some specific challenges with vCloud Director, mostly with networking and vShield Edge. \u00a0From what I have learned this deck was\u00a0previously\u00a0circulated and has recently re-surfaced. \u00a0It tries to explain that datacenters after vCloud Director are &#8220;Extremely Fragile&#8221; due mainly to the fact we use vShield Edge. \u00a0As a vCloud person myself I felt a bit obligated to address some of these for some of you in a more structured approach. \u00a0Some of the noteable points that are presented as &#8220;facts&#8221; in the slides are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 18px;\">&#8220;The Entire Networking Functions of vCloud Director relies on a single VM, and the Entire Datacenter performance and capabilities are then as powerful as this device&#8230;&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><span style=\"line-height: 18px;\">This is not entirely true. \u00a0The vShield <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Edge<\/em><\/span> Appliances are an optional\u00a0component\u00a0to deploy based on your chosen network configuration. \u00a0It should be noted the vShield <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Manager<\/span><\/em> appliance, however, is a requirement component to complete the vCloud Director configuration. \u00a0As we know these are two different things within vCloud Director, and should not be confused. \u00a0If you chose not to use it when setting up networks, then all your networking is backed by standard vSphere switch port groups, and networking is unchanged. \u00a0Some other notes pointed out about the vShield Appliance.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2317\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/chriscolotti.us\/vmware\/how-to-handle-some-vcloud-director-challenges\/attachment\/no_myths\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/chriscolotti.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/no_myths.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"200,200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"no_myths\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/chriscolotti.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/no_myths.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/chriscolotti.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/no_myths.jpg\" class=\" wp-image-2317 alignright\" title=\"no_myths\" src=\"http:\/\/chriscolotti.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/no_myths.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"140\" height=\"140\" srcset=\"https:\/\/chriscolotti.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/no_myths.jpg 200w, https:\/\/chriscolotti.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/no_myths-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/chriscolotti.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/no_myths-90x90.jpg 90w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 140px) 100vw, 140px\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: normal;\">&#8220;One vShield is needed for every network&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: normal;\">&#8220;It Can Fail&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: normal;\">&#8220;It has no redundancy capability&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: normal;\">&#8220;It is the firewall, router, DHCP, and Load Balancer to the vCD system&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: normal;\">&#8220;vCloud does not support other 3rd party alternatives&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: normal;\">&#8220;It creates very complex network connectivity&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A vShield appliance is only needed if you choose to NAT route the Organization networks or the vApp networks. \u00a0These NAT routed networks are not technically required, but are used if the design considerations call for it. \u00a0Of course using them within vCLoud Director is a preferred means to achieve easy multi-tenancy. \u00a0Yes, vShield Edge devices and vShield Manager could fail. \u00a0Let&#8217;s be honest&#8230;ANYTHING can fail, so that statement is pretty broad and without much merit. \u00a0However, it is a VM protected most likely by\u00a0VMware HA as are so many other production Virtual Machines today. \u00a0There is also multiple blog posts about how VMware Fault\u00a0Tolerance\u00a0can be used to protect the vShield Manager. \u00a0Unfortunately at this time FT does not work properly on the edge devices themselves, but we should see that change in the future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The appliance is the firewall, router, DHCP, and Load balancer for Selected Networks and Organizations, but not for the &#8220;vCD System&#8221;. \u00a0You can always use direct connected networks and external firewalls, as well as load balancers and VPN devices. \u00a0Again, vShield is NOT a requirement it is simply a tool to assist in the design of a multi-tenant\u00a0vCloud Director deployment. \u00a0We have also had folks deploy other Virtual Machines in the cloud itself to handle some of these functions including virtual load balancers.<\/p>\n<p>I have always said in public forums the networking is complex and is something that people need to start understanding. \u00a0This is no different than when VMware administrators needed to start to understand and learn about VLANs, and trunking back in the early days. \u00a0As things evolve they\u00a0inherently\u00a0become more complex. \u00a0That the nature of the beast and the new learning curve we all have to deal with. \u00a0Has storage become less complex over time? \u00a0What about networking in general with VXLAN, or other new technologies? \u00a0People in general are afraid of new complexity\u00a0because\u00a0it is hard, and most people fear change and learning something new. \u00a0Yes, it&#8217;s complex, life is complex&#8230;.learn it and move onto the next thing to learn that is more complex.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s be honest here. \u00a0Yes, there are some challenges with vCloud Director in some cases more than the\u00a0networking\u00a0alone, nobody will deny that I think. \u00a0The difference is many good architects have designed around them with what I call &#8220;Creative Critical Thinking&#8221;. \u00a0The points above are narrowly focussed on a few aspects and don&#8217;t tell the whole story in 9 slides. \u00a0I would submit that anyone can address many of the concerns, and many have including some large service providers. \u00a0it&#8217;s about architecting around the challenges. \u00a0Some of which may even be addressed in future releases of vCloud Director. \u00a0Talk to a couple of vCloud Director customers and community experts to understand how these things can be addressed.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The other day I was sent a link to a 9-slide deck titled &#8220;Life before and after vCloud Director&#8221;, put\u00a0together by someone I do not know that takes time to point out some specific challenges with vCloud Director, mostly with networking and vShield Edge. \u00a0From what I have learned this deck was\u00a0previously\u00a0circulated and has recently &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[19,9,11],"tags":[194,242],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ 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