Travelling the Latest Features of Google Cloud VMware Engine

Google recently had the exceptional chance to meet several of you at Google Cloud Next in San Francisco and VMware Explore in Las Vegas. A recurring theme from these discussions is the requirement for a cost-efficient, safe, and non-disruptive approach to the cloud, particularly for VMware-based workloads, which are frequently at the center of your IT infrastructure.

One of the quickest ways to lift and convert your current VMware estate into Google Cloud is with the Google Cloud VMware Engine. With special features like a 4 nines uptime SLA in a single zone, 100 Gbps of dedicated east-west networking, native VPC integration, and more, VMware Engine is an enterprise-grade platform. This post summarizes recent and new features that will let you move your VMware workloads to a VMware platform that is built for the cloud and use them there.

Versatile new ve2 node platform

• The ve2 node platform from VMware Engine will be available with a variety of customizable CPU and storage configurations, along with high memory, allowing users to optimize their TCO with the best configuration for their business. Ve2 nodes will handle huge cluster sizes of 32 nodes and 100+ node private clouds based on next-generation CPU (3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors with DDR4 RAM and all-NVMe storage. They will also keep up their 4 9’s SLA for uptime in a single zone. Stretched private clouds will also be offered for greater availability.
• Google initial node type in this new family is called ve2-standard-128, and it comes with 25.6 TB of NVMe raw data storage and more than 2.7X the RAM (2048 GB), 1.8X the CPU (64 cores, 128 hyperthreaded cores), and 1.3X the storage compared to other nodes.

Added areas for greater reach

Google global reach has grown to 19 regions over the past year, with the most recent additions being Tel Aviv, Turin, Santiago, and Delhi.

Optimizing TCO for environments with a lot of storage

• HCI designs have a constraint that Storage Only Nodes get over by allowing you to expand storage without having to pay for computing. This reduces TCO and greatly improves infrastructure optimization to better meet workload requirements. With the same 4 9’s of uptime SLA for the cluster, Storage Only Nodes offer a less expensive way to increase the storage capacity of a cluster without adding cores or memory.
• In response to storage-intensive situations, recent enhancements also include support for Google Cloud Filestore as datastores and Google Cloud NetApp Volumes for in-guest storage. As an NFS datastore with Google Cloud VMware Engine, Filestore High Scale and Filestore Enterprise have received VMware certification. The market service NetApp Cloud Volumes can be used as an NFS Datastore for the capacity-hungry VMs, much like Filestore High Scale and Enterprise can

Through networking, automation, and console experience, there is more simplicity, scale, and consistency

• Infrastructure as Code automation for private cloud provisioning operations is made possible by recently provided Terraform support for PC CRUD operations.
• The VMware networking design and experience in VMware Engine are becoming even more straightforward as a result of networking advancements. It dramatically simplifies the process of creating a linked VMware Private Cloud while supporting a variety of networking topologies with zero-config VPC peering during private cloud creation and extending the restrictions on the number of peerings allowed. Enterprise demands will also be met in a straightforward and elegant way with the addition of native Cloud DNS functionality for bi-directional DNS resolution for both administration and workload resolution.
• Users will be able to programmatically manage their Google Cloud VMware Engine environments with more functionality delivered via Google Cloud API and CLI, including API/CLI functions for managing the new networking model, network peering, external access rules and external IP service, consumer DNS, and more.
• Customers who use the full Google cloud console experience for GCVE may manage their VMware Engine environments without having to open another tab. Additionally, you would use the log explorer to view logs.

Increasing control and transparency to improve security

New security features have been implemented to VMware Engine during the past few months.

• Ability to integrate our platform with fine-grained (per-action) access control for activities made using the API or CLI. In addition to basic roles, you can choose from preset roles and custom roles. These predefined or custom roles have more precise permissions to carry out particular tasks that only pertain to VMware Engine. You may control access control more easily and adaptably in this way. The same rules will apply when using the console once it is made available.
• To lower the danger of data exfiltration, you can build a security boundary for your VMware Engine resources using VPC Service Controls. The service boundary restricts the exporting and importing of resources and the data they are associated with outside of the perimeter that has been set. You may now attach VMware Engine services to a fresh or pre-existing VPC Service Controls perimeter thanks to VMware Engine’s support for a VPC Service Controls guided opt-in and policy export.
• Support for ESXi log forwarding and the activation of auditable processes with client-controlled access elevation on customer workloads increase system transparency.
• Expanding the key management options for vSAN encryption in GCVE using client-managed keys for Cloud KMS. The capabilities of external 3P KMS with customer managed keys and Google Cloud KMS with Google maintained keys are built upon by this.

Protected with Google Cloud VMware Engine

Google Cloud VMware Engine and Google Cloud Backup & DR Service are also included in the new Google Cloud service called GCVE Protected, which we recently launched. With GCVE Protected, you can provide consolidated, quick, and affordable backup and recovery capabilities for your VMware Engine VMs by protecting all of your virtual machines on a VMware Engine node with our first-party backup and DR software for just a small incremental add-on cost per VMware Engine node.

The modifications are complete at this time. Stay tuned for more, and save the GCVE release notes to your bookmarks for updates. Viewing our on-demand sessions from VMware Explore US and our session on GCVE from Google Cloud Next’23 can help you learn more about these most recent upgrades. Also, if you want to get started but need some guidance, check out our Rapid Migration Program (RaMP). Alternatively, if you’re ready to rock ‘n’ roll, click here to get started with a free discovery and assessment of your current IT landscape so we can assist in creating the best migration plan for your company.

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