By Lionel Gurret.
The recent acquisition of VMware by Broadcom has sent shockwaves through the IT industry, particularly in Europe. This move has led to drastic changes in VMware’s business strategy. Broadcom has radically simplified the product offering and licensing model, ending perpetual licenses in favor of subscriptions and replacing individual product purchases with bundled offerings.
These changes have resulted in significant cost increases for many customers, with prices tripling or even quintupling for some! In light of this situation, about 20% of users are considering leaving VMware.
Several options are available for companies looking to migrate their VMware infrastructure to the cloud, but choosing the ideal solution is not always easy.
Each option has specific advantages that can address different needs based on several criteria: budget, time constraints for migration, and the skills of the existing teams.
In this article, we will explore the solutions offered by Microsoft, which allow the migration of on-premise VMware environments to leverage Azure Cloud. This guide aims to help you make the best decision considering your constraints and objectives.
If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, Azure VMware Solution is an excellent alternative. This solution allows you to easily migrate your VMware workloads to Azure while keeping your familiar tools and minimizing disruptions to your operations.
Azure VMware Solution (AVS) is a dedicated deployment of bare metal servers running VMware in Azure. This solution enables you to benefit from the same tools you had on-premises while leveraging Azure’s cloud infrastructure.
AVS provides a complete software-defined data center (SDDC) stack, including:
This service is now available in around 30 regions (France and Switzerland included)!
As we can see in the diagram representing a Hub and Spoke context, Azure VMware Solution is a private cloud, isolated from our Azure workloads. However, nothing prevents us from linking it with ExpressRoute and our VNets (here the hub, in this case).
If you have an ExpressRoute circuit between your site and Azure, the Global Reach service will allow you to interconnect AVS to your VNets as well as to your on-premises infrastructure through Microsoft’s global backbone network, offering private, secure, and low-latency connectivity.
Thus, you can use VMware HCX for both your migrations and to extend your infrastructure or set up a disaster recovery solution.
Azure VMware Solution offers numerous benefits that make it an attractive choice for companies looking to migrate to the cloud:
Here are the steps to follow to migrate your on-premise VMware workloads to AVS.
Assessment with Azure Migrate: Start by using Azure Migrate to evaluate your current environment. This will help you plan your migration and check your readiness.
Creating Your Azure VMware Environment: Once the assessment is complete, create your Azure VMware environment in the cloud.
Migrating Your VMs: Use HCX (Hybrid Cloud Extension) to migrate your virtual machines. HCX facilitates bi-directional movement of your VMs, allowing you to transfer them seamlessly.
Integrating Azure Services: After migrating your VMs, you can enhance your environment with various Azure services, such as:
Adding Features: To enhance the security and performance of your environment, add capabilities such as backup, threat protection, and performance monitoring.
Of course, like after any migration, an optimization phase is to be expected!
The pricing for Azure VMware Solution is structured around different SKUs and takes several factors into account:
Example SKU: The AV36 model includes:
Minimum Configuration: To use AVS, a minimum of 3 hosts is required, which represents a minimum cost of $20,158 per month based on AV36 hosts.
Bandwidth Costs: Remember that additional charges for bandwidth apply, especially if you are using ExpressRoute.
This solution may seem expensive, but don’t forget that it includes, among other things, the cost of hardware, datacenter rental, VMware licenses, and maintenance performed by Microsoft (firmware, hardware, node maintenance, and the vSphere version…)
Fortunately, several options are available to significantly reduce the price:
Free Trial: Take advantage of a 30-day free trial to evaluate the solution.
Reserved Instances: You can benefit from a discount of up to 30% for one year or 50% for three or five years if you opt for reserved instances.
Hybrid Benefits: Bring your on-premise Windows Server and SQL Server licenses to benefit from a 40% discount.
Security Updates: Enjoy 3 years of free security updates for Windows Server and SQL Server.
VMware Rapid Migration Plan: Microsoft provides a comprehensive set of licensing benefits and programs to give you price protection and savings as you migrate to Azure VMware Solution.
For more information on discounts and offers, check the Azure blog.
If you are looking to go beyond VMware and further reduce your costs, Azure Virtual Machines (VM) is an excellent option.
Here are some key questions to consider:
I’m sure you’re already familiar with Azure Virtual Machines (VM), one of the most popular cloud solutions. It’s a service that allows you to create and manage virtual machines in Azure, offering great flexibility in terms of operating systems, configuration, and capacity.
Cost Optimization: Unlike Azure VMware Solution, you no longer need to pay for VMware licenses. Azure VM uses native cloud resources, which helps reduce maintenance and infrastructure costs.
Scalability: Azure VM allows you to easily adjust your resources based on your needs, whether to increase or decrease the capacity of your virtual machines.
Integration with Azure Services: By choosing Azure VM, you gain access to the full ecosystem of Azure services, such as Azure Backup, Azure Security Center, and Azure Monitor, for simplified workload management.
Security: Azure VM includes automatic security updates, ensuring that your systems are always protected against vulnerabilities.
Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Consistency: Azure VM offers seamless continuity if you operate in a hybrid or multi-cloud environment, allowing you to manage your resources consistently across your infrastructures.
The process of migrating your on-premise VMware machines to Azure VM is simple and structured. It relies on the Azure Migrate tool, which guides you through three key steps:
Discovery: Azure Migrate identifies and inventories your existing VMware machines to understand their status and configuration.
Assessment: Next, a comprehensive analysis of your infrastructure is performed. Azure Migrate helps you assess the compatibility of your virtual machines with Azure VM, as well as the potential costs and performance in the cloud.
Migration: Once the assessment is complete, you can begin the actual migration of your VMs to Azure VM. The process is automated, facilitating the transfer of your machines with minimal disruption.
The price of a virtual machine depends on several factors, such as the size of the VM, the type of storage, and the region. For a standard machine, costs can range between $30 and $200 per month, depending on the specifications of the VM you choose.
Azure also offers reserved instance options and hybrid benefits, which can further reduce costs, especially if you commit to a long-term plan or bring your Windows Server or SQL Server licenses.
If you’re wondering whether Azure Stack HCI is the right solution for your environment, consider these questions:
Azure Stack HCI is a solution that allows you to run virtual machines (VMs) and containers on dedicated hardware, providing a hyper-converged infrastructure. This system operates on integrated virtualization hosts and is managed from the Azure platform, simplifying the management of your resources. To ensure optimal performance, Azure Stack HCI requires specific hardware, which you can select from the Azure Stack HCI catalog. Additionally, Microsoft offers a tool called Azure Stack HCI Sizer to help you size your infrastructure according to your needs.
The migration of Hyper-V VMs to Azure Stack HCI is in public preview, allowing the transfer of both Windows and Linux VMs from Windows Server 2012 R2 to 2022. With the agentless migration option of Azure Migrate, no agent installation is necessary; only two appliances are required. Management is done via the cloud, while data transfer is local. Migrated VMs are automatically compatible with Azure Arc for comprehensive management.
The migration of VMware VMs to Azure Stack HCI is currently in private preview, with a form available to participate in this phase.
I invite you to check out Thomas Maurer’s article on the subject!
The cost of Azure Stack HCI is not limited to $10 per physical core per month. To assess the total cost of ownership (TCO), it’s essential to consider several elements. In addition to the monthly fees, you need to include the price of hardware, such as servers, SSD storage, and networking equipment. Infrastructure costs for the data center, such as space, electricity, and cooling, must also be considered. Finally, operational costs related to IT labor, maintenance, and training are important factors. While Azure Hybrid Benefit can reduce some costs, it’s crucial to analyze all expenses for a complete view of the TCO of Azure Stack HCI. Nonetheless, this solution offers a good cost-benefit ratio.
Consider these questions:
Windows Server is an operating system designed for servers, enabling the management of both general and guest servers. It offers numerous built-in roles, such as file services, DNS, DHCP, Active Directory, and Hyper-V. Windows Server is essential for running Windows applications and can operate on both physical and virtual hardware.
System Center, on the other hand, is a suite of management tools that facilitate the management of your IT infrastructure. It allows you to monitor and manage your servers, applications, and services, providing a unified view of your environment.
You do not need to join Azure Cloud to use Windows Server and System Center, but it’s important to note that this means you will lose the ability to deploy VMs on your own infrastructure.
Note
Migration from VMware to Windows Server / System Center can be done via System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM). Use the built-in conversion function by clicking the Convert button to convert your VMs.
With System Center VMM 2022 UR2, the VM conversion process is up to four times faster, making your transition to this solution easier and quicker.
This solution will be very cost-effective, but you will miss out on many features offered by Azure or VMware Cloud.
To help you make the best decision, I suggest you base it on the following points:
Migrating VMware environments to Azure does not offer a one-size-fits-all solution. Each option has its advantages and disadvantages. For instance, a lift-and-shift approach may provide significant time savings during the initial migration, but it could result in higher long-term usage costs compared to rearchitecting or rebuilding.
Conducting a thorough analysis before embarking on the migration is essential to ensure that decisions align with your long-term goals and budget. Additionally, it’s important to consider the new skills your teams will need to effectively manage these solutions. Some options may also need to be chosen based on compliance requirements or strict data storage regulations.
By adopting an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) approach and establishing a Landing Zone, specially for Azure VMs, while maintaining a FinOps mindset, you can not only optimize costs but also ensure a more efficient use of cloud resources.
Good luck with your migration, and feel free to reach out if you need any advice!
