This is part 4 of our series exploring VMware Cloud on AWS ecosystem partners, their service offerings and how they can help enterprises achieve their ideal cloud infrastructure. Part 4 describes how VMware Cloud on AWS and JetStream Software collaborate to provide enterprises with expanded capabilities for migrating workloads to VMware Cloud on AWS.
Customer Challenges:
New tools and onboarding services have made cloud migration more manageable than ever before. But migrating enterprise workloads to the cloud can still be hard. If you tell an admin that migrating to the cloud should be as simple as checking into a hotel, you might hear that for them it feels more like moving to a new house, without a van.
As the partnership between VMware and AWS has built momentum, many enterprises see great value and efficiency in an “on-demand” VMware infrastructure that has all the manageability and agility of their current environment. The challenge is to make migration to VMware Cloud on AWS as non-disruptive as possible.
Introducing JetStream Migrate
JetStream Software is focused on cross-cloud data management for VMware workloads. This includes data protection, as well as non-disruptive workload migration. JetStream Migrate, which we introduced earlier this year, is designed to complement existing cloud migration solutions. Think of it as another tool in your cloud migration toolbox.
The JetStream Migrate development team have been a VMware developer partner for years, with a particular focus on the VMware vSphere APIs for IO Filtering (VAIO). The team began by building solutions for reducing IO latency using host-based non-volatile memory (JetStream Accelerate), and with the recent introduction of JetStream Migrate, the company is the only VMware partner shipping two distinct solutions based on VMware IO Filters.
The core technology in JetStream Migrate is a unique application of the IO Filter framework. While the software transports a copy of a VM’s virtual disk(s) to the cloud destination, the IO Filter captures new data as it’s being written locally and replicates it to the destination in a parallel process. This allows the VM and its applications to continue to run on-premises even as their data are being sent to the cloud.
Benefits of VMware Cloud on AWS with JetStream Migrate
The unique design of JetStream Migrate enables a number of important capabilities for organizations moving VMs from their on-premises VMware environment to VMware Cloud on AWS:
- Business continuity while data is in transit: applications continue to run in their VMs on-premises, while their data is replicated to the cloud destination.
- Device-based data transport: for migrating large amounts of data, virtual disks can be copied onto a physical device (like an AWS Snowball) for physical transportation to the cloud, while newly written data is replicated over the network.
- Migration estimation and prediction: by monitoring IO activity and network bandwidth, the software can help the admin predict the time required for data replication and VM migration.
- Fault-tolerant data replication: if data replication is interrupted, for example due to issues with network connectivity or host failures, it can resume from the point of interruption rather than having to start over.
- Migration of VM groups: interdependent applications can be migrated together and brought up in the cloud concurrently.
- Migration automation and orchestration: Virtual machine migration tasks can be automated, with VMs migrating and starting in the cloud automatically.
- Control over replication rate and on-premises IO: limited network connectivity may require IO throttling for efficient migration. Alternatively, high network bandwidth may allow for the replication rate to be increased significantly. JetStream Migrate gives the admin backpressure controls to optimize the balance between application performance and replication rate.
JetStream Migrate is designed specifically for VMware environments. Migration tasks are managed through the vCenter GUI, and the IO Filters are deployed, installed and managed by vSphere. JetStream Migrate is certified VMware Ready, and has been validated on VMware Cloud on AWS.
What Sets JetStream Migrate Apart
JetStream Migrate is designed specifically for the task of a one-time, non-disruptive movement of VMs and their data from a traditional data center to the cloud, and especially to VMware Cloud on AWS. Because of this, it has a number of unique capabilities, including support for device-based data transport, data migration prediction, fault tolerance and administrative controls over automation, orchestration, and data transfer.
Just as important as its unique capabilities, JetStream Migrate is the only cloud migration solution designed to capture data for transport to the cloud through the VMware APIs for IO Filtering (VAIO). Due to its use of a standard vSphere API, JetStream Migrate is the only cloud migration solution certified VMware Ready. Because it is deployed in the source data center through IO Filters running on host servers, it assures compatibility with all VMs’ operating systems and applications, and works with any compute and storage infrastructure, including vSAN, VVOLs, and third-party HCI clusters.
As a VAIO-based solution, the JetStream Migrate host components are lightweight IO filters that are deployed and managed by vSphere. Once a migration project is complete, vSphere manages the uninstallation of the host components in the same way it managed their deployment.
A Closer Look
We’ve recorded a few one-minute videos to show what it’s like to migrate VMs to the VMware Cloud on AWS using JetStream Migrate:
- Estimating the time and resources required for a migration task
- Automated Migration of Multiple Virtual Machines
- Migrating a Group of Multiple Virtual Machines Concurrently
- Migrating VMs with data transported on a physical device
- Managing IO and replication rate during migration
Additional Resources:
- Integration of JetStream Migrate with VMware Cloud on AWS: JetStream Migrate at the VMware Cloud on AWS Marketplace.
- JetStream Software website: What is JetStream Migrate?
For more information on JetStream Migrate, or to request an evaluation, please contact us.
About JetStream Software
JetStream Software is an innovator in cloud software development. The company gives cloud service providers (CSPs) and Fortune 500 enterprise clouds a better way to support workload migration, resource elasticity, and business continuity across multi-cloud and multi-data center infrastructures. For more information, please visit www.jetstreamsoft.com, LinkedIn and @JetStreamSoft.
