by Rich Bourdeau
The last five customer case studies that I have posted had three trends that we are starting to see more of our customers deploy.
- Application-centricity – companies are moving beyond just automating infrastructure components (compute, network, storage) and automating the delivery of complete application environments.
- Expanded network services– network configuration has expanded from assigning a VM an IP address, DNS and attaching it to existing vLANs to dynamically configuring application-centric connectivity through deployment of logical switches, routers and load balancers that ensures access to a highly responsive application.
- Improved security granularity- security is moving from data center perimeter granularity to securely deploy the applications through intelligent placement of workloads in security groups, protected by firewall rules.
VMware NSX and vRealize Automation are two technologies that are at the forefront of these trends.
Why VMware NSX?
The ability to dynamically configure virtual compute resources to meet the specific needs of individual applications and have these virtual resources share physical servers is now the dominant approach companies use to deliver IT services to their customers. The same trend of software defined virtual services is transforming how companies provide networking and security services.
VMware NSX delivers software defined network and security services that can be dynamically configured to meet the specific needs of individual application workloads. NSX empowers IT to delivery application-centric network and security services with appropriate levels of connectivity, security, performance and availability.
Why VMware NSX and vRealize Automation?
The combined capabilities of these products empower IT to fully automate the delivery of secure, scalable and high performing multi-tier applications. Here are just a few of the ways these two products complement each other:
- Accelerating Application Delivery
As part of deploying a multi-tiered application you will need to provision connectivity through deployment of logical switches and routers. In addition it is important to securely deploy the application through intelligent placement of workloads in security groups, protected by firewall rules. Finally application availability and performance through the use of load balancers ensures that application users will always have access to a highly responsive application.Working together, VMware NSX and vRealize Automation accelerate the delivery of network and security services customized to the specific needs of your applications. This joint solution reduces provisioning processes that used to take weeks down to a matter of hours or even minutes.
- Enforce Compliance to Security Standards
vRealize Automation service blueprint policies specified by administrators control how these services are provisioned, so resource consumers don’t have to be networking and security experts. Automation and standardization not only enforces how network and security policies are deployed for different types of applications, but it also provide repeatable processes that eliminate delays caused by manual errors.
- Manage the Full Application Lifecycle
As application components are scaled up or down, corresponding changes will need to be made to NSX network and security services. vRealize Automation blueprints define what these policies should be, Automation of ongoing management tasks assures that applications stay in compliance throughout their life.Finally when an application is decommissioned, vRealize Automation will clean up NSX network and security services that are no longer needed assuring that your environment will not be cluttered with ghost services that make it difficult to see which services are still being used.
Learn More
- Check out some of VMware NSX and vRealize Automation customer case studies
- Mobius Partners and VMware Help Rent-A-Center Respond Faster to Business Needs
- SAIC uses NSX and vRealize Automation to Dynamically Configure Security
- VMware NSX and vRealize Automation Help the University of New Mexico Improve Security and Compliance
- Tribune Media Creates Frictionless Enterprise with VMware vRealize Suite
- California Natural Resources Agency Delivers Cross-Agency Private Cloud
- Active Networks Automates DevOps with VMware’s Unified Cloud Platform
- Try our VMware NSX and vRealize Automation Hand-on-Lab
- Get a quick peak of upcoming VMware NSX and vRealize Automation improvements
vRealize Automation 7.0 (available in Q4-2105) simplified the configuration of NSX services.
Building a multi-tier application using vRA 7’s Converged Blueprint Designer
