VMware Cloud on AWS has recently seen a lot of changes. For users who are looking for another way to deploy their enterprise-grade workloads, there are alternatives.
If you’re looking to retain your data on AWS, one option is to migrate from VMware Cloud on AWS to Amazon EC2 instances and Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSx for ONTAP) storage service iSCSI protocol.
This post will show you how to migrate your VMware Cloud on AWS data to Amazon EC2 and the fully managed FSx for ONTAP storage service.
Read on as we cover:
- Why migrate from VMware Cloud on AWS?
- What do VMware Cloud on AWS users require in a new service?
- The migration process overview
- What you gain from migrating to FSx for ONTAP and Amazon EC2
- Assess and plan your VMware deployment with BlueXP workload factory for AWS migration advisor
- Get the full walkthrough now
Why migrate from VMware Cloud on AWS?
If you’re reading this to get a step-by-step guide on how to migrate, the question might be besides the point. Feel free to skip ahead. Anyone else who might still be working on the rationale for migrating from VMware Cloud on AWS, consider the following points:
- VMware Cloud on AWS was a transition environment.
Many organizations moved to VMware Cloud on AWS as part of a staging step of a larger AWS migration. This was an expedient option to tick the migration box because it would avoid refactoring. However, there was never a reason or plan to keep using the service.
- End of contract.
Some organizations may have finished their current contract and are ready to move on to other options.
- Cost efficiency.
Costs can factor into moving away from VMware Cloud for AWS. The bundled nature of the hyperconverged infrastructure can limit the ability to scale storage without adding costs for compute and memory.
- Getting the full range of AWS capabilities.
VMware Cloud on AWS is a good introductory service to AWS, but there are a limited number of AWS services that are available for use with it. Gaining access to the full range of AWS services requires migrating to another deployment option.
What do VMware Cloud on AWS users require in a new service?
We’ve seen some of the reasons why VMware Cloud on AWS users may be ready to move from the service, but what are some of the things they require from their new deployment options?
- Maintaining access to enterprise-grade capabilities
As with any enterprise-grade deployment on AWS, VMware Cloud on AWS users will want a new service that is just as or even more capable of delivering efficient data replication, cost-saving efficiencies, and reliable backup and restore capabilities.
- More optimal resource usage
Gaining scalability and flexible resource provisioning in a way that wasn’t possible using a hyperconverged infrastructure is an advantage most users will consider mandatory.
- Wider Amazon EC2 instance choices
There are many different Amazon EC2 instances out there, and not every service provides access to them all. Not only are some options less expensive and offer a more flexible range of sizing, some are more performant. For example, some deployments, such as using Amazon EC2 and FSx for ONTAP, provide access to bare-metal and elastic Amazon EC2 Spot instances.
Given these requirements, using Amazon EC2 with FSx for ONTAP is one of the most popular migration paths that VMware Cloud on AWS users are choosing. Let’s see how you can do that.
The migration process overview
Below, we’ll show you a method on how to migrate VMware Cloud on AWS VMs to FSx for ONTAP and Amazon EC2.
In this solution, compute is handled by Amazon EC2, while iSCSI-based LUNs reside on FSx for ONTAP. The data transfer will rely on a tool called Cirrus Migrate Cloud (CMC) MigrateOps, an automatic utility that will carry out the migration through declarative commands.
Here is a further explanation of each of these migration components.
The storage component: FSx for ONTAP
FSx for ONTAP provides trusted NetApp® ONTAP® capabilities from a fully managed AWS service. ONTAP-based file systems are used around the world for their high levels of performance, data protection, multiprotocol interoperability (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, S3), and cost efficiency, and now all of that is possible from an AWS offering.
Using FSx for ONTAP for iSCSI-based block storage with Amazon EC2 instances for compute is a popular deployment model in use in many organizations for mission-critical MS SQL, SAP HANA, and Oracle databases. This same model is applicable for VMware virtual machines that need to move from VMware Cloud on AWS.
In the migration process described below, there are three relevant components of the FSx for ONTAP architecture in play: the FSx for ONTAP file system itself, the storage virtual machine Amazon EC2 interacts with that accesses data in the file system, and the storage volumes hosted in the file system.
The data transfer utility
Migrating data effectively requires highly efficient data transfer solutions. While there are multiple ways to move data to FSx for ONTAP, the method we show will primarily focus on using the MigrateOps utility of Cirrus Migrate Cloud (CMC).
- Cirrus Migrate Cloud
Cirrus Migrate Cloud is a multifunction software-as-a-service utility. One of its features is MigrateOps. This feature allows users to execute code-based data mobility jobs using YAML.
Automating data mobility this way takes significant effort out of the migration process, without getting overburdened by scale or workload operation. Instead, all you need to do is set your parameters declaratively in the YAML file.
Users can download CMC directly through the AWS Marketplace.
In the diagram below you can see the basic architecture of the migration process using CMC Migrate Ops to transfer your VMware Cloud on AWS data to FSx for ONTAP:
- NetApp SnapMirror®
SnapMirror data replication technology makes it possible to replicate, transfer, and sync data between ONTAP-based repositories. This replication process is highly efficient—both in terms of transfer time and costs—since updating delta data instead of replicating entire copies after the initial copy is made.
SnapMirror can figure into your migration if it includes application data that is housed in an ONTAP-based storage system. In this case, the in-guest LUNs will be replicated to FSx for ONTAP using SnapMirror. Another use case for migrating with SnapMirror is with guest VMs on VMware Cloud on AWS that are already consuming block and file storage directly from FSx for ONTAP as an external datastore. In both cases, CMC will take care of migrating the OS data to AWS, as described earlier.
The diagram below shows how SnapMirror factors into a migration using CMC Migrate Ops:
What you gain from migrating to FSx for ONTAP and Amazon EC2
Migrating your VMware Cloud on AWS data to Amazon EC2 and FSx for ONTAP provides clear benefits for enterprise deployments:
- Consistent, adjustable high performance thanks to high-throughput and low-latency performance options. These levels can be tuned on the fly to meet changing demands.
- Multiprotocol accessibility provides access to iSCSI, NFS, SMB, and S3 protocols for your volumes through one service.
- Business continuity with single or multi-Availability Zones (AZ) high availability.
- Access to varied instance types including highly performant EC2 Spot instances.
- Faster data replication since SnapMirror copies data at the block level, it reduces transfer times and costs.
- More protection against ransomware with the help of NetApp SnapLock® for indelible, write-once, read-many (WORM) storage.
- Automatic data tiering which intelligently detects infrequently used data and shifts it to and from a capacity tier as usage requires.
- Cost-cutting storage efficiencies such as deduplication, compression, and compaction reduce your storage footprint and costs on AWS.
- Backup and restore data faster using NetApp SnapCenter® so you can choose the data you want to restore on a granular level.
- Intelligent data caching makes it easier for remote work between disparate users via built-in nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) caching.
Assess and plan your VMware deployment with BlueXP workload factory for AWS migration advisor
Some VMware Cloud on AWS users may not be sure about using the method with FSx for ONTAP and CMC Migrate Ops. For instance, what kind of capacity and availability will FSx for ONTAP provide?
For these users, there’s an automated way to assess your existing VMware environments and plan the migration process and configuration for FSx for ONTAP: BlueXP™ workload factory for AWS.
Workload factory provides an automated approach to designing FSx for OTNAP deployments for specific workloads, including VMware migrations. Workload factory automatically collects your VMs’ configuration and performance metrics, and generates a migration plan that includes optimized FSx for ONTAP configuration and parameters that will meet your requirements. The new design architecture includes well-architected guidelines and best practices, and auto-generated infrastructure-as-code (IaC) snippets for common operations to use in Terraform, CloudFormation, or APIs.
Here you can see workload factory providing the scope of the migration to take place:
Learn more about BlueXP workload factory or get started now.
Get the full walkthrough now
If you’re ready to get your migration started and need some more guidance, refer to our walkthrough for on-premises VMware migrations using the same method: Migrate VMware VMs to AWS using Amazon EC2 and Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP iSCSI.
The steps are nearly identical and achieve the same results: faster, less expensive, and better protected data on AWS.
To learn more, visit our FSx for ONTAP homepage or request a meeting with a specialist.
Author: Niyaz Mohamed (NiMo), Principal Architect and Edo Geron, Product Manager