esxi labs on aws and google cloud

1www.ravellosystems.com

Navin R. Thadani, SVP, Products Gal Moav, VP, Product Management

@ravellosystems

How to build ESXi labs in AWS/Google cloud

www.ravellosystems.com 2

• Sit back, get comfortable – this is going to be a long,

technical one :)

• All attendees are on mute

• Please feel free to ask questions via:

• Chat window in Go-To-Webinar

• Twitter: @ravellosystems

• Email: [email protected]

• Slides and video recording will be shared at the end of

this session

Housekeeping

mailto:[email protected]


• Why you can’t run ESXi labs on AWS or Google

natively

• Introduction to HVX nested and nested2 virtualization

• Nested2 virtualization (Inception) + demo

• Run ESXi labs on AWS or Google

• How to set it up – step-by-step

• Economics/pricing

• Common issues and workarounds

ESXi labs on AWS/Google - Agenda

www.ravellosystems.com

Why you can’t run ESXi on AWS

x86 server

Xen

VM VM VM

AWS

VMware ESXi

VT

!

ESXi cannot see VT functionality in “already virtualized” hardware (VM)

AWS and Google do not support nested virtualization

(Extremely limited L2 access – so no complex vSphere networking)


HVX: virtual infrastructure for the cloud

Xen

HVX

VM VM VM• Nested virtualization

• Binary translation• Exposes VMware

devices to the VM on top

• Software defined networking • Clean L2

environment • Maintain IP

addresses (DHCP/Static, DNS …)

• Storage abstraction

x86 hardware

Run entire VMware workloads in AWS or Google without making any changes. Same VMs, same networking,

storage …


2 modes of HVX

AWS or Google

HVX

VM VM VM

AWS or Google

VM VM VM

ESXi

VMware workloads (VMs, networking) on AWS or

Google

ESXi labs on AWS or Google

Mode 1: Nested virtualization

Mode 2: Nested2 virtualization (Inception)

InceptionHVX


ESXi on AWS/Google – use-cases

Dev & Test

Sales demos Training

PoCs/ evaluatio

ns

Upgrade/ testing

Technology Partners ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Resellers and SIs ✔ ✔ ✔Training providers ✔Enterprise customers ✔ ✔ ✔

Spin up multi-node ESXi lab environments on demand, anywhere in the world, pay $0.80/hr, shut down when done, no hardware …

Scott Lowe: 250 node ESXi deployment on Ravello on AWS. Advised us on VMware data center design best practices

William Lam: 64 node VSAN deployment. Automation scripts to help VMware customers PoC VSAN on Ravello on AWS

Mike Preston: Long distance vMotion testing from one ESXi on Ravello on AWS to another on Ravello on Google

Alistair Cooke: Wrote code to integrate Ravello with AutoLab. Ravello is now an alternate deployment target for vSphere labs

Simon Gallagher: vEverything on Ravello. Full VMware data center including vSphere, vRA, vRO, Horizon, and more

Community engagement


Nested2 Virtualization (Inception) demo

How to set up a lab with N ESXi nodes, 1 vCenter and

1 shared storage (NFS)


Core concepts

Ravello service Ravello’s technology is not offered as a software product – rather as a cloud service

Application Collection of VMs running natively on Ravello, hypervisors on Ravello, network appliances etc.

Fenced network All the VMs in the Ravello application network are fenced from the outside world

Supplied services

To access these VMs from the outside, define a supplied service (e.g. SSH, RDP). These are NAT rules for Ravello

BlueprintA snapshot of the entire application environment. Ravello saves the states of the disks, network definition etc.


Upload ESXi ISO

Basic ESXi installation

Create an ESXi template (optional)

Add a vCenter to your environment

Add NFS shared storage to your lab

Connect all the components

Create a “blueprint” of your lab

1

2

3

4

5

How to set up your ESXi lab in Ravello

6

7


usage based pricingno up-front fees, no commitment

ESXi

NFS

ESXi

vCenter

Total resources needed 12 vCPU/ 24 GB RAM

$0.81 - $1.71per hour

includes AWS or GCE price

Varies based on complexity of network

and performance needs

4/8 4/8

2/4 2/4


How to get started

Sign up for the Ravello ESXi on AWS beta here:

http://www.ravellosystems.com/ravello-esxi-registration

If you don’t have a Ravello account, you will get a 14 day

free trial

• No credit card needed

• No AWS or Google cloud credentials needed

• We pay for your VMs

If you have a Ravello account, your account will be

enabled for ESXi




How to build your lab

How to install ESXi on AWS using Ravello http://www.ravellosystems.com/blog/create-esxi-5-5-iso-image/ How to set up vCenter 5.5 on AWS using Ravello http://www.ravellosystems.com/blog/install-vcenter-server-on-cloud/

How to set up an NFS server in Ravellohttp://www.ravellosystems.com/blog/install-nfs-server-on-aws/

How to create a vSphere/ VMware data center in Ravello http://www.ravellosystems.com/blog/vsphere-lab-environment-cloud/

Provide internet connectivity to guests running on ESXi on Ravello http://www.ravellosystems.com/blog/guest-vm-connectivity-setup/

http://www.ravellosystems.com/blog/create-esxi-5-5-iso-image/



http://www.ravellosystems.com/blog/install-vcenter-server-on-cloud/



http://www.ravellosystems.com/blog/install-nfs-server-on-aws/



http://www.ravellosystems.com/blog/vsphere-lab-environment-cloud/



http://www.ravellosystems.com/blog/guest-vm-connectivity-setup/




How to get help

Ravello ESXi community forum

http://support.ravellosystems.com/forums/23073798-ESXi-over-Ravello-Discussions-

Open a support ticket

Support portal: http://support.ravellosystems.com/requests/new Email: [email protected]





http://support.ravellosystems.com/requests/new

http://support.ravellosystems.com/requests/new

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Q & A