I’ve was curious to learn more about VMware Cloud on AWS, so I decided to read a new book from Packt, released on Feb 2024, with the title: VMware Cloud on AWS Blueprint: Design, automate, and migrate VMware workloads on AWS global infrastructure. The book is also available on Amazan at this link.

It explores some use cases and best practices to seamlessly migrate and scale legacy enterprise-grade applications running on on-premises vSphere environments to VMware Cloud SDDCs running on AWS infrastructure.

This book is structured in three main areas:

• Introduction part, needed to understand VMware Cloud on AWS, composed by the following chapters:
  • Chapter 1, Foundation of VMware Cloud on AWS
  • Chapter 2, Exploring Networking, Security, and AWS Integrations, covers networking and security aspects of VMware NSX architecture in VMware Cloud on AWS
  • Chapter 3, Understanding VMware Cloud on AWS Integrated Services, covers the large ecosystem of VMware Cloud on AWS integrated services
• Configuration and management part, composed by the following chapters:
  • Chapter 4, Getting Started with Your First VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC, helps you navigate through the process of deploying a new VMware Cloud on AWS Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC)
  • Chapter 5, Configuring vCenter, vSAN, and VMC Console, focuses on how to manage an SDDC
  • Chapter 6, Understanding Networking and Security Configurations, covers the basics of SDDC networking and security functionality
  • Chapter 7, Exploring Integrated Services Configuration, focuses on the intricacies involved in configuring integrated services
• Operational part, composed by the following chapters:
  • Chapter 8, Building Applications and Managing Operations, covers how workloads that have been migrated can be modernized by leveraging native AWS services
  • Chapter 9, Deploying Infrastructure as Code with VMware Cloud, explores using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for provisioning and managing IT infrastructure and equips you with the knowledge and skills needed to facilitate seamless automation and management of your virtual infrastructure
  • Chapter 10, Identifying Low-Latency Workloads to Run on VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts, discusses how to address low latency, local data processing, and data sovereignty requirements for workloads that need to stay on-premises or at the edge and run vSphere workloads locally while benefiting from the features of the VMware Cloud platform using VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts
  • Chapter 11, Knowing the Best Practices, FAQs, and Common Pitfalls, addresses the challenges of integrating a new service such as VMware Cloud on AWS

As you can notice there is a huge introduction part (basically 1/3 of the book), that is very good with a clear description on VMware Cloud on AWS, but it should be moved in an introduction book or be rebalanced with the other topics.

But it really helps to understand what is VMware Cloud on AWS, and note that the first chapter is free.

If the premise was Design, automate, and migrate VMware workloads you should expect more on those topics.

The design part is somehow distribuited in the differenct chapted (except chapter 11 with specific best practices and the appendix on the preparation before adopting VMware Cloud on AWS. Maybe a dedicated part (or a dedicated book) was a better choice.

Chapter 8 probably is the weakest part… does only explain some AWS services, but does not explain how or when to refactor or adapt the workloads to used them. Maybe was better put some use cases and consider different migration scenarios.

Chapter 9 is great and the only part that covers the automation topic, but is too small. More examples are needed.

Chapter 10 is almost unique and a good plus… AWS Outpost is usually skipped or not described at all… giving a dedicated chapter is a good idea.

In conclusion… a good book to understand what is VMware Cloud on AWS and making a strong background.

But more examples and use cases are needed, expecially in the design, automation and migration topics.

Andrea Mauro

Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.