VMware HCX updates aim to simplify workload migration

VMware has released its newest version of VMware HCX, an application mobility platform. Updates made to the platform include non-vSphere to vSphere migration, large-scale bulk migration and advanced disaster recovery with Site Recovery Manager readiness.

According to VMware, there are three main goals of the update: rebalancing workloads, simplifying workload migration and optimizing DR across data centers and clouds.

VMware HCX Enterprise now supports non-vSphere workload migrations, starting with KVM and Hyper-V. VMware claims this provides customers with a path to replatform applications to gain more complete control.

Large-scale bulk migration was introduced in an effort to enhance VMware HCX with VMware vMotion. VMware claims this combines the scalability of bulk migration with the ability to migrate hundreds of workloads with no downtime. Using VMWare HCX vMotion, VMs can be replicated to the new target in bulk. This enables migration to be completed at a scheduled time, which VMware said enables customers to control application cutover to minimize business risk.

With the update, VMware HCX Enterprise now works with VMware Site Recovery Manager. According to VMware, this combines DR capabilities with hybrid connectivity to provide secure backup and recovery of critical workloads. This also enables customers to use VMware HCX hybrid interconnect to optimize bandwidth and connectivity, stretch networks to simplify IP address management for recovered VMs and secure VMs in transit. The joint feature also speeds up the replication process by eliminating incompatibility issues across storage and networks.

In July, Google also released updates for Migrate for Compute Engine, its cloud migration tool. With Migrate for Compute Engine, users can move VMs from Microsoft Azure to Google Cloud. Previously, users could only move them from AWS.