Latest vRealize suite features impact on-prem, cloud-based workloads

Decide between on premises vs. SaaS

Prior to installing VMware's latest vRealize suite, you must first consider whether you require the on-premises version or the SaaS-based offering. Both offerings use the same interface, which can help with staff training and migrations; the only major difference is where they're located. Compared to other platforms that solely rely on the cloud or SaaS, vRealize offers a distinct advantage for many organizations that can't migrate to cloud services due to regulations, compliance or cost.

No matter the reason, having a choice between an on-premises and a SaaS-based offering is critical for organizations that require flexibility. However, keep in mind that updates for on-premises platforms can take more time to implement compared to SaaS.

Considerations for vRealize deployment

VMware's vRealize suite is made of several core pieces from vRealize Automation, vRealize Operations Manager, vRealize Log Insight and vRealize Business for Cloud. These additional vRealize suite components enable you to install and build on each product as more of a guided path for installation and configuration rather than a simple monolithic installation.

If you are considering deploying the latest vRealize suite features, you must first clean up your data center. Any new data center software meant to help you automate and monitor your software-defined data center (SDDC) should start with as clean of a slate as possible.

VMware's vRealize Operations Manager helps to identify abandoned workloads, performance alerts and compliance issues.

VMware's vRealize Operations Manager helps to identify abandoned workloads, performance alerts and compliance issues. It captures and resolves critical capacity and performance benchmarks before you add automation to the mix because automation can't always fix corrupt workloads. Automation simply enables you to deploy workloads faster and on demand.

Once you clean house, you can then bring in vRealize Automation. First, you must build a service catalog of applications and other services you want to automate. Ideally, you should use this catalog for end-user or customer self-service, but depending on how you set up your workflows, this might present challenges.

Not everyone can give developers permission to request workloads, but with vRealize, you have the flexibility to determine who provisions workloads and how they do it. You can even enable the use of infrastructure as code (IaC), which lets you automatically manage and provision your technology stack for an application through software. These technology blueprints become the foundation of an SDDC, so the more time you invest in your catalog, IaC and workflows, the more it benefits your SDDC in the long run.

Importance of vRealize Operations Manager and vRealize Business for Cloud

Once you automate and set up your workflows, vRealize Operations Manager and vRealize Business for Cloud become important to the automated operations in your SDDC. These products enable you to make adjustments to performance and capacity for the day-to-day care of your SDDC and can also help to close the vRealize product loop.

VMware has also introduced the ability to look at the application stack for performance instead of just the traditional metrics. With more and more distributed applications, troubleshooting an application issue can be difficult because of the number of application components.

Looking at an application itself and correlating key parts of the infrastructure are critical for multilayer applications. Modern applications rely on more than a single server, which means the tools used to monitor them must as well.

VRealize Operations Manager also collaborates with vRealize Business for the Cloud. This improves business cost and planning analysis, which provide the business drivers for cost consumption per workload on premises or in the cloud. Internal cost tracking, budgetary justifications for expansion and justifications for relocation to other tiers of service all rely on this data.