Table of Contents
Introduction to VMware vRealize Automation
VMware vRealize Automation (vRA) is a powerful automation platform designed for managing complex IT environments in cloud-native applications and hybrid clouds. It enables organizations to automate the provisioning and management of infrastructure and applications, streamlining operations and enhancing service delivery. By leveraging vRealize Automation, businesses can adopt a self-service model, where users can quickly deploy resources while maintaining control over compliance and governance.
Key Features of vRealize Automation 8
Self-Service Provisioning: Provides an intuitive interface for end-users to request and manage resources easily. Users can access a catalog of predefined blueprints for applications and infrastructure, streamlining the provisioning process.
Multi-Cloud Management: upports management across various cloud environments, including VMware Cloud on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. It enables seamless provisioning and management of resources across private and public clouds.
Policy-Based Automation: Allows administrators to set policies that enforce compliance and governance across resources. Administrators can define policies for resource utilization and approval workflows to control costs and optimize resource usage.
Integration with DevOps Tools: vRealize Automation supports integration with popular CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitLab, and Ansible to facilitate continuous delivery and Infrastructure as Code (IaC). It provides RESTful APIs to enable custom integrations and automation with third-party tools and applications.
Catalog Management: Users can access a catalog of pre-defined blueprints for deploying virtual machines and applications, simplifying the provisioning process.
Lifecycle Management: Automates the entire lifecycle of applications and services, including deployment, monitoring, scaling, and decommissioning. It manages changes to deployed services and applications, ensuring that modifications comply with defined policies.
Enhanced Visibility and Reporting: Provides customizable dashboards for monitoring resource usage, performance, and compliance. It generates reports on resource utilization, cost, and compliance, enabling data-driven decision-making.
Container Support: vRealize Automation 8 supports Kubernetes environments, allowing users to manage containerized applications alongside traditional virtual machines. Users can create blueprints for containerized applications, simplifying deployment and management.
Benefits of VMware vRealize Automation 8 in Cloud Environments
By automating repetitive tasks and enabling self-service provisioning, organizations can reduce operational overhead and improve resource management. vRealize Automation 8 accelerates the deployment of applications and services, helping businesses respond more quickly to market demands. The platform provides visibility into resource usage and costs, allowing organizations to optimize spending and manage budgets effectively. With policy-based automation, organizations can enforce compliance and governance across their cloud environments, reducing security risks. vRA empowers teams to adopt DevOps practices, fostering collaboration between development and operations teams and improving overall agility.
vRealize Automation integrations
VMware vRealize Automation (vRA) offers a wide array of integrations that enhance its functionality and extend its capabilities across various IT environments. These integrations facilitate seamless communication and automation between vRA and other tools, services, and platforms, making it a versatile solution for managing cloud resources and applications.
DevOps Tool Integrations: vRA integrates with Jenkins to automate CI/CD pipelines. Users can trigger builds and deployments directly from vRA, enabling seamless integration of application delivery and infrastructure provisioning.
GitLab: Similar to Jenkins, GitLab integration allows users to automate workflows and version control for their infrastructure code. This integration supports GitOps practices, enabling teams to deploy applications based on repository changes.
Ansible: vRA can orchestrate Ansible playbooks to automate configuration management and application deployment. This integration helps in implementing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices.
Cloud Management Integrations
VMware Cloud on AWS: vRA integrates natively with VMware Cloud on AWS, enabling users to manage resources across both on-premises and cloud environments. This integration facilitates seamless workload migration and hybrid cloud operations.
Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud: vRA provides multi-cloud capabilities by integrating with public cloud platforms like Azure and GCP. Users can provision and manage resources across these platforms alongside their on-premises VMware infrastructure.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Integrations
vRA integrates with ServiceNow to streamline service requests and incident management. Users can create and manage service requests within the ServiceNow platform, which can then trigger automation workflows in vRA.
BMC Remedy: Similar to ServiceNow, this integration enables ticketing and service request management, allowing organizations to align their IT operations with business processes.
Monitoring and Analytics Integrations
VMware vRealize Operations: This integration provides visibility into the performance and health of both infrastructure and applications. vRealize Operations can analyze resource usage and recommend optimizations based on data collected from vRA.
Third-Party Monitoring Tools: vRA can integrate with various third-party monitoring solutions to track resource performance and availability, enabling proactive management and troubleshooting.
Configuration Management and Automation Tools
vRA can integrate with Puppet for configuration management, allowing users to apply and enforce configurations automatically as part of their provisioning workflows. Similar to Puppet, the Chef integration enables the use of configuration scripts to automate infrastructure provisioning and application deployment.
Identity and Access Management Integrations
vRA integrates with Active Directory for user authentication and role-based access control (RBAC). This integration simplifies user management and enhances security by aligning with existing organizational policies. vRA supports SSO solutions to provide a seamless user experience and enhance security by centralizing user authentication.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Tools
Integration with Terraform allows users to manage their infrastructure as code, enabling the provisioning and management of both VMware and cloud resources through Terraform scripts.
Multi-cloud management with vRA
Multi-cloud management with VMware vRealize Automation (vRA) involves utilizing the platform’s capabilities to efficiently manage, provision, and automate resources across various cloud environments, including public clouds (like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud) and private clouds. This approach allows organizations to leverage the benefits of multiple cloud platforms while maintaining control, visibility, and consistency. Organizations adopt a multi-cloud strategy to avoid vendor lock-in, optimize costs, enhance performance, and meet specific regulatory or compliance requirements. Multi-cloud management solutions help unify the management of resources, streamline operations, and provide a cohesive view of workloads across different environments.
VMware vRealize Automation pricing
VMware vRealize Automation (vRA) pricing can be complex due to various factors, including the specific features and capabilities you require, the size of your organization, and the type of licensing model you choose. Here’s an overview of the pricing structure, models, and considerations for VMware vRealize Automation:
Licensing Models
VMware offers multiple licensing models for vRealize Automation, allowing organizations to choose the one that best fits their needs:
Perpetual Licensing
One-Time Fee: Organizations pay a one-time fee for the license, granting perpetual use of the software.
Annual Support and Subscription (SnS): An optional annual fee for support, updates, and maintenance. This is typically around 20% of the initial license cost.
Subscription Licensing
Pay-As-You-Go: Organizations pay an annual fee based on usage, typically calculated on a per-CPU or per-instance basis.
Flexibility: This model provides flexibility for organizations that expect to scale up or down frequently.
Cloud Consumption
vRA can also be consumed as a service in a cloud model, where you pay for what you use on a consumption basis. This can be appealing for organizations looking to minimize upfront costs.
Pricing Tiers and Editions
VMware vRealize Automation is available in different editions, each offering various features and capabilities:
Standard Edition
Designed for organizations looking for basic automation capabilities and includes core features like self-service provisioning and basic orchestration.
Advanced Edition
Includes all Standard features plus advanced capabilities like multi-cloud management, governance, and enhanced reporting.
Enterprise Edition
Offers all features of the Advanced edition, along with integrations for advanced DevOps tools and advanced lifecycle management capabilities. This edition is suitable for large enterprises with complex environments.
Key Pricing Factors
When considering vRealize Automation pricing, several factors can influence the overall cost:
Number of Users or Instances
The total number of users or the number of instances you plan to manage can impact the pricing, especially in subscription models.
Cloud Environment Integration
If you plan to integrate vRA with multiple cloud environments (like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud), additional costs may be incurred based on resource consumption in those environments.
Support and Maintenance
Choosing the level of support (basic, standard, or premium) can affect overall pricing. Premium support may come at an additional cost.
Training and Professional Services
Organizations may also want to factor in the costs associated with training staff on the vRA platform and any professional services required for deployment and integration.
Cost Estimation
As of now, VMware does not publicly disclose specific pricing for vRealize Automation on its website, as prices can vary based on the above factors. However, rough estimates indicate:
Perpetual Licenses: Typically range from $5,000 to $10,000 per CPU, depending on the edition and features included.
Subscription Licenses: May start around $2,500 to $3,000 per CPU per year, with additional costs for premium support and advanced features.
Trial and Evaluation
VMware often provides trial versions of vRealize Automation, allowing organizations to evaluate the product before committing to a purchase. This can be an excellent opportunity to assess whether the solution fits your organization’s needs.
Conclusion
VMware vRealize Automation 8 is a powerful tool that enables organizations to automate their cloud operations, improve service delivery, and enhance governance. With its extensive features, such as self-service provisioning, multi-cloud management, and policy-based automation, it addresses the growing need for efficient resource management in today’s complex IT environments. By following the steps in this tutorial, you can successfully install and configure vRealize Automation 8, setting the foundation for a streamlined and automated cloud infrastructure.
- Design