In the Clouds ...

   Gilles Chekroun
 Lead VMware Cloud on AWS Solutions Architect --- Recently I was talking with a Customer on designing their VMware Cloud on AWS environment and linking it to their existing AWS infrastructure. The idea was to have 2 SDDCs, Test and Prod, and link them with a VMware Managed TGW and peer it to their existing TGW. The customer requirements were: VMs in each SDDC should have internet access from the SDDC out VMs from Test should be able to talk to VMs in Prod VMs in any SDDC should be able to access their own vCenter but also the other one Some VMs any SDDC should have a Public IP and NAT rule to be accessible from outside VMware traffic should stay within VMware SDDCs Other traffic, like on-prem, should go via the Customer TGW Test Setup Step1 - Create SDDC Group Create an SDDC Group and attach the 2 SDDCs Prod and Test Make sure the proper FireWall rules are open in each SDDC Compute GW. Step 2 - Attach the Customer TGW In the SDDC Groups, under External TGW TAB, add t

  Gilles Chekroun
 Lead VMware Cloud on AWS Solutions Architect --- With the release of FSx for NetApp ONTAP , Customers are looking to attach cloud storage to their VMware VMs like NFS mount or iSCSI access. The initial release of FSx for NetApp is a multi Availability Zones implementation and is presenting an external IP address that doesn't belong to the VPC CIDR it's deployed on. This created a challenge for SDDC VMs to access that IP over the ENI to the connected VPC. Recently, on April 13 - 2022, AWS and NetApp have released a single AZ version of FSx-N and that is becoming interesting since all FSx IP addresses are now within the VPC CIDR and then visible by the SDDC. Note: This setup is for guest VMs mounts only. It is not adding a VMware datastore  Test setup Create an Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP file system Open the AWS FSx console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/fsx/  and create a File System Select the File System Type Create a small FSx for NetApp using Single A