Private Cloud Platforms comparison & reviews

Summary
Rank
1st 2nd 4th
Score
0%
0%
User Reviews
Question?
Not Enabled Not Enabled Not Enabled
Analysis expand Luciano Taranto
 		Robert Spruill
 		by Bhagyashri (Shri) Bhagvat
Select All
General expand
0%
0%
0%
  • Fully Supported
  • Limitation
  • Not Supported
  • Information Only
Pros
  • + True Disconnected Offering of Cloud System
  • + IaaS and PaaS Solution
  • + Enterprise Solution
  • + Full-Fledged IaaS
  • + Mature Vendor
  • + Enterprise Solution
  • + Strong Storage Capability with Additional Compute and Networking Functionality
  • + Vendor Maturity and Market-share
  • + Simple and Straightforward Editions
Cons
  • - Disconnected Mode Only Billed as Capacity
  • - New to Market
  • - Closed Solution
  • - Complex
  • - Little PaaS Capability
  • - Heavily Dependent on Underlying Hardware
  • - Limited Capability
  • - Few Use Cases
  • - Temporary
  Content  
  •  
Content Creator
Luciano Taranto
Luciano Taranto
Luciano Taranto
  •  
Overview
Azure Stack is Microsofts extension of Azure that provides a way to deliver Azure services in an on-premises environment. (see details)
VMware Cloud Foundation is an integrated software stack which bundles VMware components (see details)
The AWS Snowball Edge is a type of Snowball device with on-board storage and compute power for select AWS capabilities. (see details)
  Assessment  
  •  
Maturity
Azure Stack was made publicly available June of 2017 and builds off of Azure which has been available since February of 2010
VMware is a strong contender in the marketplace and VCF is comprised of components that have been tried and tested in the datacenter
Snowball Edge was announced 2016 and builds on AWS which has been around since 2012
  •  
Disconnected Offering
Azure Stack can be deployed in disconnected mode
VMware Cloud Foundation can be deployed on premises as a stack for a private cloud
Must connect back to AWS platform for full functionality
Infrastructure Services expand
0%
0%
0%
  Compute  
  •  
Virtual servers
Azure Stack allows for the deployment of virtual servers called virtual machines
VMware Cloud Foundation bundles vSphere which includes the ESXi virtualization platform for creating and running virtual machines and virtual appliances
Virtual servers are called EC2 instances
  •  
VM Type - General Purpose
General purpose VMs are Basic A, Standard A, Av2-series, D-series, DS-series, Dv2-series, DSv2-series
You can configure the virtual machine hardware to take advantage of the underlying hosts hardware
The SBE1 EC2 instance is the general purpose offering
  •  
VM Type - Compute Optimized
Computed optimized VMs are F-series, Fs-series, Fsv2-series
You can configure the virtual machine hardware to take advantage of the underlying hosts hardware. For compute optimized instances, you would increase the CPU resources
The SBE-C EC2 instance is the compute optimized offering
  •  
VM Type - Memory Optimized
Memory optimized VMs are D-series, DS-series, Dv2-series, DSv2-series
You can configure the virtual machine hardware to take advantage of the underlying hosts hardware. For memory optimized instances, you would increase the memory resources
There is no memory optimized offering
  •  
VM Type - Accelerated (GPU)
There are no accelerated VM offerings with a GPU
You can configure the virtual machine hardware to take advantage of the underlying hosts GPU hardware
The SBE-G EC2 instance is the accelerated GPU offering
  •  
Metadata URL
While Azure has an Instance Metadata service, this functionality is not currently supported on Azure Stack
There is no built-in way to access this functionality. (see details)
You get access to a subset of metadata typically available to EC2 instances through an internal URL
  •  
Rapid Provisioning
You can easily and quickly deploy virtual machines using the Azure Stack console
You can easily deploy VMs using a wizard, template, or cloning another VM
You can specify the job and resources and Amazon will configure the device for you and ship it out to you
  •  
Resize existing VM
This functionality is supported in Azure Stack as well
You can easily resize an existing VM by changing its virtual hardware after creation such as CPU and memory
Typically resize an instance using CLI modify-instance-attribute on instanceType attribute but Snowball Edge only allows you to modify userdata
  •  
Resource Management
The Azure Resource Manager provides a platform to manage all resources deployed within the Azure Stack
Resources can be managed from either the vSphere Web Client or the vSphere Client
Resources such as EC2 instances cannot be managed through the console after the device is created and must instead be managed through the CLI/API adding a level of complexity
  •  
Scalability
Azure Stack includes scale sets which allow for automatic scaling of instances based on load
There is no vSphere functionality to easily scale up or down VMs from the console
A cluster of 5-10 Snowball Edges can be created to offer increased durability and locally scale up or down storage on demand
  •  
VM Imaging
You can create and publish a custom marketplace item
You can clone a virtual machine to a template which can then be used to deploy other virtual machines later
No mention in the developer guide
  •  
VM Import/Export
You can import and export a disk used by a VM. In addition, you may be able to import/export a VM state but this is not confirmed (see details)
You can import and export virtual machines in the OVF and OVA formats
No mention in the developer guide
  •  
VM live migration
Azure Stack supports live VM migration as a preventative measure to protect resources from failing hardware
You can perform a live migration of a virtual machine without affecting availability, called a hot migration, using vMotion
AWS does not support live VM migration and as such we shouldnt expect Snowball Edge to do this
  •  
VM to host affinity
This capability is not supported by Azure Stack
You can create VM to host affinity rules within a DRS cluster
When deploying a cluster, you can select which nodes an instance runs on
  •  
VM to host anti-affinity
Azure Stack provides Availability Sets which replicate the VM across different hosts for high availability thus enforcing host anti-affinity
You can create VM to host anti-affinity rules within a DRS cluster
When deploying a cluster, you can select which nodes an instance runs on thus also choosing which nodes it does not run on
  Networking  
  •  
Cloud virtual networking
The Network Resource Provider delivers a series of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) features
VMware Cloud Foundation bundles NSX Data Center for vSphere which provides a platform programmatically managing software-defined virtual networks
The EC2 instances can have virtual network interfaces attached to them which allows them to communicate with each other and outside devices
  •  
Cross-premises connectivity
Cross-premises connectivity can be established in Azure Stacks which are deployed in the connected mode
The VCF platform is integrated into the customer datacenter and provides cross-premises connectivity to other customer networks
The Snowball Edge connects into the datacenter and allows for transfer of data between the datacenter and AWS albeit in a slow snail-mail fashion
  •  
DNS hostname resolution
Azure Stack supports DNS hostname resolution
You can install NSX Edge as an Edge Services Gateway (ESG) between networks which will then allow you to configure external DNS servers. (see details)
No mention in the developer guide
  •  
DNS zone management
Azure Stack supports the creation and management of DNS zones and records using both the console and the API
No mention in documentation. Functionality would need to be built up by the end-user and then VMware components can take advantage of it
No mention in the developer guide
  •  
IP reassignment
You can reassign an IP by modifying the virtual network interface or by deleting it and creating a new one (Experience)
You can statically set an VMs IP address from vSphere as well as specify a network protocol which is a pool of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses that vCenter will assign to virtual machines
You can delete the virtual network interface attached to an EC2 instance and then create a new virtual network interface for that EC2 instance with a new static IP address
  •  
Load balancing
The Azure Stack provides load balancing functionality
You can install NSX Edge as an Edge Services Gateway (ESG) and take advantage of the logical load balancer
No mention in the developer guide
  •  
Network Interfaces
You can create and modify network interfaces attached to virtual machines (Experience)
Virtual machines can have a variety of different network adapters added and configured
The device has a set of external network interfaces for connectivity into the customer datacenter (see details)
  •  
Outbound Network Connectivity
The Azure Stack is integrated into the customers datacenter and has outbound network connectivity to the customers border
You can connect virtual machines to the physical network
The device has a set of external network interfaces for connectivity into the customer datacenter (see details)
  •  
Public IP Address
Azure Stack supports IPv4 public addresses
You can connect virtual machines to the physical network
Can attach a virtual network interface to your EC2 instance and specify a public IP address for use
  •  
SR-IOV support
No mention of this capability for Azure Stack
There is a specific network adapter type (SR-IOV passthrough) designed to enable and support SR-IOV networking
No mention in the developer guide
  •  
VM Security Groups
VM Security groups are provided as network security groups
Virtual Machines can be added to a security group which has a specific network security policy applied to it
Security groups exist and can be configured for EC2 instances similar to the way they work in AWS with limitations
  •  
Virtual Network Peering
Not supported as of 20190124
You can set up cross-vCenter deployments as well as implement VPNs to access corporate and other cloud networks securely
Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) are not supported in Snowball Edge and thus you cannot make virtual networks to peer
  Storage  
  •  
Object storage
Azure Stack provides blob storage for object storage
No mention in the documentation
The Snowball Edge supports S3 (object storage) as its primary purpose is downloading customer data from a remote datacenter which can then later be transferred to S3 in AWS
  •  
Block storage
Azure Stack supports page blobs which are the equivalent of block storage
vSphere provides a variety of different storage options and functionalities
Block storage must exist as the Snowball Edge is capable of hosting EC2 instances but end-users have no access to block storage and cannot attach volumes themselves to EC2 instances
  •  
Shared file storage
Azure Stack does not provide a SMB or NFS solution
VMWare provides NFS but not SMB storage solutions
Once connected to the datacenter, the S3 Adapter for Snowball or NFS mount point can be used to upload data from the datacenter into the Snowball Edge
  •  
Backup
Microsoft Azure Backup Server can be used to back up data within Azure Stack (see details)
VCF provides backup and restore capability of components
By its nature, the device offers data backup for data stored within a datacenter albeit in a slower process
  •  
Local Data Protection
Local data is encrypted and replicated across nodes in case of hardware failure
Virtual Volumes support replication capabilities for disaster recovery
The Snowball Edge employs defense-in-depth for data protection including a ruggedized tamper-reistant enclosure, 256-bit encrpytion, and a TPM