Private Cloud Platforms comparison & reviews

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Analysis expand by Bhagyashri (Shri) Bhagvat Robert Spruill
 		by Bhagyashri (Shri) Bhagvat
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General expand
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  • Fully Supported
  • Limitation
  • Not Supported
  • Information Only
Pros
  • + Strong Storage Capability with Additional Compute and Networking Functionality
  • + Vendor Maturity and Market-share
  • + Simple and Straightforward Editions
  • + Full-Fledged IaaS
  • + Mature Vendor
  • + Enterprise Solution
  • + Mature on-prem IaaS solution
  • + High-fidelity implementation of AWS APIs
  • + Proven at scale over years of operation
Cons
  • - Limited Capability
  • - Few Use Cases
  • - Temporary
  • - Complex
  • - Little PaaS Capability
  • - Heavily Dependent on Underlying Hardware
  • - Recent acquisition concerns
  • - No administrative GUI
  • - Missing features beyond API compatability
  Content  
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Content Creator
Luciano Taranto
Luciano Taranto
AppScale
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Overview
The AWS Snowball Edge is a type of Snowball device with on-board storage and compute power for select AWS capabilities. (see details)
VMware Cloud Foundation is an integrated software stack which bundles VMware components (see details)
Integrated software stack with AWS-compatible IaaS services.
  Assessment  
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Maturity
Snowball Edge was announced 2016 and builds on AWS which has been around since 2012
VMware is a strong contender in the marketplace and VCF is comprised of components that have been tried and tested in the datacenter
Based on the Eucalyptus code-base that has been in production for over a decade, powering installations beyond 200K cores in size.
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Disconnected Offering
Must connect back to AWS platform for full functionality
VMware Cloud Foundation can be deployed on premises as a stack for a private cloud
Can be deployed in a disconnected environment
Infrastructure Services expand
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  Compute  
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Virtual servers
Virtual servers are called EC2 instances
VMware Cloud Foundation bundles vSphere which includes the ESXi virtualization platform for creating and running virtual machines and virtual appliances
Virtual servers are called cloud instances (equivalent to EC2 instances in AWS)
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VM Type - General Purpose
The SBE1 EC2 instance is the general purpose offering
You can configure the virtual machine hardware to take advantage of the underlying hosts hardware
Virtual machine hardware can be configured to take full advantage of the underlying hosts hardware. A collection of instance types can be customized in terms of vCPUs, memory, and disk.
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VM Type - Compute Optimized
The SBE-C EC2 instance is the compute optimized offering
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
Compute-optimized instance types can be customized by modifying the instance type
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VM Type - Memory Optimized
There is no memory optimized offering
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
Memory-optimized instance types can be customized by modifying the instance type
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VM Type - Accelerated (GPU)
The SBE-G EC2 instance is the accelerated GPU offering
You can configure the virtual machine hardware to take advantage of the underlying hosts GPU hardware
GPU instance types can be customized through advanced configuration only. No official documentation.
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Metadata URL
You get access to a subset of metadata typically available to EC2 instances through an internal URL
There is no built-in way to access this functionality. (see details)
Metadata URL, featuring EC2-compatible information and thus compatible with cloud-init, is reachable from instances.
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Rapid Provisioning
You can specify the job and resources and Amazon will configure the device for you and ship it out to you
You can easily deploy VMs using a wizard, template, or cloning another VM
System components enable fast provisioning, particularly of EBS-backed instances.
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Resize existing VM
Typically resize an instance using CLI modify-instance-attribute on instanceType attribute but Snowball Edge only allows you to modify userdata
You can easily resize an existing VM by changing its virtual hardware after creation such as CPU and memory
EBS-backed instances can be resized after stopping by modifying InstanceType attribute via ModifyInstanceAttribute request (in CLI or Console).
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Resource Management
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
Resources can be managed from either the vSphere Web Client or the vSphere Client
Resources can be managed from either the Console or CLI/API
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Scalability
A cluster of 5-10 Snowball Edges can be created to offer increased durability and locally scale up or down storage on demand
There is no vSphere functionality to easily scale up or down VMs from the console
AWS AutoScaling APIs are supported, with performance-based triggers for up- and down-scaling.
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VM Imaging
No mention in the developer guide
You can clone a virtual machine to a template which can then be used to deploy other virtual machines later
Images (akin to AMIs and AKIs) can be created and shared with other cloud users. Existing instances can be saved into an image.
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VM Import/Export
No mention in the developer guide
You can import and export virtual machines in the OVF and OVA formats
Instances can be imported using raw disk or VHD formats. Exports done manually at hypervisor level. No API support for the operation exists.
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VM live migration
AWS does not support live VM migration and as such we shouldnt expect Snowball Edge to do this
You can perform a live migration of a virtual machine without affecting availability, called a hot migration, using vMotion
VMs can be live-migrated using CLI / API. In the event of a host failure instances to not automatically restart.
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VM to host affinity
When deploying a cluster, you can select which nodes an instance runs on
You can create VM to host affinity rules within a DRS cluster
Not supported. Can only be achieved by backend administration using instance migration.
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VM to host anti-affinity
When deploying a cluster, you can select which nodes an instance runs on thus also choosing which nodes it does not run on
You can create VM to host anti-affinity rules within a DRS cluster
Not supported. Can only be achieved by backend administration using instance migration.
  Networking  
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Cloud virtual networking
The EC2 instances can have virtual network interfaces attached to them which allows them to communicate with each other and outside devices
VMware Cloud Foundation bundles NSX Data Center for vSphere which provides a platform programmatically managing software-defined virtual networks
Overlays a virtual network on top of your existing network. Supports EDGE (EC2 Classic) and VPCMIDO (AWS VPC) modes.
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Cross-premises connectivity
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
The VCF platform is integrated into the customer datacenter and provides cross-premises connectivity to other customer networks
Support for AWS VPN Gateway is available but only when using VPCMIDO network mode.
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DNS hostname resolution
No mention in the developer guide
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)
DNS names for VM instances is supported automatically
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DNS zone management
No mention in the developer guide
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 documentation
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IP reassignment
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
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
Elastic IP and Elastic Network Interface functionality enables flexible IP address assignment.
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Load balancing
No mention in the developer guide
You can install NSX Edge as an Edge Services Gateway (ESG) and take advantage of the logical load balancer
Elastic Load Balancer is an included service.
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Network Interfaces
The device has a set of external network interfaces for connectivity into the customer datacenter (see details)
Virtual machines can have a variety of different network adapters added and configured
Elastic Network Interface functionality allows attaching and detaching of virtual NICs to instances
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Outbound Network Connectivity
The device has a set of external network interfaces for connectivity into the customer datacenter (see details)
You can connect virtual machines to the physical network
Can be configured to connect to external networks with both EDGE (EC2 Classic) and VPCMIDO (Amazon VPC) networking modes.
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Public IP Address
Can attach a virtual network interface to your EC2 instance and specify a public IP address for use
You can connect virtual machines to the physical network
Public IP addresses can be assigned to instances either automatically or from a pool of Elastic IP addresses.
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SR-IOV support
No mention in the developer guide
There is a specific network adapter type (SR-IOV passthrough) designed to enable and support SR-IOV networking
Can be customized to use SR-IOV for instance networking by advanced configuration only. No official documentation.
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VM Security Groups
Security groups exist and can be configured for EC2 instances similar to the way they work in AWS with limitations
Virtual Machines can be added to a security group which has a specific network security policy applied to it
Instances can be added to a security group which has a specific network security policy applied to it.
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Virtual Network Peering
Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) are not supported in Snowball Edge and thus you cannot make virtual networks to peer
You can set up cross-vCenter deployments as well as implement VPNs to access corporate and other cloud networks securely
Ability to create a peering connection between two VPCs is supported.
  Storage  
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Object storage
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
No mention in the documentation
Supports S3-compatible object storage using its Object Storage Gateway (OSG)
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Block storage
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
vSphere provides a variety of different storage options and functionalities
Elastic Block Storage (EBS) provides block-level storage volumes that you can attach to instances.
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Shared file storage
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
VMWare provides NFS but not SMB storage solutions
Shared file storage is not supported.
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Backup
By its nature, the device offers data backup for data stored within a datacenter albeit in a slower process
VCF provides backup and restore capability of components
Procedures for backing up and restoring everything except root disks of instance-store (ephemeral) instances are documented.
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Local Data Protection
The Snowball Edge employs defense-in-depth for data protection including a ruggedized tamper-reistant enclosure, 256-bit encrpytion, and a TPM
Virtual Volumes support replication capabilities for disaster recovery
Relies on replication features of underlying software and hardware (RAID and Ceph) for local data protection from hardware failures.
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Remote Replication
By its nature, the device offers remote replication for data stored within a datacenter albeit in a slower process
Virtual Volumes support replication capabilities for disaster recovery
No special functionality for automatic remote replication are provided, but backup process can include transfer of backed up data offsite for disaster recovery.
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Snapshots
No mention in the developer guide
Virtual volumes provide snapshot capability to preserve the state and data of a virtual machine at a given point in time
EBS snapshots are supported in both Web console and via CLI/API.
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Storage Architecture
Each Snowball Edge node provides betwee 42TB and 80TB (see details)
VMware provides for a very flexible storage architechture
Deployed as customer configurable two-level storage system. Support for HCI not documented.
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Storage QoS
No mention in the developer guide
You can configure the vSAN cluster (shared storage pool) to be either hybrid or all-flash (see details)
Supports only a single storage class for both block and object storage.
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Storage Scalability
Multiple Snowball Edges can be clustered to increase data durability as well as locally grow and shrink storage on demand
You can expand an existing vSAN cluster by adding hosts or devices to existing hosts without disrupting ongoing operations
The Storage Controller (SC) and Object Storage Gateway (OSG) are molular and enable storage capacity to be dynamically allocated independent of the system.
Platform Services expand
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  Compute  
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Kubernetes Orchestration
No mention in the developer guide
VMware Pivotal Container Service (PKS) provides an enterprise-grade Kubernetes solution which can be deployed on VMware Cloud Foundation
No support for Kubernetes orchestration is available.
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Serverless
The Snowball Edge offers access to AWS Lambda which can execute serverless functions based on S3 storage actions made on the device
This functionality is not offered by VCF but can be supported on top of VCF
No support for a serverless runtime is available.
  Data  
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Relational database
No mention in the developer guide
Customer needs to build this functionality on top of the infrastructure
No support for DBaaS is available.
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NoSQL—key/value storage
No mention in the developer guide
Customer needs to build this functionality on top of the infrastructure
No support for a NoSQL database is available.
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Caching
No mention in the developer guide
Customer needs to build this functionality on top of the infrastructure
No support for an in-memory cache service is available.
  Developer Tools  
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Message Queuing
No mention in the developer guide
Customer needs to build this functionality on top of the infrastructure
No support for message queuing is available.
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Pub/Sub Messaging
No mention in the developer guide
Customer needs to build this functionality on top of the infrastructure
No support for pub/sub messaging is available.
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Web Applications
Can build EC2 instances which can host web applications
Customer needs to build this functionality on top of the infrastructure
No support for a PaaS-type service for hosting Web applications is available.
  Analytics and IoT  
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Internet of Things
The Snowball Edge incorporates AWS IoT Greengrass to power Lambda for edge computing needs
Customer needs to build this functionality on top of the infrastructure
No support for IoT services is available.
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Edge compute for IoT
The Snowball Edge incorporates AWS IoT Greengrass to power Lambda for edge computing needs
Customer needs to build this functionality on top of the infrastructure
No support for service that deploys cloud intelligence onto Edge devices is available.
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Streaming data
No mention in the developer guide
Customer needs to build this functionality on top of the infrastructure
No support for data streaming is available.
Management Tools expand
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  Interface  
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Console
The Snowball Edge provides a management console for job management
In addition to console functionality such as vSphere, VCF includes SDDC Manager which provides a centralized user interface for configuration, provisioning, and lifecycle management of the stack
Web Console supports most of the cloud user functionality that is also accessible via CLI/API.
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API
Snowball Edge supports a limited API for both S3 and EC2 (see details)
The bundled components of VCF (vSphere, VSAN, and NSX) all provide API interfaces
AWS-compatible API is at the core of the product, with extensive support of many IaaS-level services, powering both the CLI and the Web Console.
  Auditing  
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Health / Performance / System Monitoring
Limited monitoring of job statuses
vSphere provides a suite of health and performance monitoring tools for the infrastructure
Monitoring is available via the CloudWatch service, with metrics visible in the Web Console and available from the CLI.
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Event Logging
CloudTrail can log calls made to the Snowball Edge API but internal actions such as those against EC2 instances are not logged
VCF bundles vRealize Log Insight which covers infrastructure logs
Logs are available to the operations team but must be configured using at the OS-level using technologies such as syslog.
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Analytics
No mention in the developer guide
VCF bundles vRealize Log Insight which aggregates infrastructure and application logs in order to provide actional dashboards and sophisticated analysis
No support for analytics service is availalble.
  Automation  
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Automated Tasks
The built-in Lambda capability can be used to execute automated tasks in response to S3 actions taken against the Snowball Edge
VCF bundles vRealize Automation which can be used to deploy service blueprints and external technologies through Orchestrator plugins to automate IT tasks
CloudFormation doman-specific language and service enables users to orchestrate cloud application deployment and resource management.
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Marketplace
Jobs using EC2 compute instances can use CentOS 7, Ubuntu 14.04, and Ubuntu 16.04 images from the marketplace
While you can deploy VMs from templates, there is no central marketplace offerring third-party applications
No support for a marketplace of images is available.
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Marketplace Syndication
Jobs using EC2 compute instances can use CentOS 7, Ubuntu 14.04, and Ubuntu 16.04 images from the marketplace
Since there is no marketplace, there is no syndication for those items
No support for a marketplace syndication is available.
Security & Compliance expand
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  AAA  
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Authentication
Access to launch jobs, import/export data, unlock the Snowball Edge, and manage the Snowball Edge is controlled through IAM
Authentication can be implemented by integrating into the customers network and using their Active Directory instance
User management and resource access control is available through Access and Identity Management (IAM) service.
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Multi-Factor Authentication
No mention in the developer guide
vCenter SSO also allows for two-factor authentication methods
No support for MFA is available.
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SSO / Integration
No mention in the developer guide
The Platform Services Controller provides functionality for Single Sign-On into vCenter services and integrates with Windows Active Directory as well as other AD/LDAP schemes
Support for LDAP/Active Directory integration (via periodic synchronizations) is supported.
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Access Control
Access to launch jobs, import/export data, unlock the Snowball Edge, and manage the Snowball Edge is controlled through IAM
Access control can be implemented by integrating into the customers network and using their Active Directory instance
Sophisticated access control policies are supported by the Identity and Access Management (IAM) service.
  CIA  
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Encryption (Data at Rest)
Encryption is enforced to protect data at rest
Provides for storage-level encryption for data at rest
System-wide at-rest encryption can be configured in the deployment.
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Encryption (Data in Transit)
Encryption is enforced to protect data in transit
Provides network-level micro-segmentation, distributed firewalls, and VPN capability among others
Support for HTTPS endpoints can be manually configured on the UFS nodes
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Key / Secret Management
Encryption keys used to protect data on the device are managed by Amazon Key Management Service
Customer needs to build this functionality on top of the infrastructure
Uses AWS-style access keys and secret keys for access to resources.
  Regulatory  
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Multi-Tenancy
No mention in the developer guide
You can use VMware vCloud Director to support multi-tenancy on the VCF platform
User identities are organized into accounts and are the equivalent to the AWS IAM account alias.
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Regulatory Compliance (PII, PHI, PCI-DSS, RMF, NIST SP 800-53 ,etc)
AWS complies with NIST SP 800-53 (but not necessarily the Snowball Edge), Amazon erases the Snowball Edge according to NIST 800-88 standards, all data is encrypted at rest and in transit
VMware components meet specific 800-53 requirements
Can be manually hardened using avaiable security technical implementation guides for underlying OS only

Matrix Score

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