Virtual Servers for VPC

IBM Cloud® Virtual Servers for Virtual Private Cloud provide compute instances within an isolated virtual private cloud environment to deliver flexible, scalable compute resources with integrated networking, storage, and security capabilities when you deploy virtual server-based workloads on IBM Cloud. IBM Cloud® Virtual Servers for Virtual Private Cloud offer a wide range of compute profiles that include balanced, compute-optimized, memory-optimized, GPU, and very high memory configurations. These virtual servers are shared tenancy with optional dedicated host placement for compliance and licensing requirements.

The platform includes networking features such as security groups, network ACLs, VPN connectivity, and load balancers. These options provide network isolation and security controls.

Storage options include boot and data volumes by using Block Storage for VPC, that integrate with File Storage for VPC and Object Storage for extra data management capabilities.

For enterprise management and governance, IBM Cloud services such as IBM Cloud® Monitoring, IBM Cloud Logs Routing, and IBM Cloud Security and Compliance Center provide visibility, audit trails, and compliance scanning across your VPC infrastructure.

IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC architecture overview

The following diagram shows the high-level reference architecture for your virtual servers.

Components

The following table outlines the products or services that are used in the architecture for each component.

VPC virtual server instance components

Component	Architecture components	How the component is used
Workload Migration	IBM Consulting and expert labs	Professional services organizations that provide migration and deployment services.
	3rd-party migration tools	Tools that are in the IBM Cloud catalog such as RackWare RMM, Wanclouds.
	Self-service	Direct migration by using image import, instance provisioning, and configuration management tools.
Security	3rd party Virtual network functions	3rd party firewalls
	IBM Cloud Key Protect	IBM Key Protect for IBM Cloud® service helps you provision and store encrypted keys for apps across IBM Cloud services, so you can see and manage data encryption and the entire key lifecycle from one central location.
	IBM Cloud Security and Compliance Center Workload Protection	IBM Cloud Security and Compliance Center Workload Protection to find and prioritize software vulnerabilities, detect and respond to threats, and manage configurations, permissions, and compliance.
Resiliency	IBM Cloud Snapshots	Point-in-time copies of block storage volumes for backup and recovery.
	IBM Cloud VPC Backup Service	Scheduled point-in-time copies of Block Storage volumes for backup and recovery.
	IBM Cloud Backup and recovery	Agent-based backup service for file-level and folder-level backup.
	3rd-party backup solutions	Self-managed backup solutions such as Veeam, Commvault, or Rubrik.
	Multi-zone deployment	Distribution of virtual servers across availability zones for high availability.
Observability	IBM Cloud Console, CLI, or API	Web-based console, command-line interface, and REST APIs for managing VPC resources.
	IBM Cloud® Monitoring	Agent-based monitoring for metrics collection.
	IBM Cloud Logs Routing	Agent-based log aggregation and analysis.
	IBM Cloud IBM Cloud Activity Tracker Event Routing	Audit logging for VPC resource management activities.
	IBM Cloud security and compliance center	Posture management and compliance scanning for your VPC infrastructure.
Storage	Block Storage for VPC	High-performance block storage volumes with configurable IOPS for boot and data disks.
	File Storage for VPC	Persistent, fast, and flexible network-attached, NFS-based file storage.
	IBM Cloud® Object Storage	Designed for unstructured data. Ideal for workloads such as backup, archiving, big data analytics, and application data storage.
	IBM Cloud Key Protect	Provision and store encrypted keys that are used for volume encryption.
Compute	Virtual server instances	Shared tenancy virtual servers with customizable profiles.
	Dedicated hosts	Optional single-tenant physical servers for compliance and licensing requirements.
	Instance profiles	Balanced, compute-optimized, memory-optimized, GPU, and very high memory configurations.
	Custom Images	User-provided operating system images for specialized workload requirements.
Networking	Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)	Logically isolated network environment with user-defined IP address ranges.
	Subnets	Network segments within availability zones that use configurable routing.
	Security groups	Firewalls that control inbound and outbound traffic at the instance level.
	Network ACLs	Firewalls that control traffic at the subnet level.
	Public gateways	Enable outbound internet connectivity for virtual servers on private subnets.
	Floating IPs	Static public IP addresses that can attach to virtual servers for inbound internet access.
	Load balancers	Application and network load balancers that distribute traffic across virtual servers.
	VPN gateways	Site-to-site VPN connectivity to on-premises networks.
	Transit gateway	Hub that connects multiple VPCs and Classic infrastructure.
	Direct link	Connects dedicated, minimal latency connections to on-premises data centers.
	Virtual Network Functions (VNFs)	Virtual firewalls and network appliances that run as virtual servers.