Ordering virtual data centers
VMware Shared is no longer available for new deployments. Existing instances will continue to be supported until 15 January 2025. Ensure that you migrate all your VMware Shared resources to IBM Cloud® for VMware Cloud Foundation as a Service by 15 January 2025. For more information, see End of Support for VMware Shared deployments.
IBM Cloud® for VMware Solutions Shared offers either a standardized or customizable deployment option of VMware® virtual data center environments. Choose the On-demand or Reserved option.
System settings
You must specify the following system settings when you order a VMware Shared virtual data center.
Pricing plans
The pricing plan is based on your selection of On-demand or Reserved.
On-demand
For the On-demand offering, virtual data center virtual CPU (vCPU) and RAM are allocated as needed. The amount of time that the allocation takes depends on global usage of the virtual data center vCPU and RAM.
- The limits that are established for the amount of vCPU and RAM are maximum values that can be used at any time.
- You can increase and decrease the vCPU and RAM resources on a virtual data center later as required.
- The price is calculated hourly and it is based on the resource usage in the virtual data center.
- The amount of storage that can be allocated and used in the virtual data center is limited to 200 TB for each storage policy. Charges are calculated per hour and are based on GB of allocated storage.
- The amount of inbound and outbound public networking is unlimited. Public outbound bandwidth is charged per GB.
Reserved
For the Reserved offering, the vCPU and RAM virtual data center reservations are pre-allocated and their availability is guaranteed.
- The price is calculated monthly for the full reservation and it is based on the allocation size of the virtual data center.
- vCPU and RAM resources can be increased and decreased later as required.
- The amount of storage that can be allocated and used in the virtual data center is unlimited. Charges are calculated per hour and are based on GB of allocated storage.
- The amount of inbound and outbound public networking is unlimited. Public outbound bandwidth is charged per GB.
For more information, see VMware Shared pricing.
Virtual data center name
The virtual data center name is set to vdc-xx by default, where xx represents two randomly generated alphabetic characters.
You can also specify a virtual data center name that meets the following requirements:
- The maximum length is 128 characters.
- Only alphanumeric, hyphen (-), and underscore (_) characters are allowed.
- The name must be unique within all active virtual data centers in your account. You can create a virtual data center that has the same name as a previously deleted virtual data center.
Resource group
Use resource groups to organize the resources in your account for access control and billing purposes. The default resource group in your account is selected by default. You can also select another resource group according to your needs. The
resource group that you select cannot be changed after the virtual data center is created.
If No resource group available is displayed in this field, you currently do not have the permission to add the virtual data center to any resource group in this account. Contact the account owner to be assigned an Editor or
Administrator role on a resource group in the account. For more information, see IBM Cloud IAM roles.
Deployment topology
- Single-zone VMware virtual data center deploys your virtual data center in a single-zone data center.
- Multizone VMware virtual data center deploys your virtual data center across two availability zones in an IBM Cloud multizone region if a single-zone data center failure occurs.
Data center location
Select the IBM Cloud data center settings. For more information, see IBM Cloud data center availability.
Geography
Select the region where your virtual data center instance is hosted.
Site
Select the IBM Cloud data center site where the virtual data center is hosted.
Location
Select the IBM Cloud data center where the virtual data center is hosted.
Networking
You must specify the following network settings for your virtual data center.
Networking type
Select either Private only or Public and private. Public networking is delivered through a generic routing encapsulation enablement tunnel system.
Virtual data center capacity
Virtual data center capacity is based on your selection of the On-demand or Reserved pricing plan.
If you selected On-demand, select the vCPU and RAM limits.
If you selected Reserved, your vCPU model settings are based on your selection of Preconfigured or Customizable.
If you selected Preconfigured, you have the following options for allocated vCPU and RAM limits.
Table 1. Preconfigured vCPU and RAM options
| Size |
vCPU |
RAM |
| Small |
64-cores |
512 GB |
| Medium |
128-cores |
1024 GB |
| Large |
256-cores |
2048 GB |
If you selected Customizable, you can customize your reserved vCPU and RAM limits.
The vCPU maximum number is limited to the 40 cores with hyperthreading on each host. This limit allows for a maximum of 80 vCPU virtual machines.
Recommended services
The following services are preinstalled and ready to use in all virtual data centers. Service charges are incurred only if you choose to use the service.
- Veeam® Availability Suite and Veeam Cloud Connect Replication
- Zerto
For more information, see Managing Veeam for VMware Shared and Managing Zerto for VMware Shared.
Summary
Based on your selected configuration for the virtual data center, the estimated price is instantly generated and displayed in the Summary pane.
You can also add the provisioned resources to the IBM Cloud estimate tool, by clicking Add to estimate. The tool is useful if you want to estimate the price of the selected VMware Shared resources together with other IBM Cloud
resources that you might consider purchasing.
Procedure to order VMware Shared On-demand
- In the VMware Solutions console, click the VMware Shared card in the Platforms section.
- On the Create tab of the VMware Shared page, select On-demand.
- Enter the virtual data center name and select a resource group.
- Select a deployment topology according to your needs.
- For data center location, click the Edit icon
and select the geography, site, and location to host the instance.
- Select the network type.
- Select the vCPU and RAM limits according to your requirements.
- On the Summary pane, verify the configuration and estimated price before you place the order.
- Click Create.
Procedure to order VMware Shared Reserved
- In the VMware Solutions console, click the VMware Shared card in the Platforms section.
- On the Create tab of the VMware Shared page, select Reserved.
- Enter the virtual data center name and select a resource group.
- Select a deployment topology according to your needs.
- For data center location, click the Edit icon and select the geography, site, and location to host the instance.
- Select the network type.
- Complete the resource reservation.
- If you select Preconfigured, select the preconfigured vCPU model and RAM size.
- If you select Customizable, specify the reserved vCPU and RAM limits according to your requirements.
- On the Summary pane, verify the configuration and estimated price before you place the order.
- Click Create.
Results after you order VMware Shared
- The deployment of the resources starts automatically and you receive confirmation that the order is being processed. You can check the deployment status, including any issues that might require your attention, by viewing the Virtual Data Center Status.
- When the resources are successfully deployed, the components that are described in Technical specifications for VMware Shared are installed on
your VMware® virtual platform.
- When the resources are ready to use, the status of the virtual data center changes to Available.
What to do next
View the virtual data center that you ordered and then set the admin password for the VMware Cloud Director Management console. For more information, see Viewing and managing virtual data centers.