Introducing VMware Integrated OpenStack (VIO) 5.0, a new Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud

VMware recently released its brand new Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud, known as the VMware Integrated OpenStack (VIO) 5.0.

This release, announced at the OpenStack Summit in Vancouver, Canada, is fully based on the new OpenStack Queens release.

VIO provides customers with a fast and efficient solution to deploy and operate OpenStack clouds. These clouds are highly optimized for VMware's NFV and software-defined data center (SDDC) infrastructure, with advanced automation and onboarding. If one is already using VIO, they can use OpenStack's built-in upgrade capability to upgrade seamlessly to VIO 5.0.

VMWare Integrated OpenStack(VIO)5.0 would be available in both Carrier and Data Center Editions.The VIO-Carrier Edition will addresses specific requirements of communication service providers (CSP).

The improvements in this include:

An Accelerated Data Plane Performance: Support of NSX Managed Virtual Distributed Switch in Enhanced Data Path mode and DPDK provides customers with:
- Significant improvements in application response time,
- reduced network latencies
- breakthrough network performance
- optimized data plane techniques in VMware vSphere.

Multi-Tenant Resource is now scalable: This will provide resource guarantee and resource isolation to each tenant. It will also support elastic resource scaling that allows CSPs to add new resources dynamically across different vSphere clusters to adapt to traffic conditions or transition from pilot phase to production in place.

OpenStack for 5G and Edge Computing: Customers will have full control over the micro data centers and apps at the edge via automated API-driven orchestration and lifecycle management. The solution will help tackle enterprise use cases such as utilities, oil and gas drilling platforms, point-of-sale applications, security cameras, and manufacturing plants. Also, Telco oriented use-cases such Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC), latency sensitivity VNF deployments, and operational support systems (OSS) would be addressed.

VIO 5.0 also enables CSP and enterprise customers to utilize Queens advancements to support mission-critical workloads, across container and cloud-native application environments. Some new features include:

High Scalability: One can run upto 500 hosts and 15,000 VMs in a single region using the VIO5.0. It will also introduce support for multiple regions at once with monitoring and metrics at scale.

High Availability for Mission-Critical Workloads: Creating snapshots, clones, and backups of attached volumes to dramatically improve VM and application uptime via enhancements to the Cinder volume driver is now possible.

Unified Virtualized Environment: Ability to deploy and run both VM and container workloads on a single virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM) and with a single network fabric based on VMware NSX-T Data Center. This architecture will enable customers to seamlessly deploy hybrid workloads where some components run in containers while others run in VMs.

Advanced Security: Consolidate and simplify user and role management based on enhancements to Keystone, including the use of application credentials as well as system role assignment. VMware Integrated OpenStack 5.0 takes security to new levels with encryption of internal API traffic, Keystone to Keystone federation, and support for major identity management providers that includes VMware Identity Manager.

Optimization and Standardization of DNS Services: Scalable, on-demand DNS as a service via Designate. Customers can auto-register any VM or Virtual Network Function (VNF) to a corporate approved DNS server instead of manually registering newly provisioned hosts through Designate.