VMware announced the availability of VMware Realize Cloud Universal (vRCU) back in September 2020. vRCU is a SaaS management suite of different products like vRealize Operations, vRealize Log Insight or vRealize Automation than can be consumed as managed cloud services, but VMware still gives you the option to use those subscription licenses for the on-premises products of the vRealize Suite.
This flexible licensing and delivery models enable customers to move at their own pace and give them the flexibility and choice to decide, what makes most sense for them.
Use Cases
I see three different use cases where vRealize Cloud Universal makes the most sense for customers:
- “I don’t want to deploy and maintain vRealize products”
- Company with a lot of edge locations and no more global/regional data centers
- A combination of the above
vRealize Cloud Universal Product Overview
vRCU includes the following products:
- vRealize Automation | vRealize Automation Cloud
- vRealize Operations | vRealize Operations Cloud
- vRealize Log Insight | vRealize Log Insight Cloud
- vRealize Network Insight Cloud (only available in VMware Cloud Universal)
- vRealize AI Cloud
- VMware vRealize Cloud Federated Catalog (unified global catalog)
- CloudHealth (for cloud cost visibility)
- CloudHealth Secure State (it is about cloud (mis)configuration and compliance)
- Skyline (proactive intelligence)
As always, VMware offers multiple editions for different use cases:
- Standard – Focused on operations
- Advanced – Adding automation capabilities
- Enterprise – Adding cloud cost optimization, security and compliance
- Enterprise Plus – This edition is only available as part of VMware Cloud Universal and add-on to VMware Cloud on AWS
Note: You can also consume vRealize Network Insight as a standalone SaaS service since March 2022 with vRealize Network Insight Universal.
VMware Cloud SaaS Services Availability
If you would like to know where the VMware Cloud services are hosted/available, click here.
How can I connect my environment to vRealize Cloud?
To collect and monitor data from your on-prem data center or cloud (VMC on AWS, Azure VMware Solution, Google Cloud VMware Engine) you need to deploy cloud proxies. They are one-way collectors (outbound connection initiated from the cloud proxy over TCP/433) that upload your data to vRealize Operations Cloud for example.
Paul McConnon wrote a blog about the deployment of such a vROps cloud proxy.
The cool thing about them is also, that they get upgraded automatically! Have a look at vRealize Operations Cloud Sizing Guidelines (78491) if you need more information about the cloud proxy sizing.
The cloud proxy support high availability by deploying at least two of them and linking them with a collector group.
Note: It seems that you currently have to deploy separate cloud proxies for vRealize Operations Cloud and vRealize Log Insight Cloud for example. But you can use an existing proxy if it’s vRealize Log Insight Cloud, vRealize AI Cloud or vRealize Automation Cloud.
vRealize Cloud Subscription Manager – Metering and Usage
vRealize Cloud Subscription Manager is a cloud service that integrates with vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager to collect data for your on-premises deployed products. It also monitors the subscription licenses usage for your SaaS products and visualizes the consumption of all vRealize Cloud components.
vCloud Suite Subscription
What about existing vCloud Suite customers that also bought vSphere Enterprise Plus? For those customers VMware offers a combination of vCloud Suite Subscription, which is a combination of vRealize Cloud Universal and term license of vSphere Enterprise Plus. vCloud Suite subscription comes in three different editions:
If you are interested in standalone vSphere subscription licensing, have a look at vSphere Advantage.
Upgrades and Add-ons
Standalone vRealize products and vRealize Suite customers can upgrade to vRealize Cloud Universal or vCloud Suite Subscription through the Subscription Upgrade Program (SUP). You can also upgrade the versions within the product.
Summary
To summarize your options:
- You can get the standalone vRealize Cloud Universal offering
- If you add a vSphere Enterprise Plus license to a vRCU edition (Std, Adv, Ent), it is called vCloud Suite Subscription
- vRCU Enterprise is included when you buy VMware Cloud Universal which has VMware Cloud Foundation subscription licenses included
- vRealize Cloud Universal Enterprise Plus can be subscribed as an add-on with VMware on AWS
