Just like a 2010 Mercedes SL550 being crashed into a wall, the parts are being scrapped and re-purposed into other applications. I knew this was a speculated announcement coming up at VMworld, but kept heads down until I heard it was true.
Yesterday, there was an article detailing all of this information by Beth Pariseau from TechTarget that detailed everything extremely well, VMware splits vCloud Director into vCenter, vCloud Automation Center.
EDIT:: 9/3/13... vCloud Director will still be available as a service provider offering. There will be a special version of vCD for service providers that is not correctly stated in the article but the plan to split the code functions between vCAC and vCenter is correct.
EDIT:: 9/4/13... OFFICIAL Statements have been released. Please read these two articles:
- vCloud Director Convergence and Transition Plan – What’s the Scoop?
- End of Availability and End of Support Life for VMware vCloud Director 5.1 Standalone (2057589)
SUMMARY:
As a result of this announcement, VMware is making the following recommendations:
ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS – VMware recommends that customers use the combination of vCloud Automation Center and the vSphere platform to support their private cloud architectures and use cases. vCD 5.5 is available starting in Q3 if required to support use cases not currently covered by vCAC. Projects already in-flight with vCD should also remain in place as vCD 5.5 support will be extended beyond its normally 2-year window (out to 2017).
SERVICE PROVIDERS – vCD will continue to be available through the VMware Service Provider Program (VSPP) in the cloud bundle and is still the recommended solution for service providers. VMware will continue on-going development for vCD to meet the specific needs of service providers and will provide further details at a later date.
EDIT:: 9/9/13... Another Official Blog Release Reports of vCloud Director’s death exaggerated
Summary:
1) Development of vCloud Director continues at VMware, now 100% focused on the cloud service provider market.
2) vCloud Director will continue to be available in the VMware Service Provider Program (VSPP) and also continues to be a foundational component of vCloud Hybrid Service, VMware’s IaaS offering.
3) The next release of vCloud Director will be version 5.6, in the first half of 2014, available through VSPP to cloud service providers.
4) VMware continues to develop and enhance the vCloud API, to provide API access to new capabilities, and to make the API faster and easier to use.
Here are my thoughts. While I enjoyed working with vCloud Director, I can't say that enough of the clients were fond it. The UI itself just wasn't sexy enough to get mainstream attention and the storefront for ordering out of a catalog wasn't stupid simple. It will be a matter of time that vCloud Director users will have to make the jump (once again).
For the time being, there is an update to vCloud Director with version 5.5. This new version adds very little enhancements and new features. The one thing to remember is that you still shouldn't discount vCloud Director as part of a solution in the interim. The dis-assembling of vCloud Director components into vCAC and vCenter will take a while. If you have a cloud initiative right now, think about how you plan on using VXLAN or utilizing shared catalogs between users. One of the features that I always thought was interesting with vCD was the ability to have developers use catalogs for different applications or versions of code. Today, it's not possible to make it look clean with vCAC. Another useful feature was the ability to share a user's vApps among other users in the same Organization. VXLAN was a hot topic 2 years ago, and vCD is the only automated way today.
There is quite a lot of overlap between vCD and vCAC, and I'm glad to see some direction is now going to be achieved with the product sets.
Now, who are the losers in this situation?
- Well, I'm sort of a loser in this situation because I've built quite a good following based on my knowledge of vCD and even wrote a chapter in a book about it. My ability to transfer knowledge somewhere else won't be hard.
- Software vendors who spent thousands and even upwards of millions of dollars on integration into vCD. These all need to be re-written and transferred over to a new product in the upcoming year or two. Or they are completely screwed in general.
- The customers are the real losers here. Anyone who has taken the time to change their operational habits to utilize vCD to its full potential. These customers who spent a lot of money, not only on the product itself, but in professional services to get them up and running. I would like to see VMware come full circle with these customers and help them migrate with little to no cost. Utilizing vCloud Director takes a lot of change in regards to operations and administration. Customers who used a different product as a storefront (such as vCAC or UCS Director) to then provision into vCD, will be off in a much better way than anyone who chose to use vCD for the whole shabang.
Please feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions on VMware's new direction. For myself, this scene from Ace Ventura sums it up nicely.
EDIT:: 9/3/13... vCloud Director will still be available as a service provider offering. There will be a special version of vCD for service providers that is not correctly stated in the article but the plan to split the code functions between vCAC and vCenter is correct.
