This document discusses the importance of protecting enterprise workloads in vCloud service provider environments, emphasizing the need for a robust business continuity and disaster recovery plan. It outlines various disaster recovery solutions, misconceptions about data protection, and the extensibility of the vCloud Director API for creating scalable data protection services. Additionally, it highlights real-world use cases and lessons learned from implementing these services.

1. Protecting Enterprise Workloads Within a vCloud
Service Provider Environment
Ian Perez Ponce, VMware
PHC5679
#PHC5679

2. 2
Abstract
With the proliferation of vCloud service providers and the increased rate of
enterprise workload deployments on vCloud Director, the ability to protect
business critical application data in the cloud continues to surface as a key
priority for Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) compliance. This
session is intended for both technical and business decision makers and aims to
demystify many of the challenges associated with implementing a self-service
and policy-driven data protection service that can scale with the most
demanding vCloud powered Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) environments.

3. 3
Agenda
 Disaster Recovery and Cloud – Misguided Assumptions
 Service Layering Options for Disaster Recovery
 vCloud Service Provider Environments
 vCloud Director API Extensibility
 Disaster Recovery Solutions Available for vCloud Director
 vCloud Hybrid Service – A Real-World Use Case
 References

4. 4
Glossary of Frequently Used Terms (1 of 2)
 Backup: A collection of data stored on (usually removable) non-volatile
storage media for purposes of recover in case the original copy of data is
lost or becomes inaccessible
 Disaster Recovery (DR): The recovery of data, access to data and
associated process through a comprehensive process of setting up
redundant site (equipment and work space) with recovery of operational
data to continue business operations after a loss of use of all or part of a
data center
 Digital Archiving: A storage repository for service used to secure,
retain, and protect digital information and data for periods of time less
than that of long-term retention
 Digital Long Term Preservation: [Long Term Retention] Ensuring
continued access to, and usability of, digital information and records,
especially over long periods of time
Source: Storage Networking Industry Association

5. 5
Glossary of Frequently Used Terms (2 of 2)
 Recovery Point Objective: [Data Recovery] The maximum acceptable
time period prior to a failure or disaster during which changes to data
may be lost as a consequence of recovery.
 Recovery Time Objective: [Data Recovery] The maximum acceptable
time period required to bring one or more applications and associated
data back from an outage to a correct operational state.
 Restore Granularity Objective: The level at which a particular
restore/recovery operation takes place within the data environment.
• Application/file
• OS/image
Last Backup
Time
Event Data Restored
RPO RTO
Source: Storage Networking Industry Association

6. 6
“Procrastination is the Foundation of All Disasters”-Pandora Poikilos

7. 7
Misguided Assumptions about Data Protection and Cloud
 Your cloud service provider is
performing regular backups on
your behalf.
 Your cloud service provider is
storing your data in
geographically redundant
locations.
 Your cloud service is
maintaining a hot site
somewhere with a duplicate
copy of your application data.
 Your cloud service provider in
charge of your disaster
recovery plan.
TRUE
FALSE
TRUE
FALSE
TRUE
FALSE
TRUE
FALSE

8. 8
Misguided Assumptions about Data Protection and Cloud
Hint…. Make ZERO assumptions!
 YOU alone are responsible for your Business Continuity / Disaster
Recovery plan
 When in doubt, ASK your cloud service provider the basics
regarding data protection:
• What types of service levels are guaranteed during a disaster?
• Are BC/DR plans and planning documents available for audit?
• Where (if any) are your recovery centers located?
• What happens to my data when single-site failures occur?
• What guarantees are in place to ensure my data will not be moved outside of
my country/region in the event of a disaster?
• If data protection services are offered, what is the recovery time objective
(RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) guaranteed?
• How resilient are your data center facilities (i.e. Tier III or IV)?

9. 9
Service Layering for Disaster Recovery and Disaster Avoidance
 Various solution options may
be available for a layered DR
approach
 A One-size fits all DR
methodology rarely applies
• Carefully evaluate options available
and match to your actual business
needs – not the provider’s
 Make the effort to consolidate
and rationalize BC/DR
compliance standards between
cloud models:
• Private
• Hybrid
• Public
Redundant Cloud Service
Providers
Redundant deployment
across regions
Storage snapshots
and/or inline replication
Data backup and archival
A
B

10. 10
vCloud Service Provider Environments – Things to Know
 vCloud Director includes
multiple constructs over
vSphere that require special
attention
 Each construct configuration
bears potential impact on the
recoverability of infrastructure
services
 Special consideration for DR
planning should include:
• Backing up of vCloud Director cells
• Object mapping via API for Org 
VDC  vApp  VM relationship
• Coherence between vApp
metadata and member virtual
machines
VMware vSphere
VMware vCenter Server
VMware
vShield
Virtual Datacenter 1 (Gold) Virtual Datacenter n (Silver)
User Portals Security
VMware vCloud Director
Catalogs
Users IT
Organization 1 Organization m

11. 11
Cloud API Framework: Build New Services to Expand Your Cloud
 Extend the vCloud API with your
own *aaS offerings;
 Leverage new Cloud Extensions
from the VMware ecosystem
 Integrate provider’s value-added
services with vCloud Director
Overview
 Backup, DR, Patch Management,
Database, Load Balancing,
Compliance - all delivered as a
service
 Let vCloud Director take care of
logging, events, multi-tenancy,
security, and APIs for your service
 Single point of control and
governance for Cloud APIs
Capabilities
An Extensible API Entry Point
Cloud Platform Services
provide common building
blocks
Install and Manage Cloud
Extensions

12. 12
Existing Ecosystem of ISVs
APIs have been
critical to our
success…
but as our
products grew,
so did the APIs
 $15 of ecosystem value created
for every $1 of vSphere licensing
 Administrative SOAP Based
vSphere API built using VMODL
toolkit covers vSphere features
and ESXi
 Increasingly successful vCloud API
is REST based and does not use
VMODL
 vShield uses REST Based API
 Large number of SDKs built in EE
targeting different aspects of
vSphere, vCloud, and vShield for
different native language bindings
We have to provide better ease
of use and integration!
APIs Play a Critical Role in Enriching Cloud Services

13. 13
Overview of vCloud Director API Extensibility Services
 The vCloud API Extensibility Framework is a set of features to
enable the construction and delivery of cloud services (XaaS APIs)
integrated with vCloud Director. It contains three elements:
1. An extensible API entry point- This enables a customer to interact with
with an Cloud Service as a part of the vCloud API.
2. APIs for Management and Operations of API extensions - This
enables an administrator to manage the vCloud API Extensions.
3. Provider-side APIs for the Cloud Platform Services - This enables the
author of a Cloud Service to use key (previously internal-only) features of
vCloud Director when building their Service, and enables a vCloud
Provider Admin to get a consistent administrative experience across all
vCloud Services, whether those shipped with Cloud Director or those
offered as an Extension.

14. 14
An Extensible API Entry Point
• This is the piece that an API client actually talks to. It takes care
of routing API messages to and from Services.
• It consumes a formalized definition of the API extension, and
routes requests and responses to the implementation of the extension.
Compute,
Network,
Storage -aaS
Cloud API
Service 2
Cloud API
Service 1
API Client
vCloud
API Entry
Point

15. 15
Management and Operations of API Extensions
The vCloud API Framework provides the ability to…
• Register a new API service with vCloud Director
• List/query available services
• Enable/disable services
• Control extensions processing ordering within the endpoint
…through provider-side APIs and UI.
Compute,
Network,
Storage aaS
Cloud API
Service 2
vCloud API Entry
point
Cloud API
Service 1
Cloud Operator

16. 16
APIs for the Cloud Platform Services
• Provider-side APIs for the Cloud Platform Services take existing
aspects of the vCloud Platform (logging, eventing, multi-tenancy, object
security, task management) and make them available to the authors
of vCloud Services
Compute,
Network,
Storage
API
Extension
vCloud API Entry
Point
API
Extension
We want to enable authors of new Cloud Services to leverage the same
services that are used in vCloud Director today for Compute as a Service,
so that the building blocks that all Cloud Services share in common flow
through a common set of APIs and administrative interfaces.
Shared Services of the Cloud
Logging
Eventing
Multitenancy
Security
Chargeback
Persistence
JobControl
Search/Index/
Cache
Federation

17. 17
vCloud
API Entry
Point
Example: vApp-level Backup and Recovery
API Client
 Let’s take an example of something that customers are
asking for today, and walk through how it might be
delivered as an extension:
User-driven Backup & Restore

18. 18
How to Get it Done?
 As the developer of the backup service API extension, I have to
build two things:
API Definition
The API Definition – a formal description of the
complete Request and Response model for the
API, the Events the API can generate, etc.
Implementation
The Implementation – the actual code that
receives the requests and responses, takes
snapshot and archives to backup, performs
restore, etc.

19. 19
Part 1: The API Definition
 As a vCloud Feature Developer, I want to formally define the
request and response semantics of the API for my feature, so that
both users and programmatic tools can understand the definition of
the API.
 The definition of the REST API is created in an IDL (interface
definition language).
 WSDL is an example of an IDL for SOAP APIs. Think of this part as
building the equivalent of a WSDL for a new technology generation
(REST).
 From this formal definition, I can generate API clients as well as
server-side stubs.
Use Cases Request/Response
Model
API Definition

20. 20
What Would Our API for Backup Look Like? (example)
 To create a backup:
• We’d like to follow REST conventions. To do so we will POST some xml
describing our operation to the URI of the vApp we want to affect:
POST http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc-7/RyansVapp-65/backups/
Content-Type: application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.Backup+xml
<Backup name=“post-service-pack”>
<Vms>
<vm>http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc/RyansVapp-65/vm-4/</vm>
<vm>http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc/RyansVapp-65/vm-10/</vm>
<vm>http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc/RyansVapp-65/vm-11/</vm>
</Vms>
</Backup>
API Client
POST to vCD
Response
w/Task
Backup
Service
vCloud
Director
Backup
stored
in Archive

21. 21
What Would Our API for Backup Look Like? (example)
 To List the Backups for a vApp:
• Lets do a GET on the Backups for a vApp:
GET http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc-7/RyansVapp-65/backups/
<Backups>
<Backup name=“post-service-pack”>
<link rel=“restore” href=“http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc-7/RyansVapp-65/backups/post-service-pack/”/>
<vm>http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc/RyansVapp-65/vm-4/20110909115532/</vm>
<vm>http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc/RyansVapp-65/vm-10/20110909115532/</vm>
<vm>http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc/RyansVapp-65/vm-11/20110909115532//</vm>
</Backup>
<Backup name=“latest-weekly”>
<link rel=“restore” href=“http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc-7/RyansVapp-65/backups/latest-weekly/”/>
<vm>http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc/RyansVapp-65/vm-4/20110907120000/</vm>
<vm>http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc/RyansVapp-65/vm-10/20110907120000/</vm>
<vm>http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc/RyansVapp-65/vm-11/20110907120000//</vm>
</Backup>
</Backup>
• Each backup includes a link to restore and each VM includes the timestamp.

22. 22
What Would Our API for Backup Look Like? (example)
 To restore from a backup:
• POST a backup link to a VDC where you want to restore:
POST http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc-8/
Content-Type: application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.Backup+xml
<Backup>
<link rel=“backup” href=http://mycloud.com/api/myvdc-7/RyansVapp-65/backups/post-
service-pack//>
<…some other params…>
</Backup>

23. 23
Disaster Recovery Solutions Available for vCloud Director
 Leading ISV partners offering
DR solutions with native
vCloud Director (5.x) interop
 Majority of partners leveraging
vCloud Director API
Extensibility
 Mixed solutions available to
address most common DR
requirements:
• Backup and Recovery
• Replication
• Hybrid solutions
 2nd generation of DR solutions
already in development

24. 24
vCloud Hybrid Service – A Real-world Use Case for DR
VMware vCloud
Hybrid Service
Your Data Center
Any Application… No Changes
Software-Defined
Data Center
VMware vSphere &
vCloud Suite
Existing & New Apps
Seamless Networking
Common management
One Support call
IaaS cloud owned and operated by VMware based on VMware software

25. 25
vCloud Hybrid Service, Data Protection – Service Scope
 Designed to deliver agentless,
policy-driven (CBT) backup and
recovery of virtual workloads in
the cloud
 Enables DR compliance on top of
redundancy and resiliency
features present
 Ensures Virtual Machine images
(VMDKs) are backed up at regular
intervals and available for on-
demand restore
 Full service-serviceability, with
registration, backup, restore and
monitoring operations accessible
in the vCHS console
Daily/24-hour backup
schedule
Synthetic-full and
encrypted backup images
Unlimited self-service
vApp-level protection
Customizable scheduling
and retention policy
Unlimited self-service VM-
level restores

26. 26
vCloud Hybrid Service, Data Protection – Architecture Overview

27. 27
vCloud Hybrid Service, Data Protection – VDC Setup
2. VDC-level
policy settings
for scheduling
and retention
3. VM or vApp-
level restore
options
1. Dashboard
view for Data
Protection

28. 28
vCloud Hybrid Service, Data Protection – VM Registration
28
1. Enable VM
backup via
Register option
2. vApp affinity
notification &
confirmation
Tag insertion results in all vApp VMs getting backed up during next cycle.
3. Metadata
tagging
ensures vApp-
level Backup

29. 29
vCloud Hybrid Service, Data Protection – VDC Status View
2. At-a-glance
status, policy and
consumption
1. Dashboard
view for Data
Protection

30. 30
Lessons Learned from vCloud Hybrid Service Design
Self-Serviceability
 End-users increasingly adamant about self-
directed consumption/management
 Transparency via logging and audits is
paramount
 “Hope is not a strategy for DR”
 vApp metadata handling for automated
restores less straightforward than it seems
1 Operations Scale
 Precision capacity planning for shared
backup appliances and media
 Provisioning and performance SLAs
 Complex job scheduling algorithms
 Metering/billing complexities given CBT and
De-duplication
 Secure encryption and destruction
2
ISV Solution Maturity
 Several failing miserably at modernizing
their APIs for the cloud and DevOps era
 Those with 1st generation Web Services
APIs focused primarily on end-user
consumption – not SP admin operations
 UI/UX experience still lousy for some
 Excessive dependency on vSphere-level
integration for management
3 Cost Differentiation
 Competing with commodity cloud providers
offering ¢.xx pricing per GB adds
tremendous pressure
 Pre-disposition from end-users to look at
Backup & Recovery as commodity
 Emphasizing DR compliance in the
public/hybrid cloud as an extension of
private BC/DR planning
4

31. 31
Other VMware Activities Related to This Session
 HOL:
HOL-SDC-1305
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery In Action
 Group Discussions:
PHC1003-GD
vCHS Use Cases and Workloads with Rachna Thusoo
 Additional References
• vCloud Hybrid Service web site
• Stretch Cloud Blog (vCloud Hybrid Service, Data Protection)
• Yellow Bricks Blog (vCloud Director and SRM)
• Chris Colotti’s Blog (Disaster Recovery and vCloud Director)
• vCloud Director API Extension Services Documentation

32. THANK YOU

34. Protecting Enterprise Workloads Within a vCloud
Service Provider Environment
Ian Perez Ponce, VMware
PHC5679
#PHC5679