VMware vCloud Request Manager
Deploy Private Clouds with Confidence and Control

Overview:

VMware vCloud™ Request Manager enhances governance and control of private cloud infrastructures based on VMware vCloud Director. VMware vCloud Request Manager adds sophisticated approval workflows to provisioning requests, automatically tracks software license usage, and enforces standardized settings on cloud partitions. The result is an out-of-the-box solution that enterprises can use to enable rapid provisioning of private cloud resources with confidence and control.

Key Benefits

• Avoid virtual machine sprawl by enforcing business policies and procedures.
• Maximize efficiency and service delivery by automating provisioning processes.
• Simplify the experience for consumers of cloud-based services.
• Minimize private cloud deployment and administration costs.

VMware vCloud Request Manager provides a unified experience for consuming IT resources in private cloud infrastructures.

What is VMware vCloud Request Manager?

VMware vCloud Director enables customers to build secure, multitenant hybrid clouds by pooling infrastructure resources into virtual datacenters. and enabling those resources to be consumed by users on-demand. vCloud Director pools datacenter resources, including compute, storage and network, along with their relevant policies into virtual data centers. Fully encapsulated multitier virtual machine services are delivered as vApps, using the Open Virtualization Format (OVF). End users and their associated policies are captured in organizations. With programmatic and policy-based pooling of infrastructure, users and services, VMware vCloud Director enforces policy intelligently and creates unprecedented flexibility and portability.

By building secure and cost-effective hybrid clouds with vSphere and VMware vCloud Director, IT organizations can become true service providers for the businesses they support, driving agility and efficiency with confidence and control.

How Does VMware vCloud Request Manager Work?

VMware vCloud Request Manager provides a request portal and workflow engine that communicates with VMware vCloud Director through the VMware vCloud API.

Consumers of cloud resources (cloud consumers) can create their own organizations and provision new vApps using the browser-based portal to initiate requests. They receive emailed notifications of the results of these requests and emailed approvals that require their action.

Cloud administrators define provisioning approval processes using the graphical workflow modeler and associate software licenses with vApp templates. They can also define blueprints to ensure each organizaion adheres to specified policies and resources limits.

The actual provisioning takes place through VMware vCloud Director, driven by the VMware vCloud API. VMware vCloud Request Manager can support multiple private clouds, and can be extended to public clouds in support of hybrid cloud strategies.

How is VMware vCloud Request Manager Used?

• Streamline provisioning – Add sophisticated, transparent approval workflows to provisioning requests for cloud resources and vApps.
• Software license tracking – Automatically track and control software license usage for vApps as they are commissioned and decommissioned.
• Policy-based cloud partitioning – Create blueprints that encapsulate standard organization settings to simplify cloud administration and streamline the request submission process for cloud consumers.

Key Features:

Cloud Consumer Provisioning Portal

With VMware vCloud Request Manager, cloud consumers get a simple, modern, browser-based portal for requesting new vApps and resources. This portal provides a rich user experience that drives adoption and satisfaction, and it works seamlessly across the many Web browsers and endpoint devices being used in the enterprise.

Workflow Automation

The graphical workflow designer lets cloud administrators model sophisticated processes for approvals, software license allocation, provisioning, and email notifications. This includes the ability to send approvals to multiple recipients, or even to dynamically determined approvers.

VMware vCloud Request Manager adds sophisticated workflow automation to
existing provisioning processes.

Workflow automation enables customers to maximize efficiency through the elimination of costly and error-prone manual tasks. It also optimizes service delivery by minimizing the time to provision infrastructure, and enforces and audits best practices.

Software License Management

Cloud administrators and asset managers can associate thirdparty software licenses with each vApp template. Once this is done, the provisioning workflow will automatically allocate the appropriate licenses when new vApps are provisioned based on that template—and it won't allow a request to proceed if there are no licenses available.

VMware vCloud Request Manager also detects when a vApp is deleted, either automatically through the expiration of its lease or manually from the VMware vCloud Director console, and will free up the associated licenses for re-use. By automating the tracking of software license, VMware vCloud Request Manager helps ensure compliance with third-party software license agreements.

Email Notifications

Approval and success notifications are sent via email with contextually relevant information such as links to provisioned vApps and comments from approvers. This keeps cloud consumers informed in an increasingly mobile workforce, and enables managers to respond to approval requests directly from their handheld devices.

Blueprints

Cloud administrators can use VMware vCloud Request Manager to define blueprints that encapsulate settings such as virtual machine quotas, cost allocation models, default leases, and settings for computing, networking and storage resources, which are then assigned to organizations. The use of blueprints helps to simplify cloud administration and streamline the request submission process by enforcing standardization for each organization to reduce variations.

Rapid Deployment

VMware vCloud Request Manager comes preconfigured with provisioning workflows and email templates, providing enhanced compliance and control for private clouds with minimal configuration. This not only helps enterprises deploy private clouds quickly, but also eliminates the cost and risk associated custom software development.

How to Buy:

VMware vCloud Request Manager
Includes a license for 25 managed virtual machines. Support and subscription sold separately.

Requirements

VMware vCloud Director and its prerequisites.

Support:

VMware Production Support & Subscription

Technical Support, 24 Hour Sev 1 Support -- 7 days a week.

Focused, 24-Hour Support For Production Environments

• Global, 24x7 support for Severity 1 issues
• Fast response times for critical issues
• Unlimited number of support requests
• Remote Support
• Online access to documentation and technical resources, knowledge base, discussion forums
• Product updates and upgrades

Overview

VMware Production Support is designed with your production environments in mind. Our global support centers are staffed around the clock to provide you access to our industry-leading expertise in virtualization and years of experience supporting virtual infrastructure products in real-world customer environments. We are committed to delivering enterprise-class, worldwide support with a single objective in mind: your success.

VMware Basic Support & Subscription Service

Technical Support, 12 Hours/Day, per published Business Hours, Mon. thru Fri.

Weekday Support for Test, Dev and Non-Critical Deployments

• Global, 12x5 access to support
• Unlimited number of support requests
• Remote Support
• Online access to documentation and technical resources, knowledge base, discussion forums
• Product updates and upgrades

Overview

VMware Basic Support is designed for non-critical applications and platforms that require support during normal business hours. Our global support centers have been strategically placed to provide you with fast and efficient access to the support center in your region. Each center is staffed with engineers that can provide industry-leading expertise in virtualization and years of experience supporting virtual infrastructure products in real-world customer environments. We are committed to delivering enterprise-class, worldwide support with a single objective in mind: your success.

Feature	Production Support	Basic Support
Hours of Operation	24 Hrs/Day 7 Days/Wk 365 Days/Yr 1	12 Hrs/Day Mon–Fri 1
Length of Service	1 or 3 Years	1 or 3 Years
Product Updates	Yes	Yes
Product Upgrades	Yes	Yes
Products Supported	All Products (excluding VMware Fusion and Player)	All Products (excluding VMware Fusion and Player)
Method of Access	Telephone/ Web	Telephone/ Web
Response Method	Telephone/ Email	Telephone/ Email
Remote Support	Yes	Yes
Access to VMware Web site	Yes	Yes
Access to VMware Discussion Forums and Knowledge Base	Yes	Yes
Max Number of Support Admins per Contract	6	4
Number of Support Requests	Unlimited	Unlimited
Target Response Times Critical (Severity 1 Major (Severity 2) Minor (Severity 3) Cosmetic (Severity 4)	30 minutes or less: 24x7 4 business hours 8 business hours 12 business hours	4 business hours 8 business hours 12 business hours 12 business hours
Business Hours North America and Latin America Alaska, Hawaii South America (NASA) Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA Asia, Pacific Rim, Japan (APJ) Australia/New Zealand	Monday - Friday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (local time zone) 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (PST/PDT) 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (EST/EDT) 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (GMT/GMT+1) 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Singapore Time) 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Sydney AET)	Monday - Friday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (local time zone) 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (PST/PDT) 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (EST/EDT) 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (GMT/GMT+1) 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Singapore Time) 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Sydney AET)

1Hours of operation for Gemstone are Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PST/PDT) globally.
1Hours of operation for VMware Go Pro and vCenter Protect products are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (CST/CDT), except holidays.
1Hours of operation for VMware IT Business Management and IT Financial Management are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EST/EDT/GMT) except holidays.
1Hours of operation for Socialcast are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (PST/PDT).

Documentation:

Download the VMware vCloud Request Manager Datasheet (PDF).