VMware Hybrid Cloud Extension (HCX) is a solution for simplified migrations from one environment to another, be it on-prem, private cloud, or public cloud. Although it has Cloud in its title, migrating from on-prem to Cloud is only one of the use cases. It also simplifies on-prem to on-prem migrations. A number of network functions are bundled into an optimized extension, delivering what VMware calls Infrastructure Hybridity, which allows for live application workloads to be migrated in bulk and in parallel without having to re-architect the network or the applications.

Any-to-Any vSphere Version

The way it works is to provide an abstraction layer which allows vSphere on-prem and cloud resources to be viewed by the application as a single resource, and because of this abstraction, the vSphere version doesn't matter. It supports migrations for vSphere 5.0 and up, to any version on the cloud or on-prem, providing any-to-any vSphere cloud app mobility. Applications can work across clouds without modification.

Abstraction Makes It Simple

There's no need to modify IP addresses, MAC addresses, or to reconfigure NAT or DNS. And there's no need for an infrastructure upgrade on the legacy source-side data center either. To speed up the migration, it has built-in optimizations for WAN traffic that provide high throughput regardless of whether it is over the Internet or by direct connection.

Migration Options and Disaster Recovery

Several workload migration options are available. HCX can do large scale live migrations with HCX vMotion or replicated migrations with vSphere Replication. HCX also includes an easy-to-setup disaster recovery solution, giving more options for organizations looking to leverage VMware cloud providers.

Infrastructure Hybridity and Multi-Cloud App Mobility

If you're looking to extend the data center to the cloud, need to move live applications without impacting the application's operating system, need disaster recovery without the hassle of reconfiguring IP addresses, or simply want your applications to work across clouds while keeping your databases within the data center, take a look at VMware HCX.