VMware vCloud Service - Creating vApp

Another very nicely detailed post by yoyoclouds.com

In previous post of this series we saw how to create an account for VMware vCloud Service Evaluation using a Promo Code.

[...]Assuming that you have received your Username and Password for vCloud service evaluation via e-mail, we can now start by creating our first vApp !!

Login to your vCloud (https://vcloudservice.vmware.com) using the Administrative Username and Password :

Once you logged in, Select the "My Cloud Tab". This tab will display the VMs and vApps that you will create from now onwards.

Infographic: Which Country Uses The Internet Best?

According to a recent study, not only does the US have a lower percentage of households with personal computers, but also offers slower bandwidth per user than countries such as Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Japan, and others. So, which country uses the Internet best? 

From: OEDb.org

VMware vCloud Service- Getting started

VMware vCloud Service - Part 1 Getting Started

As per VMware's Definition: "A vCloud Service Evaluation is the best way to experience how VMware can add infrastructure capacity within minutes without needing to purchase the capacity as capital expense yourself. It also provides the opportunity to learn how easy it is to administer workloads between environments of choice. The vCloud Service Evaluation includes an extremely flexible, on-demand, self-service public cloud service that allows for seamless migration of workloads between your existing cloud environment, the vCloud Service Evaluation, and VMware’s ecosystem of service providers (in conjunction with your internal vSphere environment)."

Want a simple one-liner? Refer the definition by yoyoclouds.com here: 

"A vCloud Service Evaluation is VMware's attempt (and may I add a good one !!) to creating a self-service, self-managed, automated, pay-per-use model based Public Cloud"

With vCloud Service Evaluation, you can:

• Access your cloud through the “vCloud Service Evaluation Console”, an example of a customized user interface based on vCloud technology, and utilize virtual servers from a shared resource pool for a low hourly cost.

• Enjoy a turnkey experience by deploying VMs or application
  templates in a matter of minutes. With VMware Virtual Appliances or vApps, you have the ability to provision multi-tier applications without manual configuration. You’ll also have unlimited access to pre-packaged infrastructure and application templates.

When you get started with the vCloud Service Evaluation, you will be using a public cloud that offers you:

• Redundancy - If hardware that is powering your VMs fails, your VMs will be automatically moved to a new set of resources, regardless of operating system or underlying hardware configuration.

• Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) – DRS enables your cluster to be properly balanced with the workloads running upon it. DRS automatically keeps physical hosts and clusters running smoothly by moving workloads off if they can be better used on different ‘less busy’ hosts.

• vCloud Networking & Security - VMware vCloud Networking & Security Edge firewall control is built in, so no need to add a 3rd party firewall.

• API - The vCloud API is your interface to building new management solutions and integrating existing ones with VMware cloud infrastructure. 

• vApps - We provide a library of predefined vApps, or create your own. vApps (or “Virtual Appliances”) are a grouping of virtual machines that allow you to start, stop, reboot and even destroy your virtual machines with just a click or two.

• Bandwidth – The vCloud Service Evaluation offers unlimited inbound bandwidth, and free outbound bandwidth up to 1TB.

• IPs – We offer you a pool of public and private IP addresses OS Templates – We offer both Windows and Linux.

• Application Templates – We offer a suite of application templates that greatly simplify development and testing of popular web applications.

Getting Started with the vCloud Service Evaluation

It’s very simple to begin your vCloud Service Evaluation. With just a few clicks, your account will be provisioned and ready to use in minutes.

Setting up your vCloud Service Evaluation account:

1. Visit http://vcloud.vmware.com/evaluate-cloud
2. Click the "Join Our Beta" button

Get Started With Oracle Applications Now With Our New Test Drive Program

AWS has just launched Oracle Test Drive Labs.

The purpose of the Oracle Test Drive program is to provide customers with the ability to quickly and easily explore the benefits of using Oracle software on AWSserver infrastructure.

These labs have been developed by Oracle and AWS partners and are provided free of charge for educational and demonstration purposes.

Each Test Drive lab includes up to 5 hours of complimentary AWS server time to complete the lab, and you can return here and to try any or all of the Test drive Labs at any time, so feel free to experiment and explore!

Please note that there may be some pre-requisitesfor few labs. Kindly understand them, acquire the required accounts or softwares before proceeding with the labs.

For example, Oracle Secure Backup to S3 requires Oracle Technet (OTN) account.

The products vary from Oracle products for Database and Infrastructure, Oracle Applications and Oracle Fusion Middleware.

We can select from nearly a dozen labs which include but are not limited to: 

• Oracle Data Guard Disaster Recovery
• Oracle Secure Backup to S3
• Siebel on AWS

Read below post by Jeff for sample demo of back up Oracle database to AWS using the Oracle Secure Backup product.

One of the key advantages that customers and partners are telling us they really appreciate about AWS is its unique ability to cut down the time required to evaluate new software stacks. These "solution appliances" can now be easily deployed on AWS and evaluated by customers in hours or days, rather than in weeks or months, as is the norm with the previous generation of IT infrastructure.
With this in mind, AWS has teamed up with leading Oracle ecosystem partners on a new initiative called the Oracle Test Drive program.