VMware Engine is one of my beloved products from Google Cloud. Why? Simply because it breaches the gap between full Cloud and VMware vSphere. IMO the product is a perfect fit for customers who would like to use Cloud but they are deep into VMware vSphere technologies and they aren’t cloud ready yet. As Google Cloud VMware Engine is fully managed VMware service offered by Google it is a perfect choice for such customers.
What is new in GCVE?
The main answer to this question is simply - a lot. More concrete answer is - GCVE UI got massive overhaul in 2024. In a past there was a UI which was still part of acquisition which was made by Google. Back then you had to use two “portals” to manage GCVE. But not anymore :)
Create GCVE in Cloud UI
To create a new GCVE cluster we simply have to follow new private cloud wizard. Let’s do it!
- Click Create Private Cloud.
- We need to provide following information:
- Name of the cluster
- Private Cloud Type
- Region
- Zone
- Cluster Name
- Choose HCI node model and node count
- Further on we need to enter networking details like:
- Management IP Range
- VMware Engine Network
- VPC network peering (optional)
After providing all necessary information cluster creation will start. Usually it takes around 45 - 60 Minutes to create cluster - of course depending on the size of the private cloud. Then automatic post configuration might take up to 30 additional minutes.
Ready to use GCVE Cluster
As mentioned in previous chapter it take some time to create cluster and here I will show you how it looks after creation.
When you click on the cluster itself you will find detailed information about it like:
- Management Appliances details (vCenter Server, NSX Manager, HCX Manager)
- Clusters
- Subnets
- External IP Addresses
- Syslog
Summary
As you see cluster creation isn’t a challenging task - new UI is easy to navigate and easy to use. With one portal to manage GCVE it is much clearer where to configure networking part and how to connect to GCVE cluster itself.
I hope you enjoyed the article.