Why Platform9 Private Cloud Director is the complete VMware alternative
In our earlier blog, VMware vs OpenStack: Why OpenStack is the better VMware alternative in 2024, we explored how OpenStack offers a compelling alternative to VMware for building private clouds. That post covered OpenStack’s advantages in cost efficiency, flexibility, and vendor neutrality, making it a good choice for enterprises looking to move away from VMware.
However, enterprises looking to modernize their virtualized infrastructure using open source technologies often find themselves navigating between OpenStack’s complexity and Kubernetes’ evolving ecosystem. Recognizing these gaps, Platform9 built Private Cloud Director (PCD) as the industry’s new standard for private clouds.
This follow-up blog outlines Platform9 Private Cloud Director, a solution that not only enhances OpenStack’s capabilities but also integrates Kubernetes, delivering a unified platform for managing both traditional virtualized and containerized workloads. PCD is designed to go beyond OpenStack to meet the evolving needs of VMware users and enterprises seeking a comprehensive replacement for their current VMware infrastructure in a next-generation private cloud platform.
Why we built Private Cloud Director
The decision to build PCD was driven by the need to provide enterprises with a best-of-breed solution that simplifies private cloud management while addressing evolving enterprise demands for agility, developer-friendly platform, and cost-efficiency. OpenStack and Kubernetes are excellent foundational technologies to build upon, but modern enterprises need an easy-to-consume solution that delivers:
- Cluster resource management: Robust built-in high availability and automatic resource balancing for virtualized and Kubernetes clusters.
- Distributed Software Defined Networking (SDN): Enables fault-tolerant and scalable clusters by using a distributed Software Defined Network (SDN), with built-in support for distributed routers, distributed switches, ACLs, DHCP, DNS, and load balancers.
- Flexible hosting options: Available as a Platform9 hosted fully managed SaaS control plane or a self-managed deployment.
- Modern user interface: Designed to simplify management of a broad range of infrastructure services across different infrastructure cluster types.
- vJailbreak migration: Simplifies migration of virtual machines to Platform9 Private Cloud Director with an easy-to-use business open source tool called vJailbreak.
- Choice of infrastructure: Unlike hyperconverged solutions, Private Cloud Director is compatible with all major server, storage and network hardware, making it more flexible and practical for enterprises.
- Composable infrastructure clusters: Using a combination of infrastructure clusters such as virtualized clusters or Kubernetes clusters and associated services.
Here are the key differentiated features of PCD:
1. Superior OpenStack control plane management
Platform9’s unique ability to host OpenStack control planes remotely provides infrastructure efficiency. For example, a leading enterprise cloud provider consolidated their infrastructure to just two sites. With only 12 servers (6+6), they hosted nine OpenStack control planes—a task that would typically require 54 servers. This innovation slashes both infrastructure and operational costs, making deploying new OpenStack regions or environments highly cost-efficient.
In addition to cost savings, Platform9’s remote control plane hosting minimizes downtime during updates, enables centralized management, and ensures that enterprises can scale operations across multiple on-premises regions with ease. This capability makes PCD the ideal choice for businesses looking to streamline their private cloud operations while achieving greater reliability and efficiency.
2. VMware-grade usability, High Availability (HA), and Automatic Resource Rebalancing (ARR)
Let’s face it: upstream OpenStack can be challenging to use, especially for VMware administrators. It requires highly skilled open source engineers and operators who need to constantly work with the open source ecosystem to ensure robust deployments and upgrades While VMware’s HA and DRS features set a high usability bar, OpenStack’s alternatives, like Watcher, are riddled with basic bugs.
Platform9 bridges this gap by leveraging over 100+ man-years of VMware expertise to deliver a user experience comparable to VMware and Nutanix. With reliable HA and ARR, PCD ensures consistent workload performance and eliminates resource contention. The intelligent ARR system automatically redistributes workloads based on real-time demand, optimizing performance without requiring manual intervention. The best VMware alternative!.
Additionally, the interface has been designed to make the transition from VMware to OpenStack seamless, providing administrators with the tools and confidence to manage complex private cloud environments efficiently.
3. Seamless VMware migration with project vJailbreak
Migrating away from VMware can be daunting. That’s why Platform9 developed Project vJailbreak, the simplest and most reliable framework for migrating VMware VMs to KVM. By reducing downtime and data copy costs, we ensure a smooth transition with minimal disruption.
Project vJailbreak provides end-to-end automation of the migration process, including validation, mapping, and testing, ensuring that enterprises can shift workloads with confidence. Advanced features like live migration and rollback options further reduce the risks typically associated with large-scale migrations, making PCD the preferred choice for businesses seeking to escape VMware’s high costs and inflexibility.
4. Superior Kubernetes control plane architecture
Kubernetes is critical for modern workloads, and PCD’s Kubernetes architecture is far superior to legacy solutions like Magnum. By enabling remotely hosted Kubernetes master nodes, we significantly reduce infrastructure and management costs.
This architecture allows OpenStack control planes to spin up Kubernetes masters in the same environment, delivering instant cluster creation. Enterprises benefit from faster provisioning, reduced complexity, and enhanced scalability. The tightly integrated architecture also ensures that Kubernetes workloads are fully optimized for performance and reliability within private, on-premises environments.
5. Deep integration between OpenStack and Kubernetes
Private Cloud Director natively integrates OpenStack and Kubernetes. Our cluster-API-based Kubernetes masters seamlessly consume OpenStack VM capacity, delivering an exceptional Kubernetes experience without additional overhead.
This integration ensures that enterprises can leverage their existing OpenStack resources to run Kubernetes workloads efficiently. The unified interface simplifies management, while the advanced orchestration capabilities enable enterprises to deploy, monitor, and scale workloads across their private cloud environments with ease.
6. Platform extensibility: DBaaS and other PaaS offerings
PCD is not just about infrastructure; it’s about enabling a platform for innovation. Thanks to our efficient Kubernetes cluster provisioning, we’re building out a range of PaaS extensions. Coming soon: PostgreSQL and MySQL DBaaS powered by K8s operators.
Over the next year, we’ll add more extensions, creating a dynamic ecosystem of value-added services that only PCD can deliver. These services are designed to provide enterprises with the flexibility to adopt new technologies and tools quickly, ensuring they stay ahead in a rapidly evolving IT landscape.
7. Addressing gaps: LBaaS, VPNaaS, and FWaaS
Cloud transformation is a journey, and challenges will arise. At Platform9, we’re committed to addressing critical gaps. We’re actively investing in Octavia for load balancing, FWaaS, and VPNaaS, and we’re ready to prioritize support for any specific requirements.
Our customer-centric approach ensures that any feature gaps are quickly identified and addressed, enabling enterprises to achieve their private cloud goals without compromise. With PCD, you’re not just getting a product; you’re gaining a partner dedicated to your success.
Want to see PCD in action for yourself hands-on? Register for our free monthly online lab!
Ready to learn more about the best VMware alternative? Contact us to see how PCD can revolutionize your private cloud strategy.
