As enterprises continue to expand the use of virtualization and cloud resources, VMware is focusing on delivering management solutions to support our customers’ needs. As a result of this focus, VMware has announced the end of availability (“EOA”) vCloud Request Manager . VMware will continue to support vCloud Request Manager through July 3, 2013, in line with our General Support Policy: www.vmware.com/support.
If you already own vCloud Request Manager:
- Read customer announcement in KB Article.
- Read General FAQ. If you have additional questions not covered here, contact your VMware or VMware Reseller representative.
- Visit the vCloud Request Manager Community for product and support information.
- Download vCloud Request Manager Technical Documentation.
Key Features and Functionality
Requests initiated through the vCloud Request Manager portal drive pre-defined workflow processes, including approvals, software license inventory updates, cloud provisioning actions, and email notifications.
The actual provisioning of cloud infrastructure takes place through vCloud Director, driven by the vCloud API. A single instance of vCloud Request Manager can support multiple private clouds and even public clouds, delivering a unified experience.
Intuitive, self-service portal
Cloud consumers use a simple cross-browser compatible portal for self service. Good user experience drives adoption and satisfaction.
Intelligent private cloud workflow automation
Model sophisticated processes with the graphical workflow designer to drive approvals, software license allocation, cloud provisioning and email notifications. You can send approvals to multiple recipients or even dynamically determined approvers (for example, to the manager of the requestor).
Software license management
Associate third-party software licenses with each vApp template and the provisioning workflow will automatically allocate the appropriate licenses each time a new vApp instance is provisioned based on that template. If there are no licenses available, the request will be denied to maintain license compliance.
vCloud Request Manager will also detect when a vApp is deleted, either automatically through the expiration of its lease or manually from the vCloud Director console, and will free up the associated licenses for re-use. Automating the tracking of software license helps ensure you always stay in compliance with third-party software license agreements.
Automated approval and email notifications
Approval and success notifications are sent via email, with data and links automatically inserted. In an increasingly mobile workforce, cloud consumer can stay better informed and managers can respond to approval requests directly from their hand-held devices.
Blueprints
Cloud administrators can define policies called "Blueprints," which encapsulate "Organization" settings such as: VM quotas, cost allocation models, default leases and compute/storage/network settings. Blueprints simplify the task of the consumer, who doesn't need to understand or enter values for these settings and enforces standardization within organizations, reducing variations and simplifying cloud administration.
Rapid Deployment
vCloud Request manager comes pre-configured with provisioning workflows and email templates, providing enhanced compliance and control for your Private Cloud with minimal configuration. This not only helps you deploy your Private Cloud quickly, but it also eliminates the cost and risk associated custom software development.
