Welcome to our latest blog post where we look at the exciting new features introduced in VMware Cloud Director Object Storage Extension version 3.0. In this release, VMware Cloud Director further enhances its cloud infrastructure solutions, providing providers with greater flexibility, improved accessibility, scalability and efficiency. Let's dive into the details of what's new in this release.

Installing the VMware Cloud Director Solution Add-on: A key development in version 3.0 is the streamlined installation process for VMware Cloud Director Object Storage Extension. This feature has expanded the accessibility of the solution for providers as administrators can now conveniently install, update, and uninstall extensions directly from the VMware Cloud Director add-on interface. Cloud providers can ensure smoother operations with simplified management tasks after this update.

With the add-on installation, the solutions work as a container application within a Kubernetes environment. Cloud providers can deploy the extensions in a Tanzu Kubernetes Grid multi-cloud cluster with the solution organization or in a CNCF-compliant Kubernetes cluster outside of VMware Cloud Director. This is an improvement that provides flexibility and seamless integration into various infrastructure setups, expanding deployment options for cloud providers. Additionally, integration with Tanzu Kubernetes Grid brings additional benefits such as optimized operations through standard packages such as Contour for service load balancing, Cert-Manager for TLS certificate management, and Grafana service metrics.

Day 2 Deployment Configuration via UI: Cloud provider administrators now have improved control over configuring the VMware Cloud Director Object Storage Extension directly from the VMware Cloud Director provider portal. Tasks such as setting replica numbers, managing TLS certificates, connecting to databases, configuring storage platforms, and more can be triggered from the UI. These user interface improvements streamline the configuration process, making it more intuitive and efficient for administrators.

VMware Cloud Director Extension for Data Solution Integration: Version 3.0 introduces intuitive integration with Solutions organization VMware Postgres instances and allows provider administrators to designate them as a database for the VMware Cloud Director Object Storage Extension. This integration simplifies database management tasks and increases the overall efficiency of the solution.

Ongoing updates: With the add-on installation, VMware Cloud Director Object Storage Extension now supports rolling updates, ensuring configuration changes are automatically checked and applied. Cloud provider administrators can easily scale or expand the extension directly from the VMware Cloud Director provider portal. This is another feature that increases operational flexibility and agility.

Improvements for S3 and OSIS: Version 3.0 brings significant improvements to S3 support, including the ability to return ARNs for tenant storage users and an improved user experience for Kubernetes cluster protection. Additionally, the Object Storage Interoperability Services (OSIS) interface has been expanded to adapt to different storage providers, improving compatibility and interoperability.

Updated support matrix: Finally, version 3.0 introduces an updated support matrix that certifies new versions of products including VMware Cloud Director, VMware Cloud Director Container Service Extension, and various storage platforms. This ensures compatibility and reliability for providers using VMware's cloud infrastructure solutions.

With VMware Cloud Director Object Storage Extension Version 3.0, VMware Cloud Director continues to provide providers with expanded functionality, flexibility and efficiency in managing cloud infrastructure. From streamlined installation to enhanced access and configuration processes to improved integration and support, this release delivers significant benefits for vendors and their customers. Stay tuned for more updates as VMware Cloud Director continues to innovate and evolve its cloud solutions.

Further information

Object Storage Extension 3.0 release notes

Visit the Release Notes and that Documentation page to get a detailed understanding of the new features, upgrade process, caveats and limitations.

NetApp® StorageGRID® in Storage Services

VMware and NetApp announced the integration of StorageGRID® NetApp object storage services into the VMware Cloud Director Object Storage extensibility framework. The jointly developed solution offers customers intelligent, fast and future-proof object storage. By selecting NetApp® StorageGRID® as the object storage of choice within the VMware Cloud Director Object Storage Extension, cloud service providers can benefit from better data analysis, faster data retrieval and advanced scalability that is rare with traditional file or block-based storage .