We looking to migrate to vCloud Director since LabManager is discontinued. Initially there were many missing features that LabManager supported and we made use of. I would just like a to catch up amd get a status update on those missing features etc before I proceed with this plan to migrate:
Linked Clones/Deltas -
Are these supported yet? We cannot afford or justify purchasing petabytes of disk space for our storage array to deploy the same amount of virtual machines.
Snapshots -
Can we take snapshots the same way we can in Lab Manager?
LIcences -
Do we have to purchase Enterprise or Enterprise Plus licences for the VDS in order for vCloud Director to operator or can we run it on ESXi Standard Licences?
MSSQL -
Is Microsoft SQL Server supported as the backend of vCloud Director or is it still only an Oracle database?
Cost -
Is the cost model the same as labmanger where you purchase the product/support and then a licence per host? I've been reading the vmware website for vCloud Director and I saw "Includes a license for 25 managed virtual machines. Support and subscription sold separately.". We currently deploy around 1200 vm's. Will we have to pay extra for the amount of vm's we deploy?
Thanks for your answers and input 
Accepted Solutions
Hi Jake,
Sorry I didn't reply sooner...just busy teaching classes
The good news is you don't have to really worry yet as support is available into 2013. See here for details: http://www.vmware.com/support/policies/lifecycle/enterprise-application/index.html#policy_lab_manage...
Linked clones: as you may know by now, are not currently supported with vCD. Again, a lot can change in two years so I wouldn't get too worked up yet.
Snapshots: I have not been able to find an interface in vCD to invoke snapshots. That being said, you *could* do it with the vSphere client -- it's just not a good idea, IMO, since you could have unforeseen challenges with silly things like DRS migrations.
Licenses: You can get away with standard vSwitches, but distributed vSwitches are highly recommended -- if for no other reason, ease of maintenance. You *can* definitely use standard switches but you will be limited as to the kinds of Org Network Pool you can provide and your administrative overhead will go through the roof for simple and minor changes to the vNetwork infrastructure because you will have to modify all standard switches on all ESXi hosts -- which opens up the door to administrative error. So, if not already, get comfortable with scripting using the vCLI or PowerCLI.
DB: currently, Oracle is the only supported dB for vCD. Hopefully, this will change in the future.
Cost: vCD is not licensed per host it is *only* licensed per VM.
Unfortunately, I can not divulge any info re: future features other than what is announced already.
HTH,
Phil
Hi Jake,
Sorry I didn't reply sooner...just busy teaching classes
The good news is you don't have to really worry yet as support is available into 2013. See here for details: http://www.vmware.com/support/policies/lifecycle/enterprise-application/index.html#policy_lab_manage...
Linked clones: as you may know by now, are not currently supported with vCD. Again, a lot can change in two years so I wouldn't get too worked up yet.
Snapshots: I have not been able to find an interface in vCD to invoke snapshots. That being said, you *could* do it with the vSphere client -- it's just not a good idea, IMO, since you could have unforeseen challenges with silly things like DRS migrations.
Licenses: You can get away with standard vSwitches, but distributed vSwitches are highly recommended -- if for no other reason, ease of maintenance. You *can* definitely use standard switches but you will be limited as to the kinds of Org Network Pool you can provide and your administrative overhead will go through the roof for simple and minor changes to the vNetwork infrastructure because you will have to modify all standard switches on all ESXi hosts -- which opens up the door to administrative error. So, if not already, get comfortable with scripting using the vCLI or PowerCLI.
DB: currently, Oracle is the only supported dB for vCD. Hopefully, this will change in the future.
Cost: vCD is not licensed per host it is *only* licensed per VM.
Unfortunately, I can not divulge any info re: future features other than what is announced already.
HTH,
Phil
Thanks for the response and answering majority of my questions Phil Guess there is no point in me going any further with this POC since there are many deal breakers there! Guess we will see what happens in 2013!
Seems like vCD is still in it's infancy and needs a few more years to mature into a product with the ability to replace labmanager 4.0.2
Cheers