1.5

Overview of vCloud Director
Installation and Configuration 1
A VMware vCloud
®
combines a vCloud Director server group with the vSphere platform. You create a
vCloud Director server group by installing vCloud Director software on one or more servers, connecting the
servers to a shared database, and integrating the vCloud Director server group with vSphere.
VMware vCloud Director builds on the VMware vSphere
®
foundation and exposes virtualized shared
infrastructure as multitenant virtual datacenters that are decoupled from the underlying hardware and isolated
from one another. You can expose virtual datacenters to users through a Web-based portal and define and
expose a catalog of services that you can deploy within the virtual datacenter.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n
“vCloud Director Architecture,” on page 7
n
“Configuration Planning,” on page 8
n
“vCloud Director Hardware and Software Requirements,” on page 9
vCloud Director Architecture
A vCloud Director server group consists of one or more vCloud Director servers. These servers share a common
database, and are linked to an arbitrary number of vCenter servers and ESX/ESXi hosts. vShield Manager
servers provide network services to vCenter and vCloud Director.
A simple cloud architecture might contain a vCloud Director server group comprising multiple servers. Each
server can run a collection of services called a vCloud Director cell. All servers in the group share a single
database. The group connects to multiple vCenter servers and the ESX/ESXi hosts that they manage. Each
vCenter server connects to a vShield Manager server.
VMware, Inc.
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