5.1

16 vFabric Suite
16 Overview of vFabric Suite 5.1
vFabric Administration Server for Easier Component Management
VMware® vFabric™ Administration Server is a platform-independent, secure tool for installing, upgrading, provisioning, and
managing vFabric products. It is a client/server service and RESTful Web Service implemented on HTTP. Because HTTP is
ubiquitous, clients do not require specific libraries or protocols. You can write scripts in any language that can handle HTTP
requests and responses. vFabric Administration Server works on both physical and virtual computers. You use it to perform the
following management tasks and component-specific tasks with vFabric tc Server, RabbitMQ, and GemFire:
• Install the component on a node.
• Create, start, stop, and change the configuration files of an instance. The concept of an instance has traditionally been
associated with vFabric tc Server. vFabric Administration Server extends the capability to vFabric RabbitMQ and vFabric
GemFire, without changing the component itself.
• View the configuration of and log files associated with an instance.
• Deploy vFabric tc Server applications.
• Add plug-ins to vFabric RabbitMQ.
• Add a JAR of code to the vFabric GemFire application cache node.
Simplified VM-Based Licensing Model
vFabric Suite editions are licensed on a per-VM and average-usage basis, exclusively for virtual and cloud environments. Each
licensed VM can run any or all vFabric Suite components.
This licensing model enables you to revise your application architecture for maximum performance and scalability with no
licensing constraints. You do not need to track individual licenses for Web servers, application servers, and so on. You simply
have a pool of vFabric VMs that you can deploy as needed.
The dynamic nature of modern cloud and Web applications makes usage bursts typical and unavoidable. Because vFabric Suite
licensing is based on average usage, you can license for steady state usage, rather than peak. This capability is enabled through
the vFabric License Server, which integrates with vCenter to capture and report total and average vFabric VMs in use.
To learn more about vFabric Licensing, see vFabric Licensing.
vFabric Suite Product Integration and vSphere Integration
vFabric Suite is the development layer of VMware's cloud computing IT stack. vSphere virtualization optimizes infrastructure
while vFabric streamlines application development and deployment. Tight integration between the two enables you to achieve
higher levels of software density, higher utilization rates on hardware, and the cost benefits of dynamic scalability. Through
integration with vSphere solutions, vFabric also offers application portability and vendor choice across private and public clouds.
Key Fabric Suite product integration points:
• vFabric Hyperic provides a tc Server plug-in for easier, remote management and monitoring of multiple tc Server instances
and applications. The Spring Insight plug-in makes it easier to discover whether a problem is infrastructure or application-
related. Hyperic-Insight integration enables you to move from Hyperic to Insight, in the same application context, to diagnose
the underlying problem. tc Server Plug-In for Easier Management and Monitoring.
• Spring Insight Operations provides automatic instrumentation of Spring applications running on tc Server expose application
performance from both general and fine-grained perspectives.
• vFabric Administration Server enables you to easily install, provision, and manage vFabric tc Server, RabbitMQ, and GemFire
on any number of computers on your network. The server includes a REST API for each vFabric product, which provides
access to unique product features while maintaining a consistent management model across all products.