For those on vCAC 5.1 thinking of upgrading to 6.0, be REALLY sure you understand the consequences.
While 6.0 brings a number of enhancements, there is one catch you need to be aware of. If you have a “Suite” license, when you upgrade to 6.0 you will lose the ability to define Amazon AWS as an endpoint. Yep, you read that right. I refer you here:
http://www.vmware.com/products/vcloud-automation-center/compare.html
An excerpt:
(2) Multi-vendor, Multi-Cloud Management capabilities are only available with vCloud Automation Center. vCloud Suite Licenses are for managing vSphere capacity in private clouds only.
If you ask me, this is bonkers. The same license in 5.1 allows for this functionality. I pressed our TAM about this, and after some consultation with VMware, he responded with something like: "We always had that rule but we just started enforcing it in 6. We have a SKU coming out in the next few weeks (VMWorld) to address this, but for now there’s not a lot I can do.“
Grrr.
We’re working this out with VMware and I think we’ll come to terms, but WTF?! When does and UPGRADE result in a DOWNGRADE?
VMware is in a precarious position. Its hypervisor business (its bread and butter) is flatlining in terms of growth. vCAC, AppDir and NSX are its strong growth plays, but none of them have become truly imbedded yet. That’s why it’s surprising, at least to me, that they would already begin to churn one of their growth markets: vCAC.
Don’t get me wrong: I like VMware and I want them to make money and succeed. However, it sends odd signals to their core and growth market base when they begin these tactics.