Accessing network resources on an external network – This use case applies to scenarios where there is a requirement for connectivity to network resources through a different next hop address than the default external gateway. An example might be access to a remote management network via a VPN or proxy, or by accessing services in another organization.

Enabling vApp networks connected to an organization virtual datacenter network to communicate directly – Allows virtual machines connected to different vApp networks (but a common organization virtual datacenter network) to communicate without the use of Network Address Translation (NAT). This reduces the operational overhead of maintaining port forwarding or IP translation NAT rules for connectivity within the organization.

Reducing layers of NAT from external networks to vApp networks – In vCloud Director 1.0, for a system outside the vCloud environment to access services on a virtual machine connected to a vApp network, this required up to two levels of NAT (one if the organization virtual datacenter network is directly connected, or two if the organization virtual datacenter network is routed). Static routing significantly simplifies connectivity to external systems required for services such as monitoring and patch management, or for integration into centralized services such as authentication and logging. Because these routing capabilities are delivered through vCloud Networking and Security Edge, the capability of self-service firewall management is still maintained. This is particularly important in private vCloud deployments where networks are typically flatter to support these centralized services, and static routing provides an alternative to directly connecting virtual machines to the external networks.