Design Implications

vFabric Application Director server is only supported when deployed to a vCloud Director-based environment. Often the vCloud environment on which vFabric Application Director is deployed is the same environment where applications are being provisioned. Because vFabric Application Director uses the vCloud API to issue provisioning requests, the vFabric Application Director server must be able to issue API calls to the vCloud Director server(s) managing the vCloud environment. This has security implications for some consumers.

In public vCloud deployments, vCloud consumers often have access to only one vCloud organization. In this scenario, the vFabric Application Director vCloud provider organization is the same as the organization housing the vFabric Application Director server. If access to multiple organizations is available, it may be beneficial to deploy the vFabric Application Director server and software repository to one organization and have provisioned workloads deployed to another organization. Network access must be available from the deployed virtual machines to the vFabric Application Director server and software repository.

In private vCloud deployments, the vFabric Application Director server should be deployed to a vCloud organization designated for management systems. This provides isolation for administrative purposes and can simplify Chargeback administration. Additionally, the software repository can be deployed to the management organization. vCloud providers can be defined in vFabric Application Director based on organization separation policies. Network access must be available from the deployed virtual machines to the vFabric Application Director server and software repository.

In a hybrid vCloud deployment, the vFabric Application Director server might not be local to the vCloud provider where applications are being deployed. vFabric Application Director uses the vCloud API to make provisioning requests to the vCloud provider. The agent installed in each vFabric Application Director provisioned virtual machine must also be able to establish a network connection to the vFabric Application Director server. It is recommended that the software repository be located in the same environment or datacenter as the target vCloud provider due to bandwidth and latency considerations.