vCloud Connector Web Interface – EOL

In a previous article I talked about the VMware vCloud Connector. vCloud Connector is a great tool which enables you to move virtual machine workloads from a private cloud to a public cloud and vice versa. With vCloud Connector you can also move workloads from a vSphere environment to a vCloud.

It’s a bit of a short notice, but VMware announced last week that the vCloud Connector web interface will be taken off-line per April 2nd 2013 (that’s actually today):

“Please note that as of April 2nd, 2013, this feature of the vcloud.vmware.com experience will be taken offline.

vcloud.vmware.com will continue to provide access to the download for vCloud Connector, and all other content on the site, such as the Service Provider lookup tool, will remain unchanged.

After April 2nd, 2013, the vSphere Client will be the only supported user interface for vCloud Connector.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

If you’re not currently using the vSphere Client Plugin UI for vCloud Connector, you can simply register your vCloud Connector Server with your vCenter.

To do this, log into the vCloud Connector Server navigate to your vCenter from the ‘Server’ -> ‘vSphere Client’ tab. This is typically done during the initial installation and configuration steps. The UI is then accessed from the traditional (Windows-only C#) vSphere Client’s ‘Home’ page under ‘Solutions’.

Note that the vCloud Connector Server will continue show vcloud.vmware.com registration within the Admin UI, and it is safe to ignore any error messages about being unable to register to vcloud.vmware.com.”

Well, that’s a surprise; I think the web interface is quite useful. After reading the Q&A we can see where VMware is heading:

Q: Why is this service being taken offline?
A: This is due to a reflection in demand (most people use the vSphere Client), and a re-prioritization of our UI strategy with Hybrid Cloud.

Q: What’s the longer-term strategy?
A: Going forward, vCloud Connector will dive deeper and become more integrated into the core platform, bringing the Hybrid Cloud within reach of all our vSphere users.

Q: Will vcloud.vmware.com still be there?
A: Yes. All other functionality, such as the free VMware Cloud Evaluation and Service Provider Lookup tool, will continue to exist and be improved upon.

Q: Can I still download vCloud Connector?
A: Yes, you can still download vCloud Connector from vcloud.vmware.com/connector. We are only removing the Login buttons and associated UI.

Q: Is vCloud Connector going away?
A: Absolutely not! vCloud Connector is stronger than ever, and will continue to receive updates and feature enhancements.

There’s quite a chance we see Cloud Connector pop-up in some other interface…maybe vCloud Director, or just as part of the new VMware Hybric Cloud Services proposition that will be launched within a couple of months. Until then, we’re designated to the vCloud Connector UI which is (still) part of the vSphere Client…