What Is ZVF?
ZStack Virtualization Foundation (ZVF) is an enterprise virtualization infrastructure platform for VMware replacement and localized virtualization deployment. It brings together capabilities for compute, networking, storage, security, migration, management, and data protection. Components can be combined according to project scope and deployment phase, helping you build virtualization resource pools and extend them with migration, unified management, data protection, and disaster recovery capabilities.
In VMware replacement projects, ZVF covers key stages of virtualization, management, migration, and disaster recovery. ZSphere provides core server virtualization capabilities for building and managing virtualization resource pools. ZCenter provides a unified portal and enterprise-wide management across multiple ZSphere environments and sites. ZMigrate migrates existing VMs into the target environment. ZLR provides disaster recovery orchestration for dedicated DR deployments. Together, these components support a replacement path from migration and runtime operations to unified management and disaster recovery.
For localized virtualization deployments, ZVF can align with localized hardware and software ecosystem requirements and support scenarios such as virtualization resource pool construction, key workload hosting, virtualized data center deployment, data protection, and branch or edge virtualization.
Components
ZVF consists of multiple components. Each component has a different role in virtualization infrastructure construction, migration, unified management, data protection, and disaster recovery.
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| ZSphere | Provides core server virtualization capabilities for building and managing virtualization resource pools, including compute, storage, networking, VM management, and platform operations. |
| ZStone | Provides distributed storage services for ZSphere environments, helping deliver highly available and reliable storage for VM workloads and storage expansion. |
| ZMigrate | Provides migration services for moving workloads from VMware vSphere or other source platforms to the target ZSphere environment. |
| ZCenter | Provides a unified portal and enterprise-wide management across multiple ZSphere environments and sites. |
| ZLR | Provides disaster recovery orchestration for dedicated DR deployments. Together with data protection and recovery capabilities in ZSphere, it supports business continuity requirements ranging from day-to-day data recovery to disaster recovery. |
Typical Deployment Scenarios
ZVF organizes component capabilities around common virtualization infrastructure projects. You can start with a virtualization resource pool and then add migration, unified management, data protection, or disaster recovery capabilities as the environment evolves.
Build a virtualization resource pool
When building or modernizing virtualization infrastructure, you need to organize servers, storage, and networking resources into a virtualization resource pool that can host business workloads. In this scenario, ZSphere provides the foundation for creating and managing data centers, clusters, hosts, storage, networks, and VMs.
This scenario can also support localized virtualization deployment. You can plan the resource pool based on target hardware, operating systems, and workload requirements, and then add migration, unified management, data protection, or disaster recovery capabilities as needed.
Support VMware replacement and migration
In VMware replacement and migration projects, you need to move VMs from a source virtualization platform into the target virtualization environment. ZSphere provides the target resource pool and VM runtime environment, while ZMigrate handles source platform access, migration task orchestration, data migration, and cutover.
After migration, the target VMs run on and are managed by ZSphere. You can then introduce unified management, data protection, or disaster recovery capabilities according to operational requirements.
Manage virtualization environments centrally
When you deploy multiple ZSphere environments or build multisite virtualization infrastructure, you need a unified management view to reduce the complexity of distributed operations. ZCenter provides a unified portal and centralized management across environments and sites.
Each ZSphere environment provides the underlying resources and workload runtime environment. ZCenter helps you view resources and operating status across environments and perform centralized operations from a single management entry point.
Provide data protection and disaster recovery
For business continuity, you need to select data protection or disaster recovery capabilities based on recovery objectives and protection scope. ZSphere data protection and recovery focuses on backup and recovery within the platform, including VM data and platform data protection.
ZLR is designed for independent disaster recovery scenarios and covers broader disaster recovery requirements. These capabilities have different protection scopes and deployment goals, and can be used together according to business continuity requirements.