Public VMware Cloud Foundation as-a-Service

Public VCF as-a-Service is a fully managed VMware Cloud Foundation as-a-Service solution hosted on shared infrastructure. Built on VMware Cloud Director (VCD), it delivers enterprise-grade VMware capabilities through a secure, multi-tenant public cloud platform.

It is designed for SMEs and mid-sized organisations that want to maintain compatibility with their existing VMware environment while benefiting from a more cost-effective and flexible cloud model, particularly in the context of evolving Broadcom licensing models.

Public VCF as-a-Service is a managed VMware Cloud Foundation as-a-Service platform delivered on shared infrastructure. It provides a scalable cloud platform where you can run and manage your VMware environment without handling underlying hardware or operational complexity.

You access your dedicated virtual resources — compute, storage, and networking — through the VMware Cloud Director (VCD) interface, which acts as a centralized control plane for cloud management. From this interface, you can deploy and manage virtual machines, configure networks, control user access, and monitor your workloads in real time.

Thanks to its multi-tenant architecture, your resources are fully isolated while benefiting from a cost-effective shared model. OVHcloud manages infrastructure operations, including hardware, VMware licensing, lifecycle management, maintenance, and security updates, allowing you to focus on your applications and workload management.

Built-in automation and orchestration capabilities simplify cloud operations and resource management. Resources are fully elastic, enabling you to scale vCPUs, RAM, and storage on demand. This flexibility supports evolving workload needs and enables extension into a hybrid cloud environment.

Public VCF as-a-Service is a public cloud offering based on VMware Cloud Foundation, delivered on shared cloud infrastructure managed by OVHcloud. It provides a scalable cloud platform where physical resources are shared, while each customer benefits from logically isolated environments.

Your virtual resources — compute, storage, and networking — are fully isolated from other tenants through VMware Cloud Director’s multi-tenant architecture, ensuring strong data protection, security, and access control. This enables private cloud-like control and isolation while benefiting from the flexibility and scalability of public cloud.

This model is ideal for organisations that want the economics of public cloud without sacrificing VMware compatibility, data isolation, or sovereignty. If your requirements demand a fully dedicated environment, OVHcloud also offers Managed VMware vSphere and SecNumCloud-qualified solutions.

The key difference lies in the infrastructure model and level of control.
Public VCF as-a-Service operates on a shared, fully managed infrastructure. It abstracts underlying complexity — networking, storage, and availability — allowing you to consume VMware resources directly through VMware Cloud Director without configuration overhead. It is a cost-effective option, ideal for smaller infrastructures or organisations prioritising simplicity.

Managed VMware vSphere is a dedicated private cloud solution built on infrastructure reserved exclusively for you. It delivers a full software-defined data centre (SDDC) experience with direct access to vSphere for compute virtualization, vSAN for storage, and NSX for networking and security. This provides complete control over your environment, enabling advanced configuration, custom architecture design, and granular resource management.

In short: Public VCF as-a-Service offers simplicity and cost efficiency on shared infrastructure, while Managed VMware vSphere provides full control, dedicated resources, and a complete SDDC stack.

See a full comparison of our VMware on OVHcloud offers on this page.

Getting started with Public VCF as-a-Service is fast and straightforward. Through the OVHcloud Control Panel, you can deploy your environment on a scalable cloud infrastructure in just a few steps by selecting a Starter Pack (Standard or Advanced) and placing your order.

Your virtual data center (vDC) is provisioned in under 10 minutes and can be managed through VMware Cloud Director (VCD), enabling rapid deployment of virtual machines and workloads.

Every new customer benefits from a complimentary 4-hour Kickstart Program, where OVHcloud experts guide you through initial setup, configuration, and key features. Pre-configured Linux and Windows virtual machine templates are available to accelerate your first deployments and simplify cloud operations.

Public VCF as-a-Service is designed to simplify migration to cloud environments from existing VMware environments, including on-premises infrastructure or other VMware Cloud Director deployments.

Because the cloud platform is fully compatible with the VMware ecosystem (including VCDA migration service), your existing virtual machines, templates, configurations, and workloads can be transferred without re-architecting your applications or changing technology.

OVHcloud Professional Services can assist with planning and executing your migration, while the Kickstart Program provides guidance during the initial phase. This approach enables seamless workload migration and supports hybrid cloud strategies by extending your existing environment to OVHcloud cloud infrastructure.

Each Public VCF as-a-Service pack includes a comprehensive set of cloud services delivered on OVHcloud cloud infrastructure at a flat monthly price:

•    Compute resources (starting at 16 vCPU and 64 GB RAM) to run virtual machines and workloads 
•    1 TB of storage 
•    16 IPv4 public addresses 
•    Up to 5 Gbit/s public bandwidth with unlimited traffic 
•    Internal private network (VMware Cloud Director segments) 
•    vRack private network connectivity 
•    Anti-DDoS protection and network security features 
•    Role-based access management 
•    Content libraries with pre-configured OS images 
•    Lifecycle management (updates, patches, scalability)
•    VMware Cloud Director Availability (VCDA) migration service

Advanced Starter Packs also include enhanced networking and security features such as:

•    VMware Firewall and Distributed Firewall 
•    Microsegmentation 
•    Edge Gateways 
•    NAT, IPSec VPN, and Layer 2 VPN 
•    Dynamic routing 
•    DNS and DHCP services 

These features support data protection and disaster recovery requirements for business-critical workloads.
All packs include the 4-hour Kickstart Program and OVHcloud Standard Support.

Public VCF as-a-Service is managed through VMware Cloud Director (VCD), a web-based interface designed for cloud management, workload deployment, and resource orchestration.

From VCD, you can provision virtual machines, configure networking, manage user permissions, and monitor your workloads in real time. It provides centralized management of your cloud infrastructure, enabling you to control resources, environments, and access from a single interface.

The OVHcloud Control Panel complements VCD by allowing you to manage your subscription, adjust resources, configure security settings, and access support services.

For automation, Public VCF as-a-Service supports API-based operations and orchestration workflows, enabling integration with DevOps tools and simplifying workload management, provisioning, scaling, and resource optimisation.

VMware Cloud Director (VCD) and vCloud Director (vCD) refer to the same product; the only difference is in the name. Initially called vCloud Director, the platform was renamed VMware Cloud Director from version 10.1 in April 2020 to better reflect its integration into the VMware Cloud ecosystem.

VCD is a cloud management platform designed for multi-tenant environments, enabling centralized management of virtual machines, workloads, and infrastructure resources through a unified control plane.

The functionalities remain the same, including cloud management, automation, and integration within VMware environments. In short, VCD is simply the new name for vCD, with no functional changes associated with the renaming.

Public VCF as-a-Service follows a transparent, package-based pricing model designed to provide predictable and cost-effective access to VMware Cloud Foundation on OVHcloud cloud infrastructure.

The service is offered through Starter Packs (Standard and Advanced) with a fixed monthly price. Each package includes a defined set of resources such as compute (vCPU and RAM), storage capacity, public bandwidth, IP addresses, and essential services like lifecycle management, security features, VCDA migration service, and support. This bundled approach simplifies cost management and avoids unexpected charges.

Additional resources can be consumed on demand, allowing you to scale your environment according to your workloads and business needs. This flexibility ensures that you only pay for the resources you use, while maintaining full control over your infrastructure costs.

For a detailed breakdown of available packs, included resources, and pricing options, see Public VCF pricing.

With no upfront hardware investment and predictable monthly billing, Public VCF as-a-Service provides a scalable and cost-effective VMware cloud solution, enabling organisations to modernise their VMware environment while optimising budget and operational efficiency.

Public VCF as-a-Service is based on the proprietary VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) stack, renowned for its security and performance. It provides you with a pool of resources in which you can deploy highly available virtual machines (VMs). The Public Cloud is less specialised, but offers a whole ecosystem of managed cloud services such as per-unit instances (VMs).

Public VCF as-a-Service includes built-in high availability mechanisms to ensure service continuity and infrastructure resilience.

In the event of a host failure, workloads are automatically restarted on healthy cloud infrastructure resources, minimising downtime. Live migration capabilities enable workloads to be moved between hosts without interruption during maintenance or unexpected incidents.

The service is backed by a 99.95% SLA uptime guarantee and includes continuous updates, maintenance, and security patches managed by OVHcloud. These capabilities support data protection, service reliability, and consistent performance for business-critical workloads.