Standardizing Terminology Across Cloud and VCF
The key idea is to avoid inventing proprietary terminology and instead rely on concepts that are already widely understood across the cloud industry. Terms such as Region and Availability Zone are common reference points across AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and other platforms—and they translate well into VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) architectures.
By using familiar terminology, we make architecture discussions clearer, more portable, and easier to align with existing cloud operating models.
Availability Zone Concept in VCF
An Availability Zone (AZ) in VCF typically maps to a single SDDC-level failure domain. This is where availability and recovery are handled within a controlled scope.
Availability can be defined at different levels, for example:
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Rack-level failure domains
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Row or data center–level failure domains
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A dedicated VCF instance operating as a standalone availability zone
The exact definition depends on how availability and resiliency requirements are implemented operationally. The goal is to ensure predictable recovery and isolation within that zone.
Region Concept in VCF
A Region is a higher-level construct that consists of multiple Availability Zones. By design, regions are:
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Geographically separated
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Typically connected with latency up to ~150 ms
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Deployed as independent VMware Cloud Foundation instances
This separation is intentional. A region represents:
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Operational independence
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Separate control planes
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Distinct management and lifecycle boundaries
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Isolated fault domains for maximum resiliency
Each VCF instance in a region is treated as a unique and autonomous environment, ensuring that failures, upgrades, or operational changes do not propagate across regions.
Why This Matters
The region-and-zone model exists to deliver:
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Strong fault isolation
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Clear operational boundaries
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Scalable cloud-like deployment patterns
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Consistent resiliency and disaster recovery design
By adopting these industry-standard concepts within VCF, organizations can design architectures that are cloud-aligned, resilient, and easier to operate, while still retaining flexibility in how availability and recovery are implemented.
