Amazon EVS FAQs

Amazon EVS is a native AWS service that allows you to run VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) directly within your Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), alongside other applications. It simplifies and automates the deployment of a ready-to-use VCF environment on AWS.

With Amazon EVS, you can quickly migrate VMware-based virtual machines to AWS while keeping the same familiar VCF stack you already use on premises. Take advantage of cloud benefits such as scalability, resilience, and security — without re-platforming or re-architecting your workloads.

Amazon EVS helps you unlock the cost and scale benefits of the cloud without needing to re-platform or re-factor your VMware-based workloads. You are in full control for deploying your VCF stack in just a few hours. This allows you to quickly move, extend, and scale your applications on AWS.

With Amazon EVS, you can retain control and gain flexibility to configure a highly-optimized infrastructure for your specific workloads. You have the freedom to extend your on-premises networks and migrate workloads without changing IP addresses, retraining staff, or rewriting operational runbooks. You can continue using the same VCF features and tools for management, monitoring, and automation that you use on -premises, including familiar third-party tools for backup, disaster recovery, storage, and more.

Amazon EVS is currently available in the following Regions:

• US East (N. Virginia)
• US East (Ohio)
• US West (N. California)
• US West (Oregon)
• Asia Pacific (Hyderabad)
• Asia Pacific (Malaysia)
• Asia Pacific (Mumbai)
• Asia Pacific (Singapore)
• Asia Pacific (Sydney)
• Asia Pacific (Tokyo)
• Canada (Central)
• Canada West (Calgary)
• Europe (Frankfurt)
• Europe (Ireland)
• Europe (London)
  
• Europe (Milan)
• Europe (Paris)
• Mexico (Central)
• South America (São Paulo) 

You retain complete architectural control over your VMware workloads with Amazon EVS. You get root access to vSphere, NSX Manager, and SDDC Manager or VCF Operations, allowing you to configure and optimize your virtualization infrastructure to meet your specific business requirements. You can also seamlessly integrate the add-ons and third-party solutions you're already using— including external storage options like Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP or Pure Cloud Block Store, and backup solutions from Veeam.

For technical specifications, see the Amazon EVS user guide on the AWS Documentation page. 

Enterprises look to Amazon EVS for rapid data center exits of their VMware-based workloads to serve business outcomes such as cost reductions in leases, new hardware acquisition and depreciation, and strategic initiatives to leverage the AWS Cloud benefits. Enterprises also use Amazon EVS to extend their data centers, to get footprint in new markets, expand capacity in a future-proof manner, or as part of their business continuity objectives for disaster recovery, backup and restore.

You are required to bring your own VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) license to AWS. Amazon EVS cost components include your hourly usage of Amazon EC2 instances, VPC Route Server Endpoints, and the Amazon EVS control plane. Optionally, you can add storage options such as Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP and Windows Server licensing for workloads without cloud portability rights. You deploy and use Amazon EVS on-demand, which deploys EC2 instances as VMware hosts, which you procure with standard EC2 usage of on-demand, 1-year or 3-year terms to fit your needs. For more information on pricing, visit the Amazon EVS pricing page.

Amazon EVS supports VCF 9.1, 9.0, 5.2.2 and 5.2.1. You can not purchase your VCF licenses through AWS; you purchase your VCF licenses from Broadcom and leverage VCF licensing portability to migrate your workloads to Amazon EVS.

One of the key considerations when running VMware workloads on AWS with Amazon EVS is Windows Server licensing. Depending on your case, there are two options available:

• Bring Your Own License (BYOL): If you hold eligible Windows Server licenses with portability rights (for example, Windows Server 2016 or 2019 licenses purchased before October 1, 2019), you can bring those licenses to your EVS environment running on dedicated hosts. This lets you continue using licenses you've already invested in.

• Entitle your Windows Server VMs on Amazon EVS: For VMs where you don't have portability rights, such as those running Windows Server 2022 or 2025, and as early as Windows Server 2016 if you do not have portability rights, can now entitle those VMs directly through Amazon EVS. Licensing is billed on a per-vCPU-hour basis, and you can add or remove entitlement at any time, giving you flexibility to manage costs as your environment evolves.

Yes. Amazon EVS offers you the choice to self-manage or leverage the AWS Partner Network for managing and operating your VCF environment. Work with the broadest community of partners including systems integrators who specialize in AWS services along with ISVs who adapt their technology to work on AWS.

You can work with AWS Partners offering managed services and migration expertise. These partners include Pellera Technologies, Kyndryl, DXC Technology, Xtravirt, Accenture, AHEAD, Effectual, Presidio, CDW, Fujisoft, and many others who specialize in helping you run your workloads in the cloud. Connect with your preferred Partner for more information.

Amazon EVS currently supports Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) i4i.metal and i7i.metal-24xl instances. Learn more about these instances here.

Broadcom recommends a minimum production environment of 4 nodes, depending on your software release, storage architecture and NSX & management node options. An Amazon EVS environment can scale up to a maximum of 32 nodes.

Amazon EVS is a self-managed service, where you are in full control of your software, including the VCF stack it runs on. Amazon EVS takes care of the networking, VPC connectivity, bare metal hosts and firmware upgrades. You are in full control and responsible for installing, upgrading and patching the VCF stack, using the same tools, procedures and people as you would on premises. Amazon EVS provides scripts and tools to assist with best practices and recommendations, should you require them, visit the GitHub repository here. For VCF 5.2.x in particular, Amazon EVS also provides a simplified VCF installation during an EVS environment initial setup, and you are responsible for upgrading and patching the VCF stack beyond that point.

Amazon EVS provides flexible storage options to meet your workload requirements. Your local instance storage is powered by VMware's vSAN solution, which pools local disks across multiple ESXi hosts into a single distributed datastore.

To scale your storage beyond local capacity, your can leverage Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP or bring in third-party ISV offerings.

To get started with Amazon EVS, there are a few key items you'll want to have ready before deploying your environment. Some of the prerequisites include an active AWS account with the proper AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) permissions configured. Your Domain Name System (DNS) settings should also be properly configured to allow traffic to these systems. You'll also need to establish an Amazon VPC that has adequate CIDR space and includes two Route Server endpoints, each with its own peer configuration.

Before beginning deployment, secure Amazon EC2 capacity reservations for i4i.metal instances. You should also plan out your VLAN subnet configuration in advance.

We've created a Getting Started hub accessible from the EVS homepage, along with detailed documentation to guide you through the process. Taking care of these preparation items upfront will help prevent deployment issues and ensure your environment launches smoothly.

Amazon EVS offers multiple connectivity options to connect your on-premises and Amazon EVS VCF environments. Establish dedicated private connectivity using VPN or AWS Direct Connect that terminates into AWS Transit Gateway or migrate and stretch your layer 2 networks over the public internet.

This flexibility allows you to choose the connectivity path that best fits your network requirements, whether through private dedicated connections or public internet-based migration.

AWS provides support for EVS and associated services, including VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). Customers may also choose to contact Broadcom support directly for VCF-related troubleshooting and advanced configuration guidance. 

Yes. Amazon EVS, future releases will continue to expand VCF versions, and additional instance type support to provide even more flexibility for your deployments.

Yes. We are working to make Amazon EVS available in other Regions as soon as possible.

Customers are encouraged to plan their capacity requirements if they intend to use Amazon EVS. Connect with your AWS representative or reach out to AWS through this link for support. Learn more about the capacity reservations on this blog and user guide.