HCX provides infrastructure abstraction, high performance network extension with advanced services like proximity routing, virtual machine mobility, and disaster recovery services with data reduction and WAN line conditioning built in.

HCX Network Extension

HCX connects networks (VLANs or VXLANs) at the source site to an NSX logical switch at the destination site. This service expedites the consumption of remote resources by allowing virtual machines to be migrated, while using the Layer 3 gateway and security policies at the source site.

HCX Virtual Machine Mobility

Virtual machines can be moved to and from HCX-enabled vSphere private and public cloud environments using multiple HCX migration technologies. HCX provides version compatibility across legacy and modernized sites.

A few migration methods are listed below:

  • HCX Bulk Migration - Uses the vSphere Replication protocol to transfer multiple virtual machines in parallel. Virtual machines are “rebooted” into the target site and can be transformed to the latest VM Hardware/VM Tools available. With the Bulk migration option, virtual machines can have their vNIC IP addresses updated as part of the migration operation.
  • HCX vMotion - Uses the VMware vMotion protocol to transfer individual virtual machines. Used with HCX Network Extension for zero-downtime migrations of applications that are sensitive to downtime.
  • HCX Cold Migration - Uses the VMware NFC protocol. This migration type is automatically selected when transferring powered-off virtual machines.
  • HCX vMotion with vSphere Replication - Combines Bulk and vMotion to deliver zero downtime failover for virtual machines prepared in parallel.

HCX WAN Optimization

The HCX WAN Optimization service improves the performance characteristics of private lines or Internet path by applying WAN optimization techniques such as data reduction (compression, deduplication) and WAN line conditioning (Error Correction / Packet Order Correction).

HCX Disaster Recovery

VMware HCX uses advanced WAN Optimization to protect on-premises applications by replicating the data to an HCX- enabled provider or private cloud deployment. In the event of a disaster, VMware HCX recovers the networking layers. Traffic routes are maintained as it was before the disaster, resulting in high-speed disaster recovery with low downtime. There is no reconfiguration of IPs, which removes complexity and enables either partial or full site recovery.