Virtual Machines as a Service

ABB Virtual Machines as a Service

Summary

Virtual Machines as a Service is the product-neutral architecture building block for self-service virtual machines with managed lifecycle and policy guardrails. It states what DC 3.0 needs from this capability before a concrete SBB, product, or operating model is selected.

Capabilities

• Provides self-service virtual machines with managed lifecycle and policy guardrails.
• Defines the functional, technical, security, and quality expectations that SBBs must satisfy.
• Keeps service ownership, interfaces, and consumption boundaries visible before product selection.
• Enables traceability from architecture intent to implementation, operational evidence, and consuming services.

Constraints

• The resulting SBB must fit the datacenters ownership model and document the support, lifecycle, and service-management boundary.
• Security, privacy, logging, evidence, and compliance controls must be explicit enough to assess BIO2-aligned implementation where applicable.
• VM offerings must define images, patching, network zones, backup, monitoring, and responsibility split.
• The solution should avoid recreating unmanaged legacy virtualization patterns inside DC 3.0.

Service Description

This ABB offers a VMaaS service that provides virtual machine capacity for workloads that cannot or should not run as containers. It is consumed by solution architects, platform teams, and service owners as the capability contract for selecting and shaping SBBs.

The service description remains implementation-neutral: product selection, hosting pattern, detailed runbooks, and service levels belong in the mapped SBB and related ADRs.

Roadmaps

• Baseline: confirm scope, service ownership, constraints, and acceptance criteria for Virtual Machines as a Service.
• MVP: validate the mapped SBB implementation and record the selected support and lifecycle model.
• Next: add measurable service levels, evidence requirements, and roadmap dependencies once the SBB is selected.

Landing Zones

• Private cloud landing zone in ODC-Amsterdam, following the RWS ICT Strategy 2025-2030 private-cloud direction.
• Government cloud or external cloud landing zones only when the SBB documents the required control set, connectivity model, and data classification fit.

Interfaces

• Virtualization, image, and provisioning APIs.
• Network, storage, identity, backup, and monitoring integrations.
• Self-service request and lifecycle workflows.

Dependencies

• Depends on worker-virtualization for a supporting capability or integration boundary.
• Depends on block-file-s3-storage for a supporting capability or integration boundary.
• Depends on dc-network-structure for a supporting capability or integration boundary.
• Depends on backup-and-disaster-recovery for a supporting capability or integration boundary.
• Implemented by openshift-virtualization as currently mapped SBB traceability.
• Consuming ABB and SBB dependencies must be recorded as links when solution design identifies concrete upstream or downstream use.

EIRA Alignment

• EIRA reference: European Interoperability Reference Architecture (EIRA).
• EIRA definition mapping (PURI):
• Virtual Machine
• Computing Infrastructure Enablers
• Implemented mapping in this vault:
• Active realizations: openshift-virtualization.
• Cross-reference register: EIRA Alignment Index.

Available SBB's

• openshift-virtualization - OpenShift Virtualization is a candidate solution building block for the translated DC 3.0 ABB model. It remains candidate until the responsible architects confirm service ownership, support model, and acceptance criteria.