Oracle VM Reviews

Live migrations work as advertised and, if set right, it moves VMs around to balance out the resources.

Development of the product seems slow, but then again, I do not want a rushed product. Oracle states that this is their solution for their products, but Windows is fully supported. It may not have all the features of VMware, but those features come at a cost (monetarily and performance-wise). I want a rock solid foundation, and I don't want a bunch of hooks into the foundation of my Windows infrastructure.

The system we set up has two nodes (hosts) and one manager. We are using an HP DL 380 for the manager and 385s for the hosts, which, at the time, were not on the compatibility list, but it still works.

We have most of our Windows domain on OVM. One host has one domain controller, the other host has another domain controller. So just in case we lose a host, we do not loose an authentication server.

We had problems with the PV drivers setting CPUs above eight, but this limitation is noted in the ReadMe file.

Once the system was up and running, the VMs ran great! We have Windows 2003, 2008 and 2008R2 servers. At the time, in July 2013, 2012 was not supported.

We've had no issues scaling it for our needs.

I was using Oracle OEM and Dell Foglight on virtual machines that were already on the market. When Oracle came with its own VM product that was better suited to an Oracle environment and easy to use with Oracle builds, we switched.

I set up the manager first. Since this is an Oracle installation, I chose to install the manager software on Oracle Linux 6.1. Nothing fancy needed, but I installed the desktop to make things easier for me. I have two NICs set up, one to connect to my network, and the other to connect to the hosts (for management, VM live migrations, and the heartbeat). I then installed the manager software and you just need to click Next>Next>Next. Be sure to write the password down, as this is the password needed to gain access to the management console (via web).

The hosts were a snap. We do not have any hard drives in the host, but do have a flash card to boot from. So I chose the "minimal" install for the flash card install, and you need to set a root password and a discover password. Make note of them as you will need the discover password to make the connection in the manager. Keep the discover password the same for all hosts to make it easier. Once in the manager, before you discover all the hosts you need to manage, you will need to set what the VLANs are, bonds to the network, how many virtual NICs you will need, etc. After you discover the nodes, you will need to set up a pool repository that keeps all the info on the VMs. This repository should go on the SAN. Another repository should be set up for all your ISOs and other VM volumes if you chose not to use raw LUNs. Connect all the storage you will use (we have HP P4300s). We use all raw iSCSI LUNS for our VMs. We lose some functionality in OVM, but gain others via the SAN (snapshots, etc).

You get enterprise features for no cost or low cost if you chose to purchase support.

Do not attempt to run OVM on old hardware as it only runs on 64-bit systems. Check with the hardware compatibility guide for more details.

This is a great solution and, in my opinion, it's a rare jewel that more Windows shops should be looking at.

It is designed for enterprise-level virtualization, offering features such as live migration, high availability, and centralized management.

It is highly esteemed for its ability to efficiently optimize and enhance the operational speed and responsiveness of virtualized environments. It offers exceptional performance benefits.

The integration aspect may benefit from some enhancement. Incorporating analytics related to performance, particularly within the dashboard interface, would be beneficial.

I have been using it for two years.

I would rate its stability capabilities eight out of ten.

Scalability abilities are impressive, I would rate it nine out of ten.

They provide excellent support services, I would rate it nine out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup was straightforward.

The installation takes just a few minutes, it is very prompt.

I have heard from my colleague that it comes with a high price tag. I would rate it five out of ten.

Overall, I would rate nine out of ten.

We primarily use it for ERP in virtual environments.

The solution is very scalable. It's easy to adjust the size up and down.

It's stable. 

It's a great tool for complex organizations.

The pricing could be cheaper. It is very pricey.

This tool isn't for every company. It's very complex. 

I've been working with the solution for nine years, more or less.

The stability has been great. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It has been reliable. I would rate the scalability at an eight out of ten. We have external partners and an internal technical team that constantly works to stabilize everything. 

The scalability is very good. You can adjust it up and down. The scalability I would rate at a ten out of ten. It's great.

We have 250 users on the solution right now. Their job titles vary from senior to middle management. It's pretty static. We do not have plans to increase usage.

We've worked with technical support. We supplement it with our technical expertise. 

We did not previously use a different solution. 

The setup is pretty straightforward. It doesn't require any maintenance once it is up and running. 

It took about three weeks to set up the VM itself, however, Oracle in general takes a long time to implement - maybe six months.

I wasn't directly involved in the deployment process and cannot speak to how it was done. 

We have 36 technical staff that help handle the deployment and maintenance. 

We had an integrator install the solution for us. 

There may be an ROI, however, it may not be a lot. It's a very expensive tool.

We currently pay yearly licensing for the solution. 

it is an expensive solution. 

We currently are in the decision-making process of whether we're going to remain with Oracle or whether we're going to look at a different ERP.

We use an older version of the solution. While the solution started as an on-premises deployment, we've since moved to a private cloud. We did that in the last 18 months. 

This is a very complex system for complex organizations. It is not something I would recommend to everyone. 

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

We use Oracle VM for the ESX servers from NetApp. It's a product for development.

What I like the most is the failover and the quick restore of virtual machines.

The interface is quite user-friendly. They are easy to use.

Based on my experience, I don't do enough to actually dislike any of the features that I use.

When deploying machines, we had a couple of issues, where it took up two to three times before it ran with no issues.

Integration with cloud products would be beneficial. At the moment, a lot of companies actually have that available with on-premise. 

The security improvement around it, to integrate it with the cloud. It's something that every company is now focusing on. That would be the way to go.

I have been working with Oracle VM for more than ten years.

It's quite stable. It's very reliable. We run most of our servers as virtual machines. We pretty much run the entire company across it.

It's a scalable solution. Across the whole company, we have 2,500 users.

I personally have not contacted technical support, but the site support team has.

There were no complaints, it was more of a support call. We have a contract in place, when we have some issues, we just call for support.

In regards to pricing, a lot of that is dictated. The tools and technology that we use are dictated by a global engineering team based in the US. 

Because it's one shop fits all, for a big corporation, or a big company like us if they say we have to use VMware, then we've got global partners, and we approach our partners for pricing. 

With having a global contract, we get some discounts. we just move forward with it. 

We don't really have much of a say when it comes down to pricing, because it's all done at a global level.

Oracle has always been one of the best database software on the market, and that's from at a corporate level. 

We used to use SQL in the past, and we've moved away from SQL in a lot of ways. So, I would definitely recommend Oracle based on its stability, the support it provides and being reliable.

I wouldn't give it a 10 unless I knew exactly everything about it. There's a certain aspect of it that I don't use because it's done by our global engineering team. what I know of it, I think, eight is reasonable.

If I knew more about the product, having used all of the features that comes with it, and still didn't have an issue and find it still being stable and reliable and a great product to work with, I'll probably give it a 10. 

Because I don't use the extended features, I would rate Oracle VM an eight out of ten.

The cost of scalability. You pay for what you use. It's free to download, free to install, and the support side has been very helpful.

The way it plays with the Oracle Database; it's all about the Oracle Database. The way it plays with the Oracle Database; it's all about the Oracle Database. The virtualization product Oracle puts out just complements the performance of the database.

I would say third-party plugins to other storage vendors. There are a lot of converged infrastructure setups; one that we have, multiple different hardware vendors. So that would be something we could definitely be looking for.

Also, the monitoring aspect. Right now, there's a hook in to OEM, but I would like to see that part a little bit more mature so that it's a standalone.

It's been pretty stable, especially with the new releases. The 3.4 major release has made a lot of significant performance gains and stability from the 3.29 days.

No issues at all. Adding hypervisors or server pools, even migrating to other instances across different disaster recovery sites, it's been pretty turnkey.

We have a lot of customers out there that are running Oracle Database and, as we're virtualizing, there are other products out there that are not cost-efficient for the customer. Oracle VM is the logical choice there.

That's the beautiful part. There's documentation out there and it's pretty straightforward, as long as you stick to the manual. It's pretty easy to set up. If you're installing an Oracle Database, you literally go to hours from what used to take days.

When selecting a vendor what's important, obviously, is the reputation in the industry, the kind of support they provide, and the features of the product that we'll be using.

If you're going from a bare metal type of implementation, the expectation is going to be that the performance level will be there, and Oracle VM is definitely a product that gives you that.

I think the most intriguing thing about Oracle VM is it's an enterprise-grade hypervisor. So it handles all the virtualization, and it's free. You don't hear the word Oracle and Free a lot, but there's a lot of stuff at Oracle that is free and Oracle VM is one of those.

It does most everything that you need in the enterprise for a hypervisor for virtualization. I can run VMs in it, I can do farms of VMs, I can run Linux, I can run Windows, I can run Solaris, I have a lot of choices of operating systems. It does everything that you need it to do for most of your needs for hypervisor.

There's a lot of benefits with Oracle VM that I like. I've been working with 3.4.1 which just came out. I've been working that prior to release. There's some features there that they added like Live Storage Migration that is really a key feature for that enterprise ability in the environment. The other thing is how it handles what are called partitions, from a licensing aspect. When I have Oracle licensing challenges that I have with some of the other hypervisors, Oracle VM is able to be configured so I don't have those challenges.

Cloning VMs helps a ton, especially when interface into EM, so users can build their own sandbox environmentnt, complete with WebLogic AND Database

What features would I like to see in Oracle VM in future releases? I can think of a ton of them. Some of them are just coming out. Better disaster recovery, though they just introduced a new technology called Oracle VM Site Guard that's helped a lot in disaster recovery. I would like to see better integration to Oracle networking hardware, so that would be nice, the integration between the Oracle physical networking hardware, the S2 switches would be nice for that integration.

For about 5 years now

Just issues on my part

Not in newer versions, but 3.0.1 had some issues, of course that was years ago

Scalability of the solution, we use it all in our labs and we have some small production use. I also have clients that are using it, not had an issue with scaling systems very large. Getting into server individual pods or pools or servers, 16 nodes, no problem. Getting into farms running thousands of VMs, no problem at all.

Great, the few times I have needed it.

Oracle technical support for OVM is one of the strong areas I've seen from Oracle support. The support staff are fairly knowledgeable on the product. I haven't had too many issues. When I had the few cases to open up as a port issue where they weren't able to help the surprising thing though with that is I haven't had to call Oracle support a lot for the product. It's a very stable product, very robust product. The number of tickets I've had to open up with Oracle have been minimal since I've been using the product heavily now for the last five years.

I think it becomes more of a why do you use it situation. One of the things is it's a cost savings. Since Oracle VM is free and the support's free when you have Oracle hardware, you don't have to pay the expense you pay with a lot of these other hypervisor packages out there. It's an immediate cost savings out of the gate. The other times you look at what do you want to run Oracle VM is when you have performance issue. The way it works technically under the covers, the lower level of the hypervisor, the VM runs faster and I get better performance. In small environments it's nice my application runs a little faster unvirtualized. In larger environments, it's actually a bigger deal. Not only do my applications runs faster but because of the efficiency I actually have to buy less hardware.

Up and running with VMs in an afternoon. Easy!

The initial setup for Oracle VM is pretty straightforward. Installing the hypervisor on what's called an OVS, Oracle VM Server takes maybe five minutes and you're up and running. Installing the management software itself, they may take a little longer, maybe an hour for a complete install from scratch before you're up and running, and it's all web based which is really nice. You don't have to have any special clients on it. Often I'll be managing the system either from Windows or even from my iPad.

The hard partiton technology really helps with Oracle licensing. For OVM, it's free!

Yes, but non could beat Oracle VM's price!

If I have to give it a rating between one and ten I would give it a nine. The reason I would give it a nine is there is some room for improvement with some of the areas in the manager. Some of the integration to the networking layer with the Oracle products would be nice.

My recommendation to peers is if you're looking at hypervisors, have an open mind. The market's not just dominated by single hypervisor. Look at the technology out there and give it a fair evaluation of what it's capabilities are.

Oracle VM needs to add a backup feature. 

I have been using the product since 2014. 

I rate the product's stability a nine out of ten. 

I rate Oracle VM's scalability a ten out of ten. 

I have never contacted Oracle support. 

I also use IBM as per project requirements. 

When we installed the product in 2014, its documentation was simple and crystal clear. Now, it is complicated. We have to jump from one page to another. I rate its deployment an eight out of ten. Deployment takes around two hours to complete. 

I managed the deployment myself. 

Oracle VM is not expensive. I rate its pricing a three out of ten. 

The solution is easy to configure once you understand the documentation. I rate it a nine out of ten. 

Feature-wise, the solution's high availability to most servers is good. The virtual sellers don't have a host. I think that one is the most valuable for me.

I know they moved from OVM, and I think right now, they are moving into KVM or something else. I don't have much to say about the improvement if they are already shifted to the KVM.

The configuration can be more flexible. It is a necessity.

I have been using Oracle VM since 2014. Also, I am not using the solution's latest version. I am using Oracle VM 3.4. I am a customer of the solution.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Right now, no one in my company uses the solution.

I rate the solution's technical support a ten out of ten. I have used their support, and it is good.

Positive

On a scale of one to ten, where one being difficult and ten being easy, I rate the setup a five because the vendor was supposed to have done the biggest part, and they actually don't configure everything.

The deployment was done in a week or two.

Three people, along with the vendor, were needed for deployment.

The solution's UI is good enough.

I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten.