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Solution Architect & Presale at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
The interface is very user-friendly and the solution is simple to use
Pros and Cons
  • "The interface is very user-friendly and the solution is simple to use."
  • "The reporting could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for a client that has an environment with three data centers with 25 hosts per site on each of them. There's also a headquarters in Israel. The solution is used at each center.

What is most valuable?

The interface is very user-friendly and the solution is simple to use.

What needs improvement?

The solution could use an internal cloud service. It should offer a vCloud foundation, but on-premises. For example, a small cloud environment or something that can be built on-premises and not hosted by Microsoft or other big hosting sites. We'd like to use some sort of vCloud to take the risks away from headquarters. The resources would be on-site on the customer side.

The reporting could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using VMware in general for 12-14 years.

Buyer's Guide
vCenter Configuration Manager
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about vCenter Configuration Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. Our last project was for a company with a workforce of around 10,000 people.

How are customer service and support?

As integrators, we often are the technical support for our customers. Their technical support that the solution offers is also good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't previously use another solution. We prefer VMware.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup's difficulty depends on the client's environment. Deployment can be complex or simple, but it depends on the underlying architecture. It can take anywhere from two weeks to one year.

What about the implementation team?

We're integrators, so we handle the implementation for our clients.

What other advice do I have?

We use the on-premises deployment model.

We're an integration company.

I'd recommend the solution. I'd rate it eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integration Partner
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reviewer1384830 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT System Manager and Infrastructure Architect at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Easy to use with good online integration and very stable
Pros and Cons
  • "The online configuration, especially in the latest version, is very good."
  • "The solution could be more integrated with the Microsoft environment."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution to manage the virtual machines.

What is most valuable?

The solution overall is very good.

The online configuration, especially in the latest version, is very good.

It's worked well for us so far and hasn't disappointed on any level.

What needs improvement?

I can't think of an aspect that needs improvement, as it's work so well for us so far.

The solution could be more integrated with the Microsoft environment.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for ten years now. It's been a decade.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. It's reliable. We don't have issues like crashes. It doesn't freeze. there aren't bugs or glitches.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution is very high because it can scale in or out, so it's very good. If a company needs a solution that can size up or down to fit their needs, this is it.

How are customer service and technical support?

We've never directly contacted the solution's technical support. We have a partner that assists us if we run into issues of any kind. Therefore, I can't speak to their level of service.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup happened about a decade ago, therefore I don't recall all of the details. However, I don't remember it being complex or difficult. It was pretty straightforward.

The deployment didn't take too long. It might have been an hour and a half or so.

We have a two-man engineering team that handles maintenance.

What other advice do I have?

We're VMware partners.

I'd recommend the solution. It's very good. A company wouldn't have any trouble implementing it. It doesn't disappoint, and I don't see an area where it is lacking.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Buyer's Guide
vCenter Configuration Manager
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about vCenter Configuration Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Architect with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Enables our customers to see which VMs need more resources or are over-committed
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the ability to see which virtual machines need more resources or are over-committed."
  • "It can take a long time for the first information to become available. On the other hand, that's normal. It has to collect a lot of information before it can predict future needs. But it would be nice if there was some kind of base level to get started."

What is our primary use case?

Our clients use it to get real, in-depth information about how the environment is being used; to see if they have to scale up, scale down, scale out.

How has it helped my organization?

Our clients have better knowledge of how they have to provision hardware and when they will need to provision hardware. It makes for more predictable environments. It prevents future problems.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the ability to see which virtual machines need more resources or are over-committed.

What needs improvement?

It can take a long time for the first information to become available. On the other hand, that's normal. It has to collect a lot of information before it can predict future needs. But it would be nice if there was some kind of base level to get started.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is great, in my experience.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is also great. It can scale out as far as you want to go.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

My clients already have VMware. In terms of investing in a new solution, most of the time my clients already have problems that they're not aware of, or they feel like they don't have control. That's when I get hired, to see if I have the knowledge, along with the knowledge of the VMware products, that can help them in the future. They don't have the internal knowledge for deploying and configuring all their VMware.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty much straightforward. You just implement an OVA, answer some questions for IP settings and how large the environment is that you want to monitor, and then the install configures itself. You have to configure some plug-ins, but there's no rush on that.

What was our ROI?

ROI depends on the size of the environment. If you have more than 1,000 virtual machines, you should definitely install this type of software. The time to ROI depends on whether you configured a new cluster. In that case, you probably have enough resources, but we want to know how far you can go in your cluster, how many virtual machines you have left, given the space.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's a large application. It consumes a lot of resources. Sometimes the price is too high for our customers. If they buy it directly from VMware, its hard to convince the customer that we will bring down the total cost of ownership, in the end.

If they have an SLA, most of the time the solution is included in the license, and it's easier to get it deployed to the customer.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Some of our clients evaluate Nutanix. They go with VMware because it's an enterprise company, and most of my customers are enterprise. They want the full support of an enterprise company. It's supported through all the specs, not only the hardware but all the applications.

What other advice do I have?

You should definitely go for this solution. Without this type of tooling, you're not aware of how your environment is functioning. You don't know if you are over-committed, or if you need to downsize. You get more inside information, and that's always useful.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
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Tomas Sajauka - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer-Consultant at Blue Bridge Bond, UAB
Real User
Top 5
User-friendly platform with valuable automation capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "In large implementations, especially in regulated environments, vCenter's automation capabilities prove invaluable for implementing new processes efficiently."
  • "The platform's certificate management functionality can be challenging, along with troubleshooting when issues arise."

What is our primary use case?

We utilize vCenter for configuration management. While we don't use it as a manager, we integrate some HTS plugins with vCenter for configuration.

What is most valuable?

vCenter's configuration management features are crucial for us. Additionally, Skyline is a nice-to-have feature for best practices and issue management.

What needs improvement?

The platform's certificate management functionality can be challenging, along with troubleshooting when issues arise. Also, improving the backup central store would be beneficial.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Challenges did arise, particularly in terms of stability. However, we managed to overcome them through diligent troubleshooting and assistance from the support team. 

I rate the stability a nine out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability-wise, vCenter serves our business requirements adequately.

How are customer service and support?

We've reached out for support. While the response time was good, there's room for improvement in addressing more complex issues.

What other advice do I have?

In large implementations, especially in regulated environments, vCenter's automation capabilities prove invaluable for implementing new processes efficiently.

Ensure your infrastructure is stable and that you have a clear understanding of your requirements. Overall, vCenter is user-friendly and adaptable.

I rate the product an eight. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Siddhesh Sawant - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Customer Support Engineer at Magnamious Systems Pvt. Ltd.
Real User
Useful automation, stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of vCenter Configuration Manager is the automated processes."
  • "SAP CRM could improve by adding additional automation features."

What is our primary use case?

vCenter Configuration Manager is used for managing multiple hosts, clusters, data centers, and sites.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of vCenter Configuration Manager is the automated processes.

What needs improvement?

SAP CRM could improve by adding additional automation features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using vCenter Configuration Manager for a few years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

vCenter Configuration Manager is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found vCenter Configuration Manager to be scalable.

We have approximately eight clients using the solution.

How are customer service and support?

We have not had any problems with the support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of vCenter Configuration Manager is easy. It took us approximately one day to complete the implementation.

What about the implementation team?

We do the implementation of vCenter Configuration Manager ourselves. We have two people that handle the support for this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution comes with three-year support. We have to renew the support annually after the three years are up.

What other advice do I have?

I rate vCenter Configuration Manager a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Solutions Architect at BAE Systems
Real User
Reliable, reasonably priced, and capable of spinning up virtual machines from images
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is stable and reliable."
  • "The VxRail configuration is very complicated and a little bit too difficult to guess what the final product is going to be."

What is most valuable?

What I like is the ability to spin up a virtual machine from an image, which makes my backup policy much easier.

The solution is stable and reliable. 

What needs improvement?

There is always room for improvement. The VxRail configuration is very complicated and a little bit too difficult to guess what the final product is going to be.

The product needs better integration with security tools. It's a feature that you wouldn't need to have for something like Cisco or that type of thing. Something of that magnitude would already be built into the product.

For how long have I used the solution?

I don't use it myself. I'm just designing the system. My specialty is SIEM and analytics tools. I don't really touch that.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good. It does what it is meant to do without issues. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

How was the initial setup?

I can't speak about the process involved in the initial setup. It's not really my job to spin it up and make it work, so to speak. I'm just there to use it and help people to configure it. If need be, there are infrastructure people for that.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing goes back to the configuration. Sometimes for weeks, to work, you need to buy your machines - and those are pretty reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

We do work for government entities. We are not really a reseller. We just say, "This is what you need to build. This is what we advise you to build in." Eventually, whichever government organization we are working for is going to decide what they're going to take according to which country it is. I'm the Solutions Architect.

For what is currently being used in our organization, I would rate it an eight out of ten. We're mostly happy with its capabilities. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Virtualization Admin at CTDI
Real User
Easy to use, many configurations, and stable
Pros and Cons
  • "There are a lot of useful features, such as DRS, ease of use, and many configuration options."
  • "I would like there to be support for this solution in Iran."

What is our primary use case?

I use this solution for workstation configuration management.

What is most valuable?

There are a lot of useful features, such as DRS, ease of use, and many configuration options. Additionally, they have prototype features, such as operation manager and site login.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for approximately six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable and I can rely on it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is easy to scale. You need to upgrade and have the appropriate licenses. 

I work in three companies and the largest one has approximately 500 users using the solution and the other two have approximately 15 users using it.

How are customer service and technical support?

I would like there to be support for this solution in Iran.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Microsoft Hyper-V.

What other advice do I have?

I rate vCenter Configuration Manager a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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ICT Professional at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
My primary use case is for migration.
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a very nice solution for our needs."
  • "My primary use case is for migration"
  • "The functions are not running in HTML5."
  • "The interface itself is not very user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case is for migration, to manage my host, if you have three ESXi, more than one ESXi, you need to manage all of them by vCenter.  The jobs that I do with vCenter is the emission and the migration with VMware ESXi.

How has it helped my organization?

It's a management tool.

What is most valuable?

It's a very nice solution for our needs. I like the function in vCenter, you can use it and its mission. You can manage your VMs and use, and move VMs from host to another host, without a long time. It's a nice function for me, if I needed to update a host.

What needs improvement?

The functions are not running in HTML 5, this is a problem. In addition, the interface itself is not very user-friendly. 

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There are no issues with the stability of the product. 

How is customer service and technical support?

I do not necessarily use technical support. If I have a problem in vCenter, I use tertial line and then how to absorb it and then VMware has many curtains about this.

How was the initial setup?

It is a very easy setup. The first time I used it, I set it up in Windows. I have deployed it in a prior employment, too. It was just as easy there, too. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am not knowledgeable with the pricing of the product. 

What other advice do I have?

It's the best definition for our virtual environments, especially if you're using a VMware product.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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