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Cloud engineer at a government with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Allows the user to deploy on their own and has increased provisioning speed
Pros and Cons
  • "Before it would take months to deploy a VM, now, with this solution, we can deploy many VMs in one hour. We can do a stack of them with Mediaware."
  • "The setup was complex in many ways. The first reason is that we have many teams who work on it so it gets complicated gathering all of the people. The second reason is that it can be complicated to install it quickly, within a reasonable amount of time."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our primary use case for this solution is for making a cloud through ICDC. We have to integrate them into many VM masses with vRA.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Before it would take months to deploy a VM, now, with this solution, we can deploy many VMs in one hour. We can do a stack of them with Mediaware.

    This solution has definitely helped increase the speed of provisioning. We can now deploy many VMs in one hour. We also don't need to call in as many teams to deploy them. Now it's just one team and they can deploy the machines way faster. It's very good.

    What is most valuable?

    We like that it gives the user the possibility to deploy on their own, we have found that to be a very valuable feature.

    What needs improvement?

    We have and we haven't found this solution to be user-friendly. In this case, we have another portal in the front because we have some use cases we can add to the products so we use another portal for that to reply to all of the requirements.

    This version has all of the features we want. 

    Buyer's Guide
    VMware Aria Automation
    March 2025
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    For how long have I used the solution?

    One to three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Stability is good. It helps us provide more services and give more capacities. It improved our infrastructure and gives us more possibilities to provide our users. It's a very good product.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability is good. We also use other solutions and we are still beginners with these products. We still have to set the time to configure it so that we can maximize its benefits.

    How are customer service and support?

    We had to use their technical support only once. We didn't have any issues with them, they were great.

    How was the initial setup?

    The setup was complex in many ways. The first reason is that we have many teams who work on it so it gets complicated gathering all of the people needed. The second reason is that it can be complicated to install it quickly, and within a reasonable amount of time.  

    What about the implementation team?

    We have a VMware PSO at work who is very good. He was experienced and had good knowledge so we were very happy. We are very enthusiastic to continue with VMware in the future.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate this solution a nine because we've had a good experience with their consultants. Also, because the product is evolving. 

    I would advise someone looking into this or a similar solution, to test the solution beforehand and to be in contact with VMware for advice and help with configuration. You'll realize this solution isn't so complicated.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    HeadOfCl13dd - PeerSpot reviewer
    Head of Cloud and Technology with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    It can automate the entire technical and business processes related to it. Upgrades are always a pain.
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is possible to completely automatize the creation and removal of a virtual machine."
    • "Upgrades are always a pain."

    What is our primary use case?

    We're using it to automate the lifecycle of all the VMs that we are managing.

    How has it helped my organization?

    It is possible to completely automatize the creation and removal of a virtual machine. Not just technically, it also automates the monitoring and asset management. It can automate the entire technical and business processes related to it.

    What is most valuable?

    The portal is the most valuable feature. The Orchestrator with automation is also valuable. We try to leverage the automation and self-service portal. We trust these two feature allow us to increase time to market, agility, etc.

    For the customer, it is intuitive and user-friendly.

    What needs improvement?

    The product was bought by VMware and they are trying to add features, which could be improved. For example, there is a Windows component and appliances with two different databases that have to be maintained in sync. This is a pretty nightmare to maintain.

    I would like to have infrastructure simplification, such as one box and one appliance which does everything. Having to have a Windows machine with dedicated DBs is sort of crappy.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Now, it's pretty stable, as long as you do not touch it. However, upgrades are always a pain.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We do not need to scale it. One instance is sufficient.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Technical support has improved. Usually it takes some time for an engineer to respond. We try not to open basic tickets. Our tickets are usually linked to the box and can take several weeks to get a solution.

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

    We used the Orchestrator that was free, but started to build some automation on top of it, then we needed to evaluate different tools in the market.

    How was the initial setup?

    We have something that is very simple to set up: a single instance with minimal infrastructure. However, we have quite some customization.

    Always something breaks when we do upgrade them. We tried to install the latest artifacts two weeks ago, then we had to rollback. We sent the log to support, and we're still waiting for a response.

    What about the implementation team?

    We did the integration directly through VMware.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We assessed the market. We looked at VMware, Cisco, and a third vendor. VMware came out on top because of the integration. The service that we were providing the most is a virtual machine. So, it made more sense to use a VMware product to provide a VM machine.

    What other advice do I have?

    I recommend going directly to the cloud which already has the self-service portal and other fancy features.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    VMware Aria Automation
    March 2025
    Learn what your peers think about VMware Aria Automation. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
    844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    SeniorSy1228 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Senior Systems Administrator at Webroot Software
    Video Review
    Vendor
    The infrastructure has helped us to greatly increase our agility
    Pros and Cons
    • "Our QA department is able to spin up a new instance of Windows virtual machine and test whatever use case they have, then turn it back down whenever they are done."
    • "The infrastructure has helped us to greatly increase our agility."
    • "For the administrator, it can be a little challenging. For the administrator, there are a lot of moving parts. It is fine once you figure out where the knobs are you need to twiddle, but it can be a challenge to get it up and running."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our primary use case is for our QA department. They use it to deploy machines when they need to test something out. It has performed well. They are able to spin up a new instance of Windows virtual machine and test whatever use case they have, then turn it back down whenever they are done. 

    How has it helped my organization?

    The infrastructure has helped us to greatly increase our agility.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is that I do not have to create a virtual machine for these people and have them do a small task with it, then dispose of it. 

    What needs improvement?

    I find the solution to be intuitive and user-friendly for the end user. For the administrator, it can be a little challenging. For the administrator, there are a lot of moving parts. It is fine once you figure out where the knobs are you need to twiddle, but it can be a challenge to get it up and running.

    There are a lot of moving parts. It could be improved if the solution were more consolidated.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability is good.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is fine when you go with the high availability deployment.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    I have had to use tech support, and they are really good. 

    How was the initial setup?

    I was not involved in the initial setup. I was involved in the upgrade, which was fine with support.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate the solution as an eight out of ten. It has been extremely useful for our end users. To administer, it has been a bit more difficult.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    OpsManb515 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Ops Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Self-service, from onboarding to the end, is helpful, but upgrades are not straightforward
    Pros and Cons
    • "The self-service capabilities are by far the best that we've seen in terms of features. If the user is being able to log in and make requests himself, from the onboarding process all the way to the end, that's very helpful."
    • "The upgrade experience is horrible. It's not straightforward, there are a lot of failures, a lot of support interactions. It's not something that we are able to pull off ourselves. I've been with vRA since it was termed vCSA. We've gone through multiple rounds, and it has never been easy."
    • "The stability needs a lot of work. The troubleshooting component of vRealize is a pain. The administration and the upgrades are not up to the mark. If they were able to improve on that, that would be the best thing and would make it much easier to run it in the enterprise."

    What is our primary use case?

    Initially, we used it for private cloud. Now, we are trying to go with a hybrid model.

    In terms of performance, right now we're making revisions to ensure that it is hybrid-compatible. We have multiple engagements with VMware to facilitate it that.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Productivity has definitely increased. We are not relying on engineers to actually build out the infrastructure anymore. That's the main benefit. From an infrastructure perspective, it has definitely increased productivity, ensuring that the engineers' time is well spent on other, more important tasks, rather than the basic provisioning that they were doing earlier. 

    What is most valuable?

    The self-service capabilities are by far the best that we've seen in terms of features. If the user is being able to log in and make requests himself, from the onboarding process all the way to the end, that's very helpful.

    What needs improvement?

    I'm curious to test out the features that have been announced. We'll see how that goes from a hybrid perspective. I'm looking forward most to the hybrid capabilities.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability needs a lot of work. The troubleshooting component of vRealize is a pain. The administration and the upgrades are not up to the mark. If they were able to improve on that, that would be the best thing and would make it much easier to run it in the enterprise.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Since we are looking at public-cloud scalability, as long as that model works, I think we should be good. We're not too focused on the scalability on-prem but we want to see how it scales out to the public cloud.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    Our experience with technical support has not been great. There seem to be multiple rounds of escalations surrounding support for vRealize Automation issues that we have encountered.

    How was the initial setup?

    I was involved in the initial setup and it was complex. The certificates, the distributed install, wasn't straightforward, I'll just leave it at that. We had Professional Services come in for the first round of install. During the second round of install, when we tried to do the update ourselves, there were multiple points of failure. It was not easy. The install, the upgrade features, are not easy at all. The administration part is what is very problematic with vRealize Automation right now.

    The upgrade experience is horrible. It's not straightforward, there are a lot of failures, a lot of support interactions. It's not something that we are able to pull off ourselves. I've been with vRA since it was termed vCSA. We've gone through multiple rounds, and it has never been easy.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We were initially thinking about vCloud Director but we're a VMware shop so we wanted something that is native to VMware technologies. We didn't approach a lot of other vendors. One of the things that is important for us when selecting a vendor is whether it fits in with our footprint or not.

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate it at six out of ten right now. To get to a ten, they definitely need to improve on the administration and the troubleshooting. From an operations perspective, it is a nightmare. From a user perspective, it is pretty good.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Virtualib6f8 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Virtualization Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Historical data enable us to see trends and where contention may exist in the future
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable features are the metrics and reporting aspects. The historical data and extraction enable us to tell where the trends are and where contentions may exist in the future."
    • "It would be nice if, at the director level, the manager level, there was a pretty graphic. They don't like to see numbers and line items, they want to see graphs and scales and real world pictures. That would support better reporting."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use it for deploying, data recovery, and DR.

    How has it helped my organization?

    In terms of recovery, it takes only a tenth of the time that's required compared to a human element. It gives us time savings, which equals cost savings, which equals personnel savings.

    Having the visibility of the infrastructure at that level helps greatly with infrastructure agility, application agility, and speed of provisioning.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable features are the metrics and reporting aspects. The historical data and extraction enable us to tell where the trends are and where contentions may exist in the future.

    I also like that it reduces the human interaction and requirement.

    What needs improvement?

    It would be nice if, at the director level, the manager level, there was a pretty graphic. They don't like to see numbers and line items, they want to see graphs and scales and real-world pictures. That would support better reporting.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Thankfully, where we're at, we don't have the need for the criticality, we don't need a quick reaction to stability issues. But having the right resources available will help the stability.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We have scaled up. For me and my team, it's very easy.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    On a scale of one to five, I would rate technical support a four. It's not always associated with the correct team on the first go-round, but eventually, we get the right people to get the right solution taken care of.

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

    There is a war on wasted initiative and on waste of time, more than a concern about environmental resources, unfortunately. The war has been identified on multiple levels, especially deploying in our realm.

    When looking to work with a vendor, the important criteria we look for are

    • professionalism
    • the value of the product for the return on investment
    • personally, I look at energy costs and savings as well.

    How was the initial setup?

    Without the right technical expertise, the initial setup can be a little more cumbersome, but with the knowledge and the backing of the infrastructure and the engineering, it's fairly simple.

    We have upgraded many times. We know how to do it. It's fairly simple for us. We don't get the admins involved. The engineers take care of it all.

    What was our ROI?

    As far as ROI goes, we see it in the human time element in deploying, that's been a really big improvement. Cost savings go with that inherently.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We looked at a couple of other vendors but we went with VMware because VMware is standard. Why not go with the best?

    What other advice do I have?

    Give it time to save you time.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    ITSoluticb23 - PeerSpot reviewer
    IT Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Enables us to pre-install the applications users have selected, when we deploy VMs
    Pros and Cons
    • "We also use it to pre-install the applications that the people selected when they ordered the machine, so they get a fully functional machine."
    • "In terms of usability, It has had its challenges. It requires a lot of custom code to integrate into our environment. It can take a little while to get it to do what we want, takes some code instead of having built-in functionality. Part it is how we use it. It would be a lot easier to use in a greenfield scenario versus brownfield, which is the way we using it."
    • "I would also like to see them streamline the install. It's split between Windows and Linux appliances, and it would be easier if it was all appliances. I think they're going that way."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use it to deploy virtual machines in our traditional VMware environment. We don't use it as a front-end for our customers but it works fine for us, on the back-end.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We can use some of its functionality to avoid having to write custom code for the placement of virtual machines. That is the main way we get use out of it. Also, the deployment time is less than it was before. It's all automated, it's quicker than when it was done by hand.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is the automation of the deployment of the whole machine.

    We also use it to pre-install the applications that the people selected when they ordered the machine, so they get a fully functional machine.

    What needs improvement?

    In terms of usability, It has had its challenges. It requires a lot of custom code to integrate into our environment. It can take a little while to get it to do what we want, takes some code instead of having built-in functionality. Part it is how we use it. It would be a lot easier to use in a greenfield scenario versus brownfield, which is the way we are using it.

    I would also like to see them streamline the install. It's split between Windows and Linux appliances, and it would be easier if it was all appliances. I think they're going that way.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability is pretty good now; previous versions, not so much, but it has improved. In earlier versions, we had issues with crashes, but the latest version has been much better.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We have not had any problems with scalability. We're not pushing the boundaries on the number of deployments with it, but no issues.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Technical support has been good. We have MCS, the mission-critical support, and they've been good. The occasions when it is taking a while to get back to us is when the technical support person needs to contact engineering. That handoff between engineering and support takes some time, at times.

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

    We had a little homegrown thing but that doesn't really count.

    When selecting a vendor, if we already have an established relationship with the vendor, it's easier than going to a new vendor and establishing a new relationship.

    How was the initial setup?

    Setup in the previous version was not so straightforward. They have made big improvements in the later versions. The first one was a pain but the new one is fine. A couple of versions back, they added an automated install that did not exist in the earlier versions that we deployed.

    Upgrading took a little while because we did a side-by-side upgrade. There was a code migration, all our custom code needed to be migrated, so it took a little bit of work. But, overall, it was fine.

    What was our ROI?

    Time savings are our ROI, the time to deploy machines. I haven't done any studies on the exact ROI, but saving time is always good.

    What other advice do I have?

    Right now, it works for what we use it for. We're not using all its features, but the pieces that we use work fine.


    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user660039 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    We can automate the infrastructure services. It can be used for IaaS and PaaS.

    What is most valuable?

    Integrating this tool with other technologies/third-party tools, that are not part of the VMware family, is the most valuable feature of this solution.

    If we have a product that allows us to communicate with different products that are not part of its family and make things happen in their application, it is a wonderful thing.

    It resembles the benefits of cloud computing and is achieving more things by using only one product.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We can automate the infrastructure services, which in turn reduces manual work, saves time, and eventually leads to more productivity.

    It can be used effectively for IaaS and PaaS. Thus, there is only one type of software to be managed by various departments/teams in the organization.

    What needs improvement?

    vRA is a very good product, that supports different vendors connecting to it. Currently, it feels like a complete product and I don’t have any areas that need to be improved.

    It automatically becomes large, when we need to connect different vendors to it.

    It can be made larger, so that the organizations can also use it for physical infrastructure.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have used this solution for a year.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We did encounter some stability issues. I found the GUI that we use in vRA to be unstable sometimes. For example, there was no proper update of the tasks that were provided. Sometimes it took a little longer to provide new updates.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    I have not approached technical support yet.

    How was the initial setup?

    It was easy to set up this product.

    What other advice do I have?

    As soon as I started using this tool, I started seeing results immediately. This product is flexible and easy to implement. Its multi-tenancy support makes it more effective for use with different customers.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Systems Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
    Real User
    Helps to automate the building of our VMs, significantly decreases provisioning time
    Pros and Cons
    • "Our speed of provisioning has improved. We used to build systems manually, which would take four hours or a day. Nowadays we're able to spin something up off a template... and it takes about 20 minutes."

      What is our primary use case?

      Primary use case is for automatic deployment of VMware guests.

      It's performing as we want. We're not really asking anything too complex of it, but it does what we ask of it.

      How has it helped my organization?

      Our organization started to move a lot more towards automating all the things that we can. We're catching up to that, but we're definitely heading in that direction. It's one of those things that enables us to tie in with our other pieces, with automating the operating system, etc. VMware is then able to automate the build of our virtual machines.

      In terms of infrastructure agility, we're still getting our feet under us in some areas, but it's definitely playing it's part and doing what it does well.

      Our speed of provisioning has also improved. We used to build systems manually, which would take four hours or a day. Nowadays we're able to spin something up off a template that we update every so often and it takes about 20 minutes. We can take an existing template, build it back up, add some configuration for it, specific applications, turning things into what the developers need, and then we can have them deploy it off that. It makes it so that we can have customization within a framework.

      What is most valuable?

      The most valuable feature is the integration with some of our other automation platforms. We're starting into Jenkins, and it has a plug-in for other automation of operating systems and things. So it works together with our infrastructure. We don't have a very complex environment, we don't have NSX yet or anything really crazy, but all the things we do have, it has been able to interoperate with them.

      It is intuitive and user-friendly. It took some growing. We had to figure it out in the beginning, but that was a couple versions ago. We like the improvements that have been made over time, so it's definitely been able to progress with the environment.

      What needs improvement?

      We don't have too complex of an environment, we're not doing machine-learning or any of the advanced features all that much. We're a pretty straightforward IT shop. We just provide servers, and then, from there, it's what the customer wants. The next step we would probably like to see is to have a customer portal, so instead of our having to punch the button, the customer could. But I believe that VMware offers enough that setting that up is more on us, rather than waiting for them offer it.

      We needto learn more, advance our usage of the product. We're doing what we can with what we have, but we have to learn a bit more. Better training, or training modules, wouldn't hurt. I haven't personally looked through what the portal has, but more training is always good, so we could take a new employee and point him to the training and get him up to speed quickly. I have had 10 years or so experience with VMware, but I'm the old the guy in the department. Everybody else is newer than me on this and not everyone has my experience. So the training would be nice.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      Three to five years.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      I've been impressed with the stability so far. It does what we ask it to. That's always nice. You don't have to think about it. We haven't had any downtime.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      We can scale it up or down. We haven't needed to yet, but we can.

      How are customer service and technical support?

      We haven't had to use technical support. I do a lot of blog reading, so I look up my answers on my own. But tech support, on other issues, has been where we need it to be.

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

      We weren't using much. This was right at the beginning of when we were starting to automate things. We saw the VMware automation and decided that, since we had VMware, it would be the logical choice. And then we started with Jenkins for a lot of our other operating system features. Jenkins, of course, has plugins that talk to VMware natively, so it was a natural fit.

      When selecting a vendor, the biggest thing for us is multi-operating system support. There is the classic divide. I'm on the Windows side. We have a Linux department also. When looking at different tools, something might be better for Linux but we have to have something that will work for both of us. We don't want to have two different tools for two operating systems. Whereas the Linux team wanted to use Puppet instead of Chef, Chef supports Windows and Linux both, better. The nice thing about VMware, aside from it being a lot more OS-agnostic, is that both teams can use the product. One product for both operating systems. That was one of the primary things. We could have a tool that runs great, but it might be a situation where, "Oh yeah, your Windows support is lame." That's the big thing for us, the interoperability between operating systems.

      How was the initial setup?

      I thought the initial setup was straightforward. The biggest thing, once we had it set up, was to integrate it with the vCenter, but that was pretty straightforward. That was part of the workflow. It is automated within the product as part of the initial deployment, which is really handy.

      The upgrade experience was also quite easy.

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

      Better pricing is always handy, but I feel it's at the right price point.

      Which other solutions did I evaluate?

      There were not too many on our list. VMware was the natural fit. We saw the automation. We liked it. Chef, technically, will do automation. It has connections into VMware. We preferred having the VMware automation handle it. Chef will do it, but it doesn't have as many things. We would have had to write a lot more tools for it. It's one of those things where, instead of Chef's being the one tool to rule them all, where we do that for everything, we branched out to VMware automation to handle its subset.

      Jenkins is a Swiss Army knife. It will do literally everything. The problem is that you have to tell it to do everything. You have to build all of the features into it that you want. There's a language to do it, but it just says, "here's the entire toolbox, do whatever you want." It doesn't have as many pre-packaged things. VMware has the ability to build things, but it has a lot of things preconceived, which is very handy. If I just need the basics, I need to stand up some VMs, it already has those workflows built in. Jenkins doesn't have nearly as many things built in. They can both expand to what we need, but VMware had some pre-provided things that were very handy to get off the ground quickly.

      What other advice do I have?

      vRA has a very nice toolset for being able to integrate with VMware. It is great for being able to automate things within the VMware environment. We probably need to learn more about it, so we can fully realize its use, what the plugins for other things are. But it's doing everything that we need for now. We've seen that it has room to grow with us.

      Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
      PeerSpot user
      Buyer's Guide
      Download our free VMware Aria Automation Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
      Updated: March 2025
      Buyer's Guide
      Download our free VMware Aria Automation Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.