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it_user509274 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Consultant with 51-200 employees
MSP
For baseline configuration, it can automatically sample the network over time and figure out the environment.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature I see is how it dynamically figures out the environment. It's not using straight baselines. You can configure the baselines, of course, but you can automatically sample the network over time and figure out the environment, figure out what's wrong, bad, etc.

What needs improvement?

There is something I haven't seen yet or maybe I just don't know a way of doing it. We can do some automation deploying DOVF, but it'll be even nicer if we can do automation for getting initially configured. I deploy a lot, so ways for me to automate deployment would be helpful.

Some of our clients use VM tags a lot, and another major improvement would be if we could dynamically create groups and policies in vROps that match the VM tags. If we could say something like, "Auto-import these 10 tags. Auto-create the groups of these 10 tags," that'd be amazing, because right now it's about five or six steps to create a tag for each one. It would be great if it could create a group for every single tag automatically for tag collection – I forget the correct term.

For how long have I used the solution?

I’ve been using it for about a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Probably the only downtime I've seen is when it runs out of hard drive space. When I worked at a previous company, we had a really large environment and we routinely ran our disk space. We got the alerts but didn't always get to them in time by the time it ran out of space.

Buyer's Guide
VMware Aria Operations
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about VMware Aria Operations. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Previously we had four large nodes and a non-HA scenario; we were capturing around 20 vCenters and close to 10,000 VM's, so it definitely scales. It's gotten even more scalable now.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't had to call support for vROps before. I have called support for other issues with VMWare, and it's been hit or miss.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was very straightforward, very easy. I wish all the other VMWare products scaled out and were deployed and configured as easy.

What other advice do I have?

If someone was to come and ask for my advice on the product, I’d definitely recommend it, for sure. I'd describe what some of the benefits are, and I would do that with all clients. We'd deploy a trial and say, "Let it scan your network for 30 days, and it's going to come up and show you what's wrong." Whenever I do that, it's always able to find things that the client doesn't know about. They really like that.

When I decide to work with certain vendors, I look at what's the best solution for the target. For example, we're a big Cisco partner, so we do a lot of Cisco business. We don't do very much of their firewall business because Palo Alto has a much better firewall. At the end of the day, we choose what the best product is for the client. Typically, that's the main thing we look at; what's the best product. For how we choose the best product: performance, availability, features.

Personally, I steer clear of any product that uses a Java interface, but that's just my preference.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user185955 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant with 51-200 employees
Vendor
It’s very simple to deploy but has some problems with scalability

What is most valuable?

Real time analytics and reporting plus integration with Log Insight and vRealize Configuration Manager.

How has it helped my organization?

I’m a consultant who delivers this product as well as numerous other VMware products. For the organizations I have deployed it for, and on projects where it has been deployed, it has certainly aided in operating expenditure, better management and reporting of current and future metrics and values.

What needs improvement?

The solution is growing and starting to have more custom dashboards into existing reporting systems which will make it fit better into organisations who have existing solutions that they need to integrate with in an interim manner or permanently.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No, it’s an OVA and is now only one machine so it’s very simple to deploy.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Only on a very large scale and this is continually being expanded with new releases of vRealize Operations.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Hard to say I am normally part of that customer service.

Technical Support:

If someone needed to contact VMware Global support which I have done on behalf of clients before I can say they are very capable.

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

Some customers use SCOM as this monitors the OS's on the VMs being monitored by vRealize Operations.

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward, as stated before it is one appliance you deploy.

What about the implementation team?

I am normally doing this as either my current company Xtravirt or as VMware PSO.

What was our ROI?

Customers normally save on operating expenses due to monitoring and future planning being made easier as well as savings due to reporting of wasted resources that they can claim back or at least plan better in the future for deployments.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I’m not an end user but customers normally evaluate others like SCOM.

What other advice do I have?

Do it as it’s a brilliant product.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
VMware Aria Operations
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about VMware Aria Operations. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior IT Admin at Fotigo.pl sp. z o.o.
Video Review
Real User
Tells us when we must buy new storage or a new host and finds out what the issue is with big VMs
Pros and Cons
  • "It is stable. I don't have any problems with this product and upgrades are very easy because it's just click two buttons and next, next, next, finish."
  • "When you are at your lowest, support is pretty bad. They ask you dumb questions but when you come to second and upper service desk, it is much easier and much better to talk to and resolve the issue."

What is our primary use case?

We use vROps to monitor and manage our environment. We sell VMware as a cloud to private cloud and to big companies who don't choose to install VMware on their site.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the ability to monitor our compute and that it tells us when we must buy new storage or a new host. It finds out what the issue is with big VMs.

It is user-friendly. All VMware products are. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is good. I don't have any problems with this product and upgrades are very easy because it's just click two buttons and next, next, next, finish.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We can choose the license which is stable and scale out when our company's bigger than vROps.

How are customer service and technical support?

When you are at your lowest, support is pretty bad. They ask you dumb questions but when you come to second and upper service desk, it is much easier and much better to talk to and resolve the issue.

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

We weren't previously using another solution. We use Zabbix for monitoring our environment. Zabbix gave us some monitoring issues, but vROps gives us something more, something predictable.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy to set up. I didn't have any problems with this product.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this product from VMware. If you need some analytical tools, I would recommend this product.

I would rate this solution a seven. I don't give tens because something could always be better. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Network Operations Manager at a real estate/law firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
provides my team the awareness to see what's going on with the nodes and the clusters and allows the automation to rebalance them for us
Pros and Cons
  • "It provides my team the awareness to see what's going on with the nodes and the clusters. It will then either rebalance them or allow the automation to rebalance them for us."
  • "I haven't had to use technical support for this version but I have had to use them in the past with other versions. There have been some challenges with them. It's hard to get through to the right person and resolving issues in previous versions was hard."

What is our primary use case?

The analytics and operations management are our primary use cases of this solution. It's been performing well. 

How has it helped my organization?

The ability to analyze optimizations, the performance, and balance have all helped my organization. 

It provides my team the awareness to see what's going on with the nodes and the clusters. It will then either rebalance them or allow the automation to rebalance them for us.

What is most valuable?

The alerts and awareness would be the most valuable features for us. 

I have found this solution to be user-friendly and intuitive. I also like the integration point and that it's a single pane of glass.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is good. I've used it in previous versions and I'm looking forward to using it in the current version, 6.7. I think it's phenomenal. I look forward to the product growing even further. I understand version 7.0 is coming out soon.

How is customer service and technical support?

I haven't had to use technical support for this version but I have had to use them in the past with other versions. There have been some challenges with them. It's hard to get through to the right person and resolving issues in previous versions was hard. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Sysadminf40e - PeerSpot reviewer
Sysadmin at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Reduced troubleshooting time and we can see what amount of the CPU has been used
Pros and Cons
  • "I like that we can see what amount of the CPU has been used and what's been handed out. We can see how we can bring the virtual machines in line with what actually has been used which has saved us cost."
  • "It is user-friendly although there's always room for improvement. In the beginning, it was about figuring out where you can find what, but once you know it, it becomes easier to navigate."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is to see what's going on with the complete infrastructure and to be able to see if there are any issues. Although it's not in real-time, we still use it effectively. We can see what the state of our environment is.

How has it helped my organization?

It has improved our organization by saving us time that it takes to look things up. We have everything on one dashboard.

It has helped reduce the time it takes to troubleshoot. We're using the vRealize Operation Manager, and when there's an alarm we can have a look, drill down, and see exactly what the issue is. They will usually have a suggestion from a knowledge-based article that will suggest how we should handle the issue. It saves quite a lot of time. Rather than having to go and have a look on Google or somewhere, we can find a solution in the Operations Manager. 

What is most valuable?

I like that we can see what amount of the CPU has been used and what's been handed out. We can see how we can bring the virtual machines in line with what actually has been used which has saved us cost.

It is user-friendly although there's always room for improvement. In the beginning, it was about figuring out where you can find what, but once you know it, it becomes easier to navigate. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is good. I haven't had to restart it at any point. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable. We can add a new host and they immediately become available. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Their technical support is excellent. 

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

We chose this solution because we are using VMware, and the rest of the suite, so it was just a logical decision to go with Operations Manager.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was a bit complex but not really complex. If you take the time to look through the documentation you can figure it out. 

What about the implementation team?

We deployed in-house. We just had to look at the documentation. We tried it in our test environment, found that it was doing what we expected it to do and we deployed it in production.

What was our ROI?

Our ROI is that I can spend less time looking at issues, it's all there in the dashboard. I can see them immediately, I don't need to go into vCenter and go through all the different data stores. I can just have a look at the dashboard, see if there are issues, see where the issues are, and save time.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution a ten. I was looking for a solution that would help me do my work and this does exactly that. 

I would tell someone looking into this solution to go for it. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
SystemEn5143 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer AI Specialist
Real User
reduced troubleshooting time but we found it to be complex and overwhelming
Pros and Cons
  • "It has helped us reduce the time it takes to troubleshoot issues."
  • "It's complex and not intuitive. It has a long learning process. It can be frustrating trying to get the correct information from it."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is to monitor the user experience of our VI in finance and troubleshooting.

How has it helped my organization?

It helps us make occasional reports and with that information, we can react proactively. It has also helped us reduce the time it takes to troubleshoot issues. 

What is most valuable?

We like that we get reporting on our sizing reports. 

What needs improvement?

I would like to see them develop real-time capacity meters.

We did not find this solution to be intuitive or user-friendly. It's complex and overwhelming. It takes time to learn how to work it, which metric is in real time, and what information it's giving per day.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We found the stability to be good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is good. 

How are customer service and technical support?

We've had to use technical support and we've found it to be fine. We have a team in our company so we can ask all of our questions to our technical account manager. 

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

We knew it was time to switch to a different solution because the engineers were complaining. We knew we could not see everything on the platform. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. In our company, we have a service provider and iOS platform, and they built the application.

What about the implementation team?

We integrated in-house. 

What was our ROI?

We get fewer complaints. 

What other advice do I have?

I would tell somebody looking into vROps or a similar solution to get someone with in-depth knowledge to help you with finding your use case. It's very important to set your expectations, know what your KPIs are. This will help you better navigate the solution.

I rated this solution a seven because it's complex and not intuitive. It has a long learning process. It can be frustrating trying to get the correct information from it. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
SystemAd0624 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
It helps us reduce resources by indicating that we don't need that much CPU or memory in use
Pros and Cons
  • "It is intuitive and user-friendly. It is easy to follow and the reporting engine is easy to use."
  • "It helped troubleshooting issues with storms of software data that cost a lot of IO."
  • "At the beginning, the stability was not that good. The latest versions are much better."

What is our primary use case?

  • Capacity management
  • Performance management
  • Troubleshooting

How has it helped my organization?

It helps us reduce resources by indicating that we don't need that much CPU or memory in use. This gets the density of our VMs much higher on our systems.

It helped troubleshooting issues with storms of software data that cost a lot of IO. We could look back regarding why it happen and easily pinpoint it by going through all the reports and data. We would then follow up with the responsible owners of those VMs.

In training data, it predicted that we could reconfigure systems or buy more capacity, when needed.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are capacity management, proactive reports, etc. 

It is intuitive and user-friendly. It is easy to follow and the reporting engine is easy to use.

What needs improvement?

I would like some training or sessions around self-healing and automation. So, if a problem occurs, we can automatically take action on a problem which is occurring.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

At the beginning, the stability was not that good. The latest versions are much better.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is okay. We have had no problems with it.

How is customer service and technical support?

The technical support was pretty good when we called once. They can solve issues in no time.

How was the initial setup?

I don't think there were many problems setting it up.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it ourselves.

What other advice do I have?

If you're using VMware, use the native products that they have because they are great.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
ITArchit8347 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Architect at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
It speeds up troubleshooting. We can see what is happening on our platform.
Pros and Cons
  • "All our capacity management and capacity planning processes are based on vROps. Without this tool, we are unable to predict what we need, at what time we need to purchase new hardware, whether we should upgrade, etc."
  • "We would like easier customer reporting, because to do customer reports, we have to do a lot of programming."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for various operations to monitor and have some visibility over the platform.

How has it helped my organization?

All our capacity management and capacity planning processes are based on vROps. Without this tool, we are unable to predict what we need, at what time we need to purchase new hardware, whether we should upgrade, etc.

What is most valuable?

The reports about usability, the free and available space, and capacity on the platform. These reports are the best that we have.

What needs improvement?

It can be more intuitive and user-friendly. We would like some artificial intelligence behind it to predict, instead of what we do now which is configuring vROps is to show what you have.

We would like easier customer reporting, because to do customer reports, we have to do a lot of programming.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is superb.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We chose VMware because of its scalability. If you need to grow and scale, there is no solution on the market like vROps.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have used techncial support several times, but not for errors. We haven't needed support for vROps though, which is a pretty easy and straightforward product. We have been a VMware customer for over ten years, so we have contacted them for other products. 

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

For many years, we used an outsourced monitoring solution, which was an HPE platform. However, it was basically useless. So, after five years of fighting, they finally gave us the green light to go for something which was built for a virtualization environment.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy.

What about the implementation team?

We were one of the first in our country to implemented these technologies. From time to time, in special cases, we use our expertise. Currently, we are handling 90 percent internally.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated several other vendors. However, at the price VMware offered us, there was no reason to chose anyone else.

What other advice do I have?

It speeds up troubleshooting. Overall, we can see what is happening on our platform. On the other hand, the VMware platform is so stable that there is nothing to maintain.

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 Operations Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: October 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free VMware Aria Operations Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.