VMware ESXi Reviews

I have a whole lab setup to train for VMware for virtualization to fellow students. As a reseller, I work for Dell, so I position my servers and storage portfolio. We position VMware ESXi along with the server when we require virtualization.

Earlier, the perpetual license was really helpful. The solution was straightforward and very stable at that time.

Licensing now needs improvement. VMware has gone to the core-based licensing, which is not well received by most people. The pricing and licensing model has changed the dynamics of the virtualization market.

The stability of the solution has decreased over time. It used to be a six or a seven. Now it is around a four out of ten.

Scalability is fine. That said, with scalability, you will need to have more licenses. Customers have faced challenges with the licensing model.

The initial setup is not complex at all. It is actually very good and straightforward.

The pricing right now is one. It is not good at all.

VMware users are getting more options in RHL, Red Hat, OpenShift, and Nutanix after the Broadcom acquisition of VMware.

I'd rate the solution five out of ten.

In our data center operations, we use the product for high availability, snapshots, cloning, and various features integral to our operations.

ESXi is a more mature product than other industry virtualization solutions. It is more user-friendly and mature, even compared with Nutanix.

It allows us to reduce costs while improving performance, especially using VMware Ops Manager.

The solution's cost is a concern. Due to management's focus on costs, we have had to consider moving to a cheaper, more competitive product like Nutanix.

We have been using ESXi since VMware version 4.1.

We did encounter a performance issue with IBM DB2, but the solution has been working stable since a recent patch.

The platform has good scalability. 

The setup was relatively easy for me.

We configure new servers as needed, setting IPs, passwords, and internal details according to requirements. The process is straightforward since we've done it many times.

Maintenance can be challenging when updating firmware, which sometimes requires downtime due to server load.

We are satisfied with the platform's security features. 

We use its AI features to monitor performance and improve system efficiency.

VMware is the industry leader, and I recommend it if the company is prepared for a virtual environment. Overall, I rate it a ten out of ten. 

From a technical perspective, VMware ESXi's best advantages are its reliability and high availability features. It's a very mature and good environment.

The main disadvantage is that the tool requires a significant, expensive initial investment. VMware ESXi requires a large upfront investment that depreciates over three to four years compared to cloud solutions with pay-as-you-go models. You should only choose it if you plan to use it for at least three years. Its deployment process is complex and requires an experienced team. 

I have been using the product for 20 years. 

I rate the tool's stability a ten out of ten. 

VMware ESXi is very capable regarding scalability. You can easily add more servers to double or triple the environment's capacity, so scaling the solution is not a problem.

The installation requires a skilled team with at least five to ten years of experience. It's complex to set up initially, but it's not too complicated once it's running. One person can install it, but having a couple of professionals is better, especially if managing installations across multiple countries.

I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten. 

I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten. 

I have used the solution at home and in my company's departments.

When my company decided to go virtual, we chose VMware for the main reason, which was to comply with the other tools on our campus, like ZenSource and Citrix. My department was the lone runner of ZenSource and Citrix, so it was not the right thing to continue with them. The technology was great, but we didn't want to be the only department using such solutions, and so we moved to VMware. VMware and Nutanix have complex setup phases, especially in the beginning.

VMware ESXi has a complex setup phase, making it an area where improvements are required.

I have been using VMware ESXi for ten years.

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

My company had worked with the limited capabilities of the tool's scalability features. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

A few hundred people use the tool in my department, but around 5,000 people use it throughout the organization.

The tool is used regularly as part of our virtual infrastructure.

I have had no issues with the technical support for the solution. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Positive

I have used ZenSource and Citrix.

VMware ESXi has a complex setup phase.

The installation of VMware and Nutanix was done together, and it took a couple of days. After the setup phase, you can fine-tune it, and it takes time for everything to run as you expected or as you want it, but it took a few days to get it up and running and back in production.

My company did not set up the tool by ourselves. After the initial setup, we ran it and managed it, but the initial setup was done by the company that we bought it from. It was a sort of a two-key solution until we got everything running. A third party was involved in the setup phase.

I am not sure about cost savings, but efficiency-wise, it has improved our company.

If one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the tool's price as an eight.

I have not faced any challenges while integrating VMware ESXi with existing infrastructure.

My company doesn't handle any AI-driven projects with the tool.

I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

I recommend VMware ESXi to mid-level and mid-enterprise customers. I also recommend it to those who are looking for more Windows and Linux workloads.

VMware ESXi's most proven and beneficial area for our virtualization needs revolves around clustering.

I don't see any technical weaknesses in the product, especially after VMware's acquisition by Broadcom. There have been issues with the tool's technical support and pricing of licenses, making them areas where improvements are required.

I have fifteen years of experience with VMware ESXi.

For most of the customers, the SLAs have been down lately, and it may be because of the transition from VMware to Broadcom. I rate the technical support a six out of ten.

Neutral

I use VMware ESXi and VMware vSphere Foundation.

I have used IBM PowerVM. I rate the technical support for IBM as nine out of ten.

I have worked with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and Nutanix for HCI. In terms of cost, Nutanix will be advantageous. In terms of use cases, one of the direct alternatives to VMware will be a Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization.

My company has operated as a partner and reseller for Nutanix and Redshift for a bit less than ten years.

The tool has become expensive.

Over VMware ESXi, I can recommend Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and Nutanix for HCI to my customers.

Considering how VMware ESXi has affected our customers' overall IT cost, most are now looking to move out of VMware.

There are no issues with the product's performance.

Right now, Broadcom's acquisition of VMware has impacted the cost plus support. Maybe the recommendation will be for a different virtualization technology, such as Nutanix and Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization.

I rate the tool a five to six out of ten.

I work with a company that distributes software from GE HealthCare, and we need the virtualization platform in our deployment.

The software from GE Healthcare only needs the basic virtualization functions, such as creating VMs, adjusting the resources allocated to the VMs, making backups, restoring, etc.

The solution’s licensing model could be improved.

I have been using VMware ESXi for three years.

Around 50 people are using the solution in our organization. We plan to refresh the hardware of the product we're selling on top of the virtualization platform every three to five years. After that, we will return to the customer and offer them bigger hardware. We're assuming that their requirement will already have increased by that time.

When we needed technical support, it was bundled with Dell servers. The distributors of Dell provided technical support for us. The support was good and responsive. We got our problems solved within a few days.

We are considering hyper-converged solutions like Sangfor and Proxmox for primarily high availability as an alternative to VMware ESXi.

Our team had years of experience in other virtualization platforms, such as Proxmox, Virtuozzo, and OpenVZ. I've got a lot of experience with those products. The initial setup was very straightforward since the concepts of VMware ESXi are the same as those products.

The software we're distributing on top of VMware ESXi is a bit complex. It's for a healthcare institution, and it takes around one month to install, configure, test, and work with the end users.

Since Broadcom's acquisition, the solution's price has been adjusted, and perpetual licenses are no longer offered.

We only have a few administrators in our company. We usually train the customer's administrators in our deployment. So far, we usually get support from our reseller or distributor whenever we need patches. I would recommend the solution to other users if their requirements match the features offered by the tool and if their budget allows it.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

I am currently on the technical side, making connections so if reports are not working, I handle that. I have knowledge of ESXi, including making a VM and installing operating systems like Linux or Windows.

VMware ESXi has improved the efficiency of the software. It depends mostly on the specs of the virtual machine first created.

The most important features are having a lot of code and CPU threads to ensure the system doesn't lag, and the role of memory is important.

The software could be more user-friendly, allowing customers to easily find the resources and features they need.

I have been using VMware ESXi for less than a year.

I rate the stability of the solution as either nine or ten out of ten.

I rate the scalability about eight or nine out of ten. A lot of customers require this for virtual environments.

I rate the technical support from VMware as nine or ten out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward and simple to understand. It takes about a day or two to set up the system completely.

We use vendor partners to set up according to customer requirements.

The solution is moderately priced, not exactly cheap yet not overly expensive either.

I recommend VMware ESXi because many customers prefer virtual environments over on-premises solutions due to efficiency and flexibility.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

We use VMware ESXi for virtualization. ESXi is a hypervisor that runs virtual machines, providing the foundation for a virtualized infrastructure. It plays a crucial role in virtualization in data center operations, including server and network virtualization with NSX. Additionally, it supports software-defined data centers with vSAN.

VMware includes several security features that can be enabled, such as disabling the default administrator account and implementing strict access control policies. We have a set of restrictions and features that we can enable to enhance protection.

VMware is lightweight software. It consumes a few hundred MB for installation and has an easy-to-manage interface. Socialization is the most valuable feature. It is the configuration parameters available in the ESXi user interface. There are different parameters available. You can customize each of them and deploy a VM according to whatever specifications you want.

Pricing could be improved.

I have been using VMware ESXi for five years.

The solution is scalable. You can add a significant number of servers to your infrastructure. 

The technical support does provide the support.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward and takes 30 minutes to complete. There are no issues with the new installations. There were issues with older or outdated versions, which are less relevant today. Our digital version encountered problems with a few servers randomly rebooting and failing to load properly. Upon investigation, those issues were due to corrupt files. These file corruption issues occur in obsolete versions of ESXi.

One responsible person can handle the deployment process.

Maintenance is very easy. You need to have regular backups, and the remaining is the hardware, which we need to monitor. We also check for hardware errors and events in the environment. In the customer environment, a single person will maintain the solution.

We are not using any remote deployment tools or provisioning servers. We follow three common practices. Our use case involves a limited number of servers, typically three or four. Our provisioning strategy involves installing ESXi on the servers using a DVD or a USB drive. Once the installation is complete, the server will obtain a DHCP IP address, and we can access the user interface using this IP address. We can configure the storage datastore. Once the datastore is configured, we are ready to create virtual machines.

I recommend the solution. Nothing needs to be considered because this does not have a dependency or needs hardware. They need to purchase supported hardware, and VMware is very supportive of most of the servers on the market.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.