VMware NSX Reviews

VMware NSX helps create and operate on-demand networks. The solution is dynamic and flexible. Our company's principal use case for the product is to provide a network for private projects. VMware NSX is also used to link virtual networks with legal networks and develop a single environment that permits comprehending virtual and physical tasks. 

Firewall security is one of VMware NSX's vital features. Using the tags and the solution's security policy is incredibly simple. For instance, I can create a sketch on paper and redesign it with the tags present on the network segment using VMware NSX. 

A basic load balancer feature was present in a previous version, but the latest version only has an advanced load balancer. The vendor should integrate a basic load balancer in future versions. The advanced load balancer is mostly suitable for system integrators, but it is not usable for our company dimensions. 

I have been using VMware NSX for three years. 

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. 

I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. There are about a few hundred end-users of the solution in our organization. 

Our organization's virtual environments consist of virtual machines and systems within the network segments of VMware NSX, and every lab has professors, researchers, and students. 

Before Broadcom acquired VMware NSX, I would rate the tech support a nine out of ten. But presently, I wouldn't rate it so high because our company has difficulty reaching customer support. Whenever I write an email to the technical manager of the solution, I often don't receive a response. 

Overall, the setup process of VMware NSX was easy, but due to the unfamiliarity, the beginning of the process was a steep climb for our organization's team. In our company, we majorly utilize the on-prem deployment model but temporarily we also used the solution in the cloud because we needed the virtual labs and sometimes we needed to use VMware NSX on Azure. 

As a public administrator in Italy, our company signs a contract with an organization connected to numerous universities. This aforementioned organization creates the tender with VMware. I would rate the pricing of VMware NSX as seven out of ten. 

The micro-segmentation function of VMware NSX is wonderful because this feature allows for the best control of every single entrance point of data packets. I would overall rate VMware NSX a nine out of ten. I would recommend others to use the solution. 

Our primary focus is to create a layer that effectively connects to the remote site. This involves optimizing and accelerating the VXLend component, which is highly popular in our setup. We usually configure VXLend to enhance disaster recovery capabilities, specifically for applications that operate within the same subnet. This approach ensures that in the event of a disaster, such as a WAN failure or when external layers are inaccessible, there's no need to change IP addresses. It allows users to connect seamlessly from any location since the servers maintain the same subnet, and data replication occurs between the data centers. The result is minimal disruption and no requirement to modify configurations during these critical scenarios.

Traditional network management often involves dealing with individual components separately while VMware NSX offers a more streamlined approach. It operates on a logical level, providing a comprehensive and centralized way to manage your network resources. This not only simplifies management but also enhances scalability. It enables us to create and adjust policies dynamically, allowing for real-time updates and enforcement so we can effectively oversee our entire data center from a single point of control.

One aspect that needs improvement is the need for further automation. We are already operating in a software-defined data center environment, and while the product is mature, there's room for enhancing automation.

I have been using it for approximately three years.

It provides robust stability features. I would rate it nine out of ten.

It provides excellent scalability capabilities. When it comes to micro-segmentation, it allows you to scale naturally. You can distribute firewall and load-balancing functionalities efficiently as your network grows. It also offers seamless integration with the physical network infrastructure, making it easy to extend your virtualized network into the physical world.

The customer support from VMware is exceptional. Recently we encountered a critical issue where one of our virtual machines failed to start and was displaying a blue screen. Despite the urgency of the situation, we logged a support case, and within twenty minutes, we received a response. A support representative promptly called us, established a remote connection, conducted a thorough analysis, and successfully resolved the problem.

Positive

I have experience with Cisco, but I find VMware to be a superior solution. The primary reason is the seamless integration that VMware offers, especially within a data center environment. When working within a data center, VMware's virtualization capabilities are all that we need. We no longer require separate hardware, edge products, load-balancing solutions, or firewall products. Everything can be fully integrated into a unified system and it allows us to accomplish everything from one console and one central point of control, making it a highly efficient and streamlined solution.

When it comes to VMware, there are two primary options: NSX-V and NSX-T. NSX-V is known for its user-friendliness and effectiveness. Setting up SD-WAN connectivity with NSX-V is straightforward.

The price is significantly high and it can be a hurdle for many potential users.

I would highly recommend VMware for a wide range of users, spanning from large enterprises to small and medium-sized businesses. It's an ideal choice for those who require disaster recovery solutions or cloud extensions. Its versatility and capabilities make it a valuable choice for anyone looking to scale their infrastructure, whether it's within a data center or by extending into the cloud. I would rate it eight out of ten.

We use the solution to establish a connection between our two sites using the same IPs. This is our primary use case.

Segmentation, specifically micro-segmentation, and also for its extended service between sites to keep the same IP address on all sites are valuable features of the solution for our company.

The solution could benefit from improvements in its pricing and scalability.

I have been using VMware NSX for two years. Also, I am using VMware NSX-T 1.0

It is a stable solution. Our company is migrating from VMware NSX-T 1.0 to VMware NSX-T 3.0.

In terms of scalability, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. Currently, VMware NSX is being used extensively in my company by approximately 1,000 end-users.

When our company contacts VMware's technical support, we open a ticket for our support request. In the past, we escalated issues to VMware support and raised tickets to receive resolutions.

The solution's initial setup process was easy.

The implementation process for the solution was executed with the assistance of our organization's in-house team.

Regarding the deployment process, we begin with the manager and the product. Next, we deploy the controller and proceed with the requirements of UA6. Subsequently, we configure the DLR, ULS, or UDL.

I don't look over the pricing and licensing of the solution.

Before our company decided to go with VMware NSX, we evaluated VMware vRA and VMware vRO.

The solution is highly recommended for those with similar use cases as our company, given its features and the exceptional support it offers. The solution's prompt and responsive support team makes it a reliable option. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

The stability or the high availability in connecting two or more servers has been pretty good. This is to maintain the operations in the possible highest stability. That was a very important part of this project since you have to move all virtual machines to the new infrastructure. It took a very, very long time to understand how the old architecture was arranged and how to migrate to our new architecture.

There were some issues in finance and other accounting. The applications there are very old. To move these applications, we had to use some controls or web services for programming in a new program, for example, in Python or visual C#. You have to move these applications to new programming software. It was very, very complex to move them. However, we ended up doing it very well.

ESX servers are a part that they don't implement. The client that this part of the VMware is important. You can implement more virtual machines using ESX server infrastructure. However, they couldn't complete this part since, for some arrangements in the contract, they don't put it in the contract. They need to buy new licenses to complete the project.

I’ve been using the solution for six to eight months.

The solution is very stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn’t crash or freeze. The performance is good.

We have maybe 2,000 users using the solution. We use them to move to new infrastructure.

I have experience using help desk support to understand all the users' needs. We were in the area of quality control, so all the requirements that the users or the managers were indicating to me, we had to transfer to the area of programming and they would say, “okay, I'll let you know if I can do it or not.” I was the go-between. It worked very well. Support was offering quality service.

I am able to help clients set up the solution. I’m an integrator.

The original cost started at $1,500. The solution is paid monthly. All the institutions have to pay monthly for the services in the cloud. They have to pay $30,000 every month for this service every three years.

I am not a reseller. I am an integration company. More prominent companies contract us and we work for them.

I’d rate the solution nine out of ten.

VMware is a very, very good product. It's used a lot here in Ecuador in a lot of enterprises and institutions.

We use the product for disaster recovery purposes. It helps us expand the network and security for workloads running inside the environment. In the cloud, specifically with Azure VMware Solution or AWS, VMware NSX provides protection-related capabilities.

Regarding network management, it enables the ease of creating a network configuration for any application.

The product has valuable features for security and network extension. We can secure customer environments by effectively managing and securing traffic and facilitating seamless network extension. We can address challenges related to workload migration, where we often need to relocate workloads between environments due to changes in licensing or applications. The DFW, i.e., Distributed Firewall, is the most beneficial feature for network security and micro-segmentation.

The network-extending capabilities for the physical environment need improvement. Instead of virtualization, the ability to add physical servers to the network could be enhanced.

We have been using VMware NSX since 2018. We have worked with different versions depending on the customer's requirements. We are working with the latest version as well.

It is a stable platform.

We have medium to enterprise-level customers for VMware NSX. Regarding scalability, we can add new nodes or servers to the cluster. It automatically extends in a horizontal scale-out approach when the nodes are added.

I rate the scalability a ten out of ten.

We open a case and await the engineer's reply on escalation. It is a process similar to that of other vendors.

Neutral

The initial setup is straightforward. The implementation time ranges from days to weeks, depending on the business use cases per customer requirements. It involves the assessment of design, deploying, and verifying the same. I rate the process an eight out of ten.

The product pricing ranges from medium to expensive. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.

VMware NSX has played a significant role in supporting your organization's efforts in automated network provisioning and creating multi-tenant networks, especially when integrated with vRealize Automation or other automation tools. We were able to create an automated orchestrated workload and manage IP assignments.

I rate the product a ten out of ten.

NSX is under the platform. NSX is used on a cloud-only platform for clients.

The solution works well overall and we are happy with it.

We enjoy the micro-segmentation and the ability to extend the network on Layer Two.

It is stable. 

The solution can scale well. 

We have found the UI to be very good. The interface is intuitive enough.

It offers good documentation. 

I'm not sure where the solution can be improved. 

We did recently need a patch to deal with an outage on NSX.

The price is rather high.

We've been using the solution for two years. 

The solution is stable. We have just had an issue that caused an outage of some of our NSX. However, now it's okay. VMware gave us a patch to correct it.

It is a scalable product. It's not a problem.

There are about 3,000 VMs on our data center. There are a lot of customers.

When we had an issue recently, VMware asked to upgrade to a high level of support to correct the problem.

The initial setup offers an average level of complexity. It's neither too difficult or too hard. 

I'm a system engineer, so I don't know exactly what the price is. However, I am aware that it's high. It's better suited to larger enterprises.

We are service providers and partners.

I'd rate the product eight out of ten.

We use VMware NSX for application service deployments.

VMware NSX is a very good solution. It's also a scalable solution.

It could be more user-friendly, but it's manageable. When we add a specific node to this particular NSX and the configuration changes, it won't push through the errors where required, but it'll accept it. However, while using it, we will have issues. It can also be more stable. 

It could be more stable.

VMware NSX is a scalable solution. We have about 10,000 people using it at our company.

Technical support is good.

We are still in the process of completing the migration from the physical servers to NSX.

The initial setup is relatively straightforward, but it takes a long time to implement this solution. You need hundreds of people to deploy and maintain this solution.

VMware NSX isn't cheap. 

I would tell potential users that they need to do a high-level review of their entire data center architecture, and should not leave any specific configurations related to connectivity that would lead them to more challenges. 

On a scale from one to ten, I would give VMware NSX a seven.

We're moving towards hyper-converged solutions with VMware, including NSX and vSAN. This direction has promising prospects in the market.

One significant advantage of VMware NSX is the ability to provide advanced security at the micro-level, focusing on securing applications and workloads rather than just the network structure or virtualization-based network security.   

I believe we need to attain a certain level of maturity and work closely with multiple customers to make substantial improvements and achieve notable results. The feature it can improve is essentially application-based load balancing with intelligent load distribution for applications that require redundancy and high availability. This feature operates at a micro-level, specifically focusing on the payloads of applications.

To clarify further, I believe that if NSX offers this functionality along with robust security measures for application payloads, it would greatly benefit customers. Instead of investing in additional devices or appliances for load balancing and security, organizations would likely prefer to leverage NSX's integrated capabilities in this regard.

We have been using this solution for the past six months. 

As for stability, the customer I mentioned earlier is extremely satisfied with the product's stability.

VMware doesn't have a physical presence in Pakistan. They recently initiated their operations here. However, we do have interactions with their team based in Singapore, and I must say they are quite supportive. The customer hasn't raised any complaints regarding their support. The time required for deployment can vary based on the size of the infrastructure, but typically, it can be accomplished within a two-week timeframe.

Positive

One of our prominent clients is a major university in Pakistan, and they expressed dissatisfaction with their current solution, Sentra for SCI. They expressed a desire to transition to VMware, specifically NSX, as they are seeking hyper-converged integrations with both cloud and on-premises solutions.

Regarding the initial setup, VMware products, including NSX, are generally straightforward to set up and deploy, so complexity hasn't been an issue.

The implementation of VMware NSX can be cost-intensive, especially if an organization is looking for a comprehensive solution. The costs can vary based on factors like the level of conversation and discounts obtained during negotiations. Some government organizations, for instance, may find the prices relatively high, leading to concerns about budget hikes, especially when deploying the solution across the entire organization.

Regarding maintenance and support, they are typically included in the standard licensing costs for enterprise-level businesses. While these costs can be significant, many companies opt for standard licensing to ensure they have access to necessary support and maintenance services.

The deployment of NSX security can be somewhat challenging, and it requires a thorough understanding of the organization's specific needs and objectives. To effectively implement NSX security measures, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of the applications, payloads, and various components within the network environment.