VMware vSphere Reviews

• Reliability
• HA
• DR
• Ease of deployment
• We had a lot of disparate hardware and now able to consolidate into one platform
• Easy to keep hardware up to date

So much easier to back things up now. We had Oracle, SQL, everything was just a one-off, but we now have just one process for all our VMs.

We have vCloud suite, Hyperion was a pain, but now they've just announced integration into vCenter, so everytime I have a complaint, they’ve already started to address it.

• Great stability, no complaints at all
• More we move to appliances
• Easy to keep up to date

• We had a lot of standalone boxes, and management wanted to go to VMs
• We were able to consolidate all hardware without purchasing anything extra
• Able to carry us through several years when unable to purchase hardware

They've always been excellent, but we rarely contact them maybe one or two times a year. When we’ve had issues, it’s resolved in hours. We have TAM (tech account manager) so helped things along.

We had vendor come out and it set up on 3.5, and once we got our feet wet, it's easy to maintain and upgrade.

Only purchase what you’re going to use, our management makes decisions, and buy lots of products we’re not using.

We chose vSphere because of it's ease of use, especially that it's easier than Hyper-V. Deployment would have been more labor intensive, and wouldn’t have saved any more money in the long run.

Key business drivers and benefits for us: • Co-location data centers environmental costs are greatly reduced (rack space, power, cooling). • Allows better utilization and flexibility to segment physical resources (vCPU & vMemory) • Consolidate / centralize management of all Windows and Linux infrastructure - Administer entire virtual environment via a single pane of glass (vCenter) - Provisioning of VMs is really simple and quick. Allows easy use of templates. - Utilize Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) & VMotion - Optimizes performance of VMs - Allows flexibility for patching cycles to minimize downtime. • VMware product has been very stable • Allows for easier compliance and consistency for meeting IT audit controls • Initial ROI analysis a few years ago did show significant savings over physical model. We are looking at updated ROI and show-back / charge-back models currently.

VMware product challenges / Areas for improvement: • Advanced Capacity Management and Performance Management & Analysis, Disaster Recovery, and private cloud capabilities are lacking out of the box for enterprise-level deployments. - Ability to “right-size” resources on all VMs is needed at enterprise installations. - Add-on / 3rd party products like vCenter Operations / VMturbo, SRM, or vCloud may be needed. - These add-on products add management complexity. They also add licensing and maintenance costs for the overall solution in a tough budget climate. • Difficulty using VMotion with Microsoft Clusters. We utilize clusters for our large SQL Farm, but we are unable to use VMotion during patching efforts. We are now looking at Hyper-V or physical servers for this functionality to minimize downtime. • Granting administrative privileges / roles can be a bit more tedious than are initially apparent.• VMware vSphere 5 is current architectural standard for 2 data centers - VMware was the major virtualization solution provider when first implemented years ago - Microsoft 2012 Hyper-V “proof of concept” is currently in progress for US - Educational discounts from Microsoft are significant - Microsoft Hyper-V 2012 version functionality appears to gain on VMware vSphere • Also have a large Solaris UNIX environment utilizing Solaris Zones. • VMware (or Hyper-V) will enable us to drive a re-platforming effort for Solaris -> Linux

Things to consider before purchasing VMware or Hyper-V: • Understand your virtualization objectives and requirements before purchase. Assess all requirements against VMware or Hyper-V licensing cost and edition functionality • Define a strategy for resource intensive applications (large CPU or memory requirements) and when to stay standalone vs. virtual • Implement processes to control “VM sprawl” as VM provisioning process is so simple. • Consider other process efficiencies that virtualization may drive (i.e. Service Catalog) • Ensure IT staff gets proper training. The learning curve can be steep initially at the enterprise level. • If possible , look at processes for show-back or charge-back model early on to assess costs and ROI.

We use VMware vSphere for the virtualization of environments.

The solution is easy to use, user-friendly interface and has high availability features. When comparing it to other solutions it is more robust.

I have been using this solution for approximately 10 years.

This solution is more stable than competitors.

VMware vSphere is scalable.

The technical support could improve by being a little faster.

Positive

I have previously use Hyper-V.

The installation is easy and can be done in one day.

I did the implementation myself.

The solution requires a license and it could be cheaper.

We previously evaluated Hyper-V and RHEV.

I recommend this solution to others.

I rate VMware vSphere a ten out of ten.

On-premises

The solution is server virtualization software. VMware is totally for virtualization.

We only use it for a few of its features, such as DRS, vMotion, and fault tolerance. We aren't using the NSX, cloud-based, or any other features. 

The solution is 100% stable.

The scalability is very good.

We find the user interface to be very nice.

The initial implementation process is simple.

It's easy to use and very user-friendly.

Technical support has been very good. They are helpful and responsive. 

The solution could be cheaper and less expensive.

I've been using the solution for five to seven years. 

We have found the solution to be extremely stable. The performance and reliability are great. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

The solution is thoroughly a scalable solution. It's easy to expand it if you need to.

There isn't a specific number of users. We are using it for hosting services.

Technical support is excellent. We have no complaints at all.

The installation process is quite simple, quite straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult. I'm certified and find the process very easy.

We did not need the assistance of outside help. I can easily handle the implementation myself. 

You do have to purchase a license in order to use the solution.

The solution should base its prices on what the market can handle. Right now, it's a bit expensive.

The price is a little bit higher when you go for the enterprise edition. The Standard edition is quite low and the enterprise edition is quite high.

I have two clusters, version 7 and version 6.7. Both are there.

I'm not using the cloud-based version and other stuff, so I couldn't comment on it. On the on-premises version, however, it's a very good solution. It has a nice interface and nice everything and is a very stable product. We have never faced any issues yet.

I'd recommend the solution to others 100%.

I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

On-premises

A typical use case for vSphere would be general virtualization, primarily, where we're deploying either Linux or Windows-based workloads. We do have a lot of design-ready nodes we use for some of our clients. We also use Tanzu, from an application development container, microservices type of solution as well. 

VMware vSphere is replete with about a gazillion different features. In the context of vCenter, everything has been amalgamated into a single appliance. It's much more simplified at deployment. Because of that, immediately I would say the most useful feature is the Lifecycle Manager, VLCM, that is now available. So, what used to be the VMware of Data Manager has now changed to the Lifecycle Manager. Those changes are really, really useful.

I'm a big fan of vSphere; I have used it since the days of 3.5, all the way up to now. When you deploy it as a complete stack, from vSphere to vCenter to the vRealize Operations, Orchestrator, all the way up, you're into your NSX login site, the entire cloud stack. By the time you're done, you begin to feel, "do you really need so many different pieces that you need to connect? Could it not just be a single, unified product?" I'm not saying the integration is difficult. It is seamless. But it gets to you at a point. There are times where you really begin to think, "I got this." Not, " it should be much easier than this."

I can't think of anybody on the planet who would actually have issues with vSphere. vSphere is as stable as the word stable gets. When you do the entire stack scenario unless you're doing something like VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail, wherein it becomes a much more seamless solution where you are using discrete hardware, you're creating the entire cloud platform. It gets a little tedious doing all those workflows at times.

From a management center, particularly referring to the private cloud stack, I would prefer for it to be a lot more seamless. There are competitors, Cloud Management Platform or Morpheus, for example. It's a product you deploy and you're good to go. With this, there are so many different pieces to connect. It grows on you.

I've been using VMware for a long time. As as a DC architect, I use it day in and day out.

If you're looking for any hypervisor, vSphere is not a gold standard, vSphere is the gold standard. There's no single other option. When it comes down to it, if I can afford it, vSphere is the only one that I'm going with.

There have been cases with vSphere itself, but the fact is that VMware support is great. 

I have had clients who have faced issues in the context of hyperconverged infrastructure. A problem in the networks assumes a lot more significance in the context of HCI, and VMware support is awesome.

I have no complaints about the setup. The integration is seamless. When you put together all the various pieces, you build an entire private cloud stack. At that stage, once you have everything configured, it is relatively straightforward. But it is not a single homogenous unit.

The licensing is perpetual licensing that you pay for once.

As far as the price of the license, I can't think of anyone who will say, "I'm happy with the pricing." There's always room for improvement. But, you get what you pay for. It's as simple as that. With vSphere, from my perspective, I don't want problems. I want it to be as seamless as possible. That's unfortunately why you've got to pay for it.

Regarding this solution, vSphere is the gold standard. It has been there for 15 years, and you're not going to find people who are dissatisfied with vSphere. You're not going to find people complaining about vSphere. The only thing you will find is when we talk about things like VxRail, things like that, where issues can come. vSphere by itself, I can't think of anybody who's not happy with it.

I would rate vSphere a ten out of ten. You're not going to find anything better.

Hybrid Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

We use VMware vSphere to deploy servers.

VMware vSphere is user-friendly and simple.

The solution could improve by having more integration.

I have been using VMware vSphere for approximately 10 years.

The solution is stable and has good performance.

VMware vSphere is scalable.

I have approximately 1,000 users using this solution.

The technology has been fine.

We have a two-person technical team consisting of a technician and a security administrator.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate VMware vSphere a ten out of ten.

On-premises

The solution acts as the basis for doing virtualization. 

I definitely like the stability, performance and ease-of-use. 

I have no issues with the solution's scalability or user-friendliness. I consider these to be perfect. We have had a fantastic, problem-free solution for the past 14 years when it comes to fault tolerance and disaster recovery. It has everything one needs. 

VMware vSphere has a limited scope and necessitates the adding of additional products. This involves further complexity and expense. NSX is a product of VMware vSphere and it would be nice to see the solution have full integration capabilities with it. 

I have been using VMware vSphere since 2007. 

The solution is stable. 

The solution is certainly scalable. 

The customer support is nice. We are talking about a great organization, which offers much staff, support and white paper. 

The initial setup was straightforward, perfect. 

This process for the initial server lasts ten minutes. There is also the console, which involves two parts, one being the server itself. This is where the CD-ROM goes, something which is now on a USB key and does not involve the undertaking of any activity. 

Deployment lasts half a day, at which point everything is up and running. 

The real question is whether the person wishes to have one server or a hundred. The use of 200 machines will take longer. What I am talking about is small, basic installations. 

If a person is trained, then he will be able handle the deployment and maintenance on his own. This is not complex. 

Our customers incur a yearly licensing fee, one of three or five years, in fact. 

We consider the solution to be obligatory. 

The solution's use can range from ten users to thousands. 

I would definitely recommend the solution to others. I am a big fan of it. 

I rate VMware vSphere as a twenty out of ten. I give it a perfect ten rating. 

On-premises

We are a solution provider and VMware vSphere is one of the products that I have experience with. This product is used as a virtual IT environment. It hosts applications such as SQL databases.

The GUI is very simple to use.

The user experience is good.

Stability-wise, there are some minor issues.

I have been working with VMware vSphere for between 10 and 15 years.

There are some issues with stability, although I don't think that it is a big problem. In general, it is a good product.

Scalability has not been a problem. Israel is a small country, so the level of service is less.

As a system integrator, I have not had to contact technical support.

I have experience with KVM and it is also easy to use, but it is not as good as VMware.

It is easy to deploy this solution from nothing.

We deploy and maintain this solution with our in-house team.

This is an expensive product and the price needs to be reduced.

In summary, this is a good product and I recommend it.

If you have a mixed environment that includes Windows, Linux, and other operating systems then this product is a good choice. However, if you have a purely Linux environment, such as Red Hat, then you can save money and have better performance by implementing KVM instead.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

On-premises