The command line power CLI module is a great feature, but the PowerShell module is my preferred management tool.
Senior Systems Engineer at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
With it, you don’t have to go with third-party solutions as long as you have people with the ability to script within your enterprise who can create tools and access APIs.
What is most valuable?
How has it helped my organization?
The automation that it provides is the best. Also cost savings, because you don’t have to go with third-party solutions as long as you have people with the ability to script within your enterprise. Then, you can create your own tools and access APIs very easily.
What needs improvement?
That’s a difficult question because there’s so many features that have been developed but not released yet. I would like to see more workshops with training opportunities at no cost to the customer. That would be very helpful.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Very stable.
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VMware vSphere
March 2025

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We kind of just started off large, and kept getting larger.
How are customer service and support?
It’s decent. Fairly responsive, not super great but adequate.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were on Hyper-V, and it sucked. The manageability of vSphere far outperforms Windows Hyper-V, at least the 2008 version. VMWare is more stable, it clusters better, and is just better in general.
For me, it’s manageability. VMware offers so many different ways to manage their solution. You can use UNIX-like command-line interface to access the host, can use Pearl, you have a lot of different options at your disposal.
How was the initial setup?
I don’t know.
What about the implementation team?
We hired a consulting firm to come in and actually develop the environment when we moved from Hyper-V.
What other advice do I have?
There’s no better alternative. I would absolutely recommend vSphere. I do think that they’re the most expensive, but well worth the money.
I also think peer reviews would be an interesting way to research, as I haven’t ever encountered a site like IT Central Station before, but I can definitely see the value of moving forward with it.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Principal Systems Engineer at a individual & family service with 10,001+ employees
Instead of having one application for every physical host, we can run 30-40 on one host.
Valuable Features
The entire virtualization element has allowed us to utilize the hardware more efficiently.
Improvements to My Organization
Instead of having one application for every physical host, we can run 30-40 on the same physical host.
Room for Improvement
I think the updates allowing me to run through the VCSA appliance could be better.
Stability Issues
Fantastic – I love vMotion.
Scalability Issues
Its been working out great for us.
Customer Service and Technical Support
Our technical support is through HP, but we've had very few issues, and it's been great for us.
Initial Setup
It was way too easy.
Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing
We look at the price point per performance, performance first and then how much it costs.
Other Solutions Considered
We looked at Red Hat but the VMware solution worked out better for us.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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VMware vSphere
March 2025

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842,767 professionals have used our research since 2012.
VMware Consultant at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
With its High Availability feature, it's become a standard hypervisor with our customers, though the VDI could use improvement.
What is most valuable?
- High Availability
- Distributed Resource Scheduler
- Site Recovery
How has it helped my organization?
It has allowed us to provide services to our customers more efficiently than ever. Combined with HP Cloudsystem Matrix, it has become standard with our customers.
What needs improvement?
- VDI
- Backup solution
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using it for the past nine years, since v2.5 was released.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
Not really, just some tuning prior to release into production.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Not at all, this is by far one of the most reliable hypervisors to date.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
ESXi allows us to grow dynamically and with minimum downtime.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
9/10.
Technical Support:8/10.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used Hyper-V solutions that lack many high availability features, and the idea of being a Windows based hypervisor made them not so stable.
How was the initial setup?
It was pretty much straightforward. It all depends on how deep you want to go with configuration.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented it for our customers.
What was our ROI?
From my position, it means lot less administration, and better ease of use. It also allows us to have fewer physical servers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Some may say it's not cheap, compared to Microsoft or Citrix, but when you master the solution, you realize its features are unique.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We just looked at the different licensing options.
What other advice do I have?
I would encourage you to try this solution not just for Labs, but for production and DRP solutions. I know there are many others out there, and some very good ones, but VMware has been evolving in the right direction, and it is still the benchmark for all the others.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Storage and VMware Expert at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
We can use all the resources available on the servers without losing CPU or memory resources.
What is most valuable?
I think that the Fault Tolerance and High Availability features are the most valuable ones. Storage vMotion, Server vMotion, and all the flexibility that vSphere can provide to a storage environment without interruption is also very good.
How has it helped my organization?
In the past, many organizations had many physical servers, and with VMWare we can consolidate many servers without compromising on the performance. We can save a lot of space in the data center. It also helps us to save power that, at this time, is a very important factor. With VMWare, we can use all the resources available on the servers without losing CPU or memory resources, and we can centralize the space into just one storage space.
In many areas of IT, you can use VMWare solutions. Here we have many applications running on the VMware vSphere, such as Oracle Database, MySQL, SQL, web applications, Apache, and many more. For all solutions of course, it depends on how the applications work, but until to day, I haven't observed any applications that won't work inside the vSphere infrastructure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it since v3.5, so more than eight years, I have experience with other VMWare solutions too.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No, I did not have any issues because it all depends on how the environment was configured.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Nothing too important yet. The new v6.0 improves upon many features in vSphere High Availability. The enhancements correct issues of recovery from storage issues with a new feature called Virtual Machine Component Protection. This feature corrects many problems that we had when the backup tool lost connection with the ESXi servers.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No, I did not have any issues because it all depends on how the environment was configured.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
I haven't had any issues with customer service and most problems can be solved through their website.
Technical Support:I have not had any issues with technical support as they have solved any issues that I have had to contact them about.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have other solutions in the environment such as Oracle Rac and Microsoft Hyper-V, but I believe that vSphere is the most reliable product on the market.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup wasn't complex because we have experience with other VMWare solutions.
What about the implementation team?
I implemented ii in-house.
What was our ROI?
Our ROI is high because we have 800 virtual servers spread across 22 physical ones.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When compared to the impact that the product has had, I do not believe the cost to be too high.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have tested other products such as Hyper-V and Zen, but I believe that vSphere is more stable and has many more features available.
What other advice do I have?
Go ahead and get it as this product is very, very stable.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Virtualization Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Replication: VMware vSphere vs. Veeam Backup
VMware introduced replication in vSphere 5.5. The biggest limitation is that it only provides a single restore point only. This is an immediate show stopper for most customers. Multiple restore points are absolutely essential, because just like "good" data, any corruption/virus/dataloss from the source VM is immediately replicated to target VM, and if you don't spot the problem and perform failover to replica fast enough (before the next replication cycle) - which is going to be impossible in most cases - then you are done.
Other limitations
• No failback
• No traffic compression
• No traffic throttling
• No swap exclusion
• No network customization (network mapping)
• No re-IP upon failover
• Minimum possible RPO is 15 minutes
• Basic VSS quiescing (no application-aware processing)
• Works within single vCenter only
• No ability to create container-based jobs (explicit VM selection only)
• Limited seeding options: cannot seed from backup, or using different VM as a seed (disk IDs have to match)
• Different ports for initial and incremental sync required
• No good reporting
Also, be aware that biggest marketing push around vSphere replication is technically incorrect statement!
“Unlike other solutions, enabling vSphere replication on a VM does not impact I/O load, because it does not use VM snapshots”
It is simply impossible to transfer specific state of running VM without some sort of snapshot even in theory! In reality, during each replication cycle they do create hidden snapshot to keep the replicated state intact, just different type of snapshot (exact same concept as Veeam reversed incremental).
PROS: No commit required, snapshot is simply discarded after replication cycle completes.
CONS: While replication runs, there is 3x I/O per each modified block that belongs to the replicated state. This is the I/O impact that got lost in marketing.
Unlike VMware replication Veeam takes advantage of multiple restore points.
For every replica, Veeam Backup & Replication creates and maintains a configurable number of restore points. If the original VM fails for any reason, you can temporary or permanently fail over to a replica and restore critical services with minimum downtime. If the latest state of a replica is not usable (for example, if corrupted data was replicated from source to target), you can select previous restore point to fail over to. Veeam Backup & Replication utilizes VMware ESX snapshot capabilities to create and manage replica restore points.
Replication of VMware VMs works similarly to forward incremental backup. During the first run of a replication job, Veeam Backup & Replication copies the original VM running on the source host and creates its full replica on the target host. You can also seed this initial copy at the target site. Unlike backup files, replica virtual disks are stored uncompressed in their native format. All subsequent replication job runs are incremental (that is, Veeam Backup & Replication copies only those data blocks that have changed since the last replication cycle).
Conclusion:
Veeam Replication really stands out on top of the feature lacking VMware Replication. The numerous missing features like taking advantage of multiple snapshot replications, to help insure data integrity, no failback, no traffic throttling and no traffic compression etc., translate to only using VMware replication for simple use cases.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: I work for a VMware Partner

it_user384207Manager / Architect - Platform Services at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
VMware's replication is quirky and buggy. With every release the product changes. We have been using it and are getting ready to move to Veeam as VMware can not get their replication stable. Currently if a volume has issues replicating under many situation you will not get any alert from vcenter and the status will show green/OK. VMware support says that is normal, status is showing last status? HUH? If it fails that is the current status and should reflect that not the last known good, what is the point. I can see why more and more people are looking to move away from VMware. They are in denial.
Solutions Architect at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
Easily move images of virtual machines between different workspaces and environments
Pros and Cons
- "The feature that I find very valuable is the ability to move images of virtual machines from different workspaces to other workspaces between different installations."
- "An area for improvement is that when comparing VMware to Nutanix, Nutanix has higher availability, like clustering for virtual machines. That is a good idea and VMware could profit from something like that for higher availability installations."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use VMware vSphere for virtualization.
We use it mostly on-premise, but for the last year on cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
It has facilitated the adoption of DevOps practices and technology.
What is most valuable?
The feature that I find very valuable is the ability to move images of virtual machines from different workspaces to other workspaces between different installations.
What needs improvement?
An area for improvement is that when comparing VMware to Nutanix, Nutanix has higher availability, like clustering for virtual machines. That is a good idea and VMware could profit from something like that for higher availability installations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware vSphere for the last eight to 10 years using different scopes for different projects.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is pretty stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I haven't had a chance to do any scalability exercises, just some tests, but not on real-time or on real production. Probably later I will get a chance to test scalability.
There are about 10 or 15 people using it directly in the environments and between 500 and 600 people that are enabled with the VMware.
We require just another engineer and myself for the deployment of VMware.
We probably will not increase the licensing for the VMware, but we will increase the load on the installation that is being handled by VMware.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't had a chance yet to use technical support, but from past experience I would say that it's very good. For this project we have not had a chance to use direct technical support, but for previous projects it has been good. So hopefully it stays like that.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is relatively simple. Between one and 10, I would give it a six.
For the product that I'm working on right now it took about three weeks because it had several different virtual machines and inside the virtual machines there were a lot of containers. So there were certain complexities that extended the complexity of the VMware installation itself. But for just the VMware only it took about a week and a half or something like that.
We did not use consultants or resellers for deployment, just the documentation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Our license is on a yearly basis.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to anyone considering using VMware vSphere is you have to find out the requirements. You have to do a very good job finding the requirements so that the scoping and provisioning of the resources are okay. That way you don't have later have to be constantly changing the configuration. It is good to spend some time doing requirements and finding out the loads, etc... that you are going to have to handle.
Generally, VMware vSphere is not perfect, but it's okay. On a scale of one to ten, I will give it an eight.
You get used to the interface. The pricing is getting cheaper, but it depends. Anyway, it is a good product.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Consulting Manager at Real Time Services AB
Absolutely scalable, easy to install, and has good manageability
Pros and Cons
- "Its stability and manageability are valuable."
- "There should be more stability in the updates. They had an issue with the last release."
What is our primary use case?
We're using it to run all kinds of workloads.
What is most valuable?
Its stability and manageability are valuable.
What needs improvement?
There should be more stability in the updates. They had an issue with the last release.
Their support should also be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for 15 years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's absolutely scalable. We have 130 users who are using this solution. All of the company is using it.
How are customer service and support?
I am not satisfied with their performance or speed for anything below P1 or production-down status. Anything below that is worse than we could expect.
How was the initial setup?
Its installation is straightforward. That's not a problem.
The deployment duration varies. For a specific installation, it could take 15 minutes to set up the whole thing, and it could also take three weeks. It depends on how we're scoping it.
What about the implementation team?
I could do it myself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Its licensing is typically yearly. From a value standpoint, it's worth it.
What other advice do I have?
I would absolutely recommend this solution. I would rate it a nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Cloud Professional Architect at FPT Software
It's straightforward to scale and configure virtual machines
Pros and Cons
- "The fact that vSphere is an on-premise solution is beneficial for the user. It's easier to manage the infrastructure. It's more straightforward to scale and configure virtual machines."
- "VMware vSphere is perfect for the on-premise solution, but we are in the cloud era, so I think maybe VMware needs to invest more in the cloud and the microservice chain. It would be better if VMware offered more cloud solutions and continuous applications."
What is our primary use case?
We need virtualization for our company, or sometimes our customers leverage virtualization solutions instead of using physical machines.
What is most valuable?
The fact that vSphere is an on-premise solution is beneficial for the user. It's easier to manage the infrastructure. It's more straightforward to scale and configure virtual machines.
What needs improvement?
VMware vSphere is perfect for the on-premise solution, but we are in the cloud era, so I think maybe VMware needs to invest more in the cloud and the microservice chain. It would be better if VMware offered more cloud solutions and continuous applications.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability and stability, vSphere is excellent. We lack volume when we need to bundle a considerable number of physical machines to facilitate virtualization. There are a lot of competitors like Nutanix or others, but VMware is the number one solution for me.
How are customer service and support?
We don't contact VMware support often, but I sometimes have trouble understanding their manuals, so I ask them for help.
How was the initial setup?
It's easier for the user to deploy vSphere or the vCenter, but it's complex when setting up network virtualization.
What was our ROI?
I think VMware is a good investment. We use VMware to maintain our internal system.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VMware vSphere seven out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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"I think that the Fault Tolerance and High Availability features are the most valuable ones. Storage vMotion, Server vMotion, and all the flexibility that vSphere can provide to a storage environment without interruption is also very good."
This is partly true, but should realize that this is only part of the solution. You still have Network, IO (in general), power fault tolerance. Most other features are more for added resiliency (ie dedupe/caching/MPIO/Jumboframing etc etc)
Failover from the macro viewpoint....I would say it starts with IO and ends with data from an infrastructure point of view. From a necessity point of view, the most important does have to be data fault tolerance...without data...why would anyone need infrastructure..
Why do I say that vmotion/server vmotion are not as vital? If a node/hypervisor goes down..it's only one thing and there should be little to no downtime..BUT if IO has gone haywire everywhere, network fails or if power completely blows (both A & B goes down)...you lose EVERYTHING, unless you have offsite DR etc etc...There's a lot more downtime involved when the top of the tree goes down, which is where I would put most of my concentration on to make better.
"In the past, many organizations had many physical servers, and with VMWare we can consolidate many servers without compromising on the performance. We can save a lot of space in the data center. "
This is true, however, not everything needs to be virtualized. Virtualization is just a small feature that has taken large strides to handle most tasks and workloads. I've yet to see an established solutionf rom VMWare also including Baremetal + features useful to enhancing performance of physical boxes.