VMware vSphere Reviews

Thanks to vSphere we have improved our availability and scalability, and we are now able to dynamically move to a cloud paradigm. vSphere for us, is not a simple computer virtualization; it provides a complete infrastructure which combines computer storage, and networking elements in a single software layer, that we are calling SDDC.

Previously, we thought it was a simple server consolidation, where bulk and power consumption were drastically reduced. Now we are moving to a software-defined storage and software-defined networking to keep control of all IT environment, from service to a single infrastructure components.

We hope to keep all the physical datacenter elements under the same software layer, and we are hoping that that dream will comes true in the next years.

The introduction of a web console could be a great improvement for sysadmin, but the poor responsive interface has been solved in v6.0. The previous sysadmin/design experience with vSphere client could become a dangerous loop for its development.

At the moment, VMware admins say that the vSphere client will never die!

The vSphere installation, and operations are fully documented. I think that VMWare spent a lot of time writing documents which could be useful during the platforms lifecycle.

Before installing this product, try to design all the components, and don't be shy asking for comparisons or sharing your experience. Often design guidelines are the result of customer implementations, and different points of view. Before bringing it into production in your environment, execute hardening procedures.

If you are working for an ISP, where network admin rules an IT organization, try to get control of all networking devices connected to all services provided by your platform. Often, ISP network administrators are specialized in internet networking, and often they don't know data center networking issues and design impacts.

One of the worst savings to do when trying to consolidate, is to use less networking devices; for this reason I suggest you never play around with them when you need to use eight interfaces per host. If you need them there is no reason to have less than you have asked.

Virtualization is the most valuable feature. Without it, working in the cloud and IT life as we know it is not possible.

• Fast server provisioning
• Saves energy
• It's green
• Improves disaster recovery

I have configured our environment in a way by which it will ease the process of provisioning the VMs by using automation workflows within the VMware environment.

Disaster recovery is very much helpful for any business where you require a maximum uptime or minimal downtime. We have two environments configured, hosted in two different locations, so if we encounter a disaster at one site, the network infrastructure will switch to the other site with minimal downtime (maximum 15 minutes).

I've used it for over three years.

There were challenges with the compatibility, design and architecture. If these three things are perfect on your table, then you will not face any issues while deploying anything. In our scenario, we encountered some issues with compatibility.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

Customer Service:

7/10.

Technical Support:

8/10.

I was using Citrix. vSphere is far better than Citrix, in my opinion. There was a time that when you wanted to deploy a VDI environment, there would be no reason not to choose XenServers. But now, VMware vSphere is providing not just the VDI platform, but also the complete virtualization infrastructure with very good features.

It is always straightforward if you follow the documentation.

I tried it myself in-house in my lab environment.

I have learned a lot and am still learning.

It's worthwhile investing as VMware is a leader in the virtualization market.

• Citrix
• Hyper-V

Go ahead and implement it as you will enjoy using it.

The ability to handle an entire virtual data center, keep costs under control, and move the workload without having a business impact.

Before virtualization, my company had 20-25 physical server, with one or more services each. These servers were placed in three to four racks.

Now we handle 500 servers (VM's) in half a rack, meaning only 16 physical servers. This solution improves cost, manageability, and growth.

The product is very mature and stable, but vCenter web interface response could be improved.

I've used it for 10 years.

Yes, but by support, we found the solution, a hardware driver for HBA component.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

Customer Service:

I've only used them a few times, but they've always answered my queries very well.

Technical Support:

It's very high.

We used Xen and KVM, and we switched for the lack of manageability, stability, scalability.

Setup is light work, but many components must be configured with vSphere documentation by hand.

I implemented it in-house.

For every Euro we sold in infrastructure, we gained five to seven Euros in services, because we have less operation costs, a good time to market, and more infrastructure agility.

The price can be very high, but in the case of a service provider with a VSPP program, you can offer the top class vSphere features for two to three sold VM. If you plan a little deployment I suggest bundle kits (Essential and Essential plus).

Yes, KVM and Xen (both opensource), and although they have no upfront costs, these are countered by very high operative costs.

First try this product, evaluate the infrastructure sustainability, and purchase the correct license that fits your needs.

Cheap and fast to deploy new servers.

Faster server deployment.

Standalone GUI dismissed, the web GUI isn't a worthy replacement.

Seven years.

No issues encountered.

As long as the network and storage attached are running fine, you have nothing to worry about.

Monitor your RAM usage closely and you will be fine.

Customer Service:

Very good.

Technical Support:

Very good.

No previous solution used.

Pretty straightforward.

In-house by following the manuals and training from the vendor it went by the book.

Very high as each new virtual server saves us thousands budget wise.

I don't know but the licensing model is pretty harsh, so don't start if you only want to virtualize a couple of machines

No, it was the only well-functioning solution on the market at the time.

Give Hyper-V a chance and look very well into the pricing model. Make sure your storage and network is prepared for a high load with a small footprint

This server class product is very stable, I have been using it for more than 7 years, previous versions were named different with less bugs. No downtime.

Pricing can be considered as measure block small and mid range companies. Company needs to think in this direction as well.

vSphere is an excellent product to virtualize computing workloads. It helps with consolidation of servers and datacenters, and increases utilization of computing resources. The product is very stable, and contributes to high uptime for critical workloads. Additional benefits from a virtualized datacenter include reduced power and cooling costs.

Many features have been added over the years which makes it difficult to deploy without formal training. License costs are fairly high, especially compared with substitutes that are quickly catching up in performance and features.

ESXi has one major benefit that outweighs the others; IT'S FREE!Yes, it has plenty of other benefits, like running a wide variety of different virtual operating systems in virtual machines (it supports every platform but OS X, and that can technically still be "hacked" onto it).It's incredibly robust, has excellent resource management, and is easy to set up. It allows for importing of virtual appliances, or pre-made VM's, or a creation of your own VM's.

The only issue I have with ESXi is that it is console (CLI) based. While I personally have no operational issue with this, as most of my training began with CLI based systems, some people might not want to configure a high availability virtual machine server via the Command Line.They're now marketing ESXi as VMware vSphere Hypervisor, which makes sense because that's essentially what it is. There used to be another product called ESX, which was a step between ESXi and vSphere, but they did away with that and rolled some of the features into ESXi.

All in all, it is an excellent solution that I have deployed in multiple locations and organizations.