We use VMware vSphere for many things in our business, such as ERP software, file sharing, and back office. Additionally, we use it for many types of servers, such as database and file servers.
Founder & Principal Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
VMware vSphere 5.5 Review
The industry’s flagship virtualization platform, VMware’s vSphere, reached its latest release in September of 2013 with the launch of version 5.5. I am a ‘best tool for the job’ sort of technologist, and strive to stay impartial and always recommend the right product for the purpose. Currently, this release is better than any other hypervisor on the market in many ways, such as performance, scalability, management, and automation. I make this statement unequivocally and without bias because I believe so strongly in this product. Every environment that I encounter in my job has some sort of VMware infrastructure powering some set of its critical business applications.
The core of the platform is the server-level virtualization hypervisor, VMware ESXi. It is a bare metal hypervisor that gets installed on each server, and the installation footprint is as low as 2GB! Most of my new installations either run from an SD card embedded on the motherboard, or a certified USB key.
The centralized management portion comes from the vCenter Server. It provides relatively simple management for the environment, and unlike some of VMware’s competitors, vCenter Server is included with the vSphere suite of products. A web-based management interface (unfortunately Flash based at the moment, so iPads need not apply), in addition to a fat client, is available for remote management.
The scalability of the product is simply incredible. A single virtual machine can now scale up to 64 vCPUs and 1TB of vRAM. CPU and memory overhead take a benchmarking team to determine the virtualization ‘wedge’, or performance penalty, which the virtualization layer imposes on performance. Storage latency is under 100 microseconds per I/O. at this point, the VMware ESXi hypervisor layer’s impact to performance is so minute that I consider it functionally transparent.
It has the capacity to run over 85 different operating systems, well beyond its competitors. Bells and whistles like vMotion and Storage vMotion, shared-nothing vMotion, Distributed Virtual Switches, capacity management features such as Storage and Network I/O Control, and capacity management tools such as VMware vCenter Operations Manager (Foundation version included at no cost) stack up to make this the most flexible, scalable, and capable virtualization platform on the market today.
My home lab is completely virtualized with VMware vSphere 5.5 is running at its core. Anywhere from three to six hosts are powered on at any given time, and can handle anything that I need to replicate a problem encountered at a client site, or tinker around with learning scenarios for continuing self-education.
Add-ons to the core hypervisor, such as Site Recovery Manager, vCloud Director, vShield, and vCenter Operations Manager continue to enhance the platform, and add that much more capability and flexibility into an environment that is already the flagship of the industry.
The core VMware vSphere suite is capable of handling just about any application workload that I have ever ran across, and is suitable for any datacenter at tiny businesses all the way up to Fortune 50. Leverage VMware’s vSphere to let your infrastructure move at the speed of the business, not of the IT department. Welcome to the cloud!
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Jefatura del Departamento de Tecnologías de la Información at SERGEAR SAC
Useful online support, reliable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The technical support is good and they are available over the internet."
- "We need to improve availability and disaster recovery in VMware vSphere."
What is our primary use case?
What needs improvement?
We need to improve availability and disaster recovery in VMware vSphere.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware vSphere for approximately seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VMware vSphere is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have found VMware vSphere to be scalable.
We have approximately 25 users in my company using this solution. All the employees are using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good and they are available over the internet.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of VMware vSphere was simple. The full deployment took approximately two weeks.
What about the implementation team?
We had a consultant that did the deployment of VMware vSphere.
We have two engineers for the support of the solution.
What other advice do I have?
VMware vSphere is a good solution, but we are looking for ACI opportunities.
My advice to others is when you are looking for a solution, look for a vendor in the county you live in.
I rate VMware vSphere a nine out of ten.
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.
Buyer's Guide
VMware vSphere
January 2025
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Easy management for backup and security
Pros and Cons
- "Reduces downtime."
- "Integration with different platforms could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case is to consolidate the number of physical servers required. We created our motion machines out of it, and it acts as very easy management for backup and security.
How has it helped my organization?
VMWare vSphere has really helped us grow as a business, and going for a virtual backup solution has made my life so much easier.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are High Availability (HA), which reduces downtime, and Fault Tolerance (FT), a mirror solution that ensures no data loss. Its vMotion feature is also valuable, as it allows me to move all my virtual emissions to an available host before performing maintenance. I also value a feature called Distributed Virtual Switch, which allows me to create a private VLAN and do L2 management and switch management.
What needs improvement?
An area for improvement would be integration with different platforms. In a future release, I would like to see a feature that alerts the user if they make a mistake with configuration or if there is a vulnerability.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for seven years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable - it can go up to 64 nodes on the cluster in terms of storage.
How are customer service and support?
VMWare's support is great - they respond immediately to requests for help.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously I also worked with Hyper-V, but some of my Linux machines were having problems with it.
How was the initial setup?
The ease of installation depends on your organization's infrastructure - it can be very simple or complicated depending on what you want it to do.
What other advice do I have?
If you want to reduce your costs, I would recommend going forward with virtualization. I would rate this solution as nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
Principal Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reliable, scales well, and is easy to install
Pros and Cons
- "VMware vSphere is a very stable product."
- "VMware vSphere could be more secure and well-known to everyone."
What is our primary use case?
Except for the Oracle Database, our environment is run on VMware vSphere. We also use this solution for connection tests.
What needs improvement?
VMware vSphere could be more secure and well-known to everyone.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with VMware vSphere for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VMware vSphere is a very stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable solution.
We have ten users in our organization.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have some experience with Hyper-V and KVM.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay our licensing fees on a yearly basis.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I would rate VMware vSphere a nine out of ten.
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.
General manager at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
Scalable and easy to set up with good stability
Pros and Cons
- "The installation process is very straightforward."
- "The solution should offer more integration capabilities."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the product for server virtualization. We have multiple VMs for different environments for our business needs.
What is most valuable?
The solution is scalable.
We haven't had any issues with stability.
The installation process is very straightforward.
What needs improvement?
The solution should offer more integration capabilities.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for four or five years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution seems to be stable. We haven't had any issues. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
You can scale the solution very well if you need to. It's not a problem at all.
How are customer service and technical support?
As I am not directly involved with the product, I've never had to reach out to technical support to troubleshoot any issues. Therefore, I cannot speak to how helpful or responsive they are.
How was the initial setup?
We have found the solution to be straightforward. It's pretty simple and not overly complex.
A different team handled the setup and deployment. I can't say exactly how long it took to get everything up and running.
We have some engineers that can handle the deployment and maintenance aspects of the product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
While I'm sure we are paying some sort of licensing fee, I cannot speak to any exact details. That's handled by management and is not something that I have to deal with directly.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I am not familiar with the company looking at or evaluating other solutions.
What other advice do I have?
We're end-users and customers.
I'm not sure which version of the solution we're currently on. I don't manage that aspect of it.
Overall, I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten. We've mostly been very happy with its capabilities.
I would recommend the solution to others.
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.
Operation Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Great documentation, good reporting, and helpful technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is very scalable."
- "The initial setup is quite complex."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for our virtual environment.
What is most valuable?
The VM features are all very good.
We've been very happy with the reporting aspects of the solution.
The documentation of the product is excellent. It's very helpful.
The product has been very stable. It's quite reliable.
The solution is very scalable.
We've found the technical support to be very helpful and responsive.
What needs improvement?
The initial setup is quite complex.
We would like the pricing to be lower. It's very expensive right now.
There could be more security features added to the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for about five years or so. It's been a while at this point. I have a good amount of experience on it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good. It's reliable. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is very good. If a company would like to expand, it can do so.
In our organization, ten to 15 people are using the solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've been in touch with technical support in the past. They've always been responsive. They are helpful and effective at solving issues. We're quite satisfied with the level of support our organization receives.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not straightforward. It's pretty complex.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing is on a subscription basis.
The solution, in general, is quite expensive. They should work to make it less costly for their customer base.
What other advice do I have?
We are customers and end-users of the product.
We are using the latest version of the solution at this time.
We've just deployed it ourselves, and it is very small. We haven't had any difficulties with it at all so far and it's been five years.
I'd recommend the solution to other organizations.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. We've been largely very satisfied with the capabilities.
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.
Senior System Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Highly-available, feature-rich, priced-well, and easy to set up
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are the vMotion, the storage vMotion, the DRS, and the high availability function."
- "The way that vSphere manages the alerts on the data machine is not easy to configure."
What is our primary use case?
We are resellers and consultants who provide solutions for our clients.
They manage the virtual machines, such as CPU usage, or memory usage, or disk space.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the vMotion, the storage vMotion, the DRS, and the high availability function.
What needs improvement?
The way that vSphere manages the alerts on the data machine is not easy to configure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with vSphere for approximately 15 years.
We started with version 4.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VMware vSphere is scalable.
Our clients are medium size companies.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have not used technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In my opinion, the essential version is a good price.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good solution and I will recommend it. They are choosing a good product.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: reseller
System Architect at KT Bank
High availability feature allows for automatic recovery of failed hosts
Pros and Cons
- "Using vSphere we have virtualized over one thousand servers and this gave us management, cost and datacenter space advantages."
- "Although vSphere is a nearly perfect product, it does need a little improvement. Datacenter and Cluster structure should be mixed so that the management of clusters would be easier."
What is our primary use case?
We are virtualizing our x86 server infrastructure with VMware vSphere. It consolidates our environment dramatically. Our virtualization ratio is over 92%.
How has it helped my organization?
Using vSphere we have virtualized over one thousand servers and this gave us management, cost and datacenter space advantages.
What is most valuable?
vSphere offers the High Availability feature which serves automatic recovery of failed host's virtual machines on another host or hosts in the cluster. Also, DRS makes the cluster balanced.
What needs improvement?
Although vSphere is a nearly perfect product, it does need a little improvement. Datacenter and Cluster structure should be mixed so that the management of clusters would be easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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I have used everything from just a single server with local disks all the way up to the large VCE vBlocks. It all really depends on the workload properties of those individual web servers. Do you know how utilized the current web servers that you have are? What sort of IOPs and throughput requirements do you have? Usually web servers are CPU and memory intensive but not very disk hungry.