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it_user859056 - PeerSpot reviewer
Electronic Engineer in Telecommunications and Master in Technologies and Systems of Communications at QUANYX
User
Easy of use with reduced space provides a better use of infrastructure
Pros and Cons
  • "The easy of use with reduced space provides a better use of infrastructure"

    What is our primary use case?

    Virtualization of servers: Use of the solution to reduce the space usage in the data center. Also, for hyper-convergence, you can virtualize the storage.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Less space is need. It reduces the space of the infrastructure in the data center. The easy of use with reduced space provides a better use of infrastructure.

    What is most valuable?

    • vMotion
    • vCenter

    All the features in the vSphere essentials are great in helping the administrators manage the virtual platform.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    One to three years.
    Buyer's Guide
    VMware vSphere
    March 2025
    Learn what your peers think about VMware vSphere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
    845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The only issue with vSphere might be with the cost of its tools and the software.

    What other advice do I have?

    I think that the solution with vSphere is complete.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Systems Administrator at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Vendor
    Cross vCenter vMotion allows us to perform vMotion from one vCenter to another without the need for shared storage.

    Valuable Features:

    Cross vCenter vMotion is a valuable feature.

    It allows you to perform vMotion from one vCenter to another vCenter without the need for shared storage, like a cut and paste.

    This was not possible until version 6 and is built upon Enhanced vMotion.

    It requires L2 network connectivity.

    Improvements to My Organization:

    Cross vCenter vMotion can be particularly useful if you have migration projects, or you simply want to shift workloads to different location.

    It can be particularly useful if you have plans to move from a VCSA to a Windows Platform vCenter and vice-versa.

    If you have shared resources with public/private cloud, you can move them by establishing several vCenters.

    Room for Improvement:

    One improvement could be to have the vMotion independent of the SSO Domain.

    With Cross vCenter vMotion, it is a requirement to have both the source and the destination vCenter on the same SSO domain. It also requires version 6 and above. You cannot have this between a version 6 and 5.5.

    I still experience lag with the web interface

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Chris Childerhose - PeerSpot reviewer
    Chris ChilderhoseEnterprise Architect at ThinkON
    ExpertTop 5Real User

    Having vMotion independent of SSO would be a great thing but more than like would take some code rewrite. Love that idea though. I see a bit of lag in the Web Interface but not nearly as much as previous versions. Not sure what web browser you are using but I find Opera works very well with the Web UI.

    Buyer's Guide
    VMware vSphere
    March 2025
    Learn what your peers think about VMware vSphere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
    845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    it_user363687 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Senior Software QA Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
    Vendor
    The features of DRS, High Availability, SRM, and vMotion have been valuable for us.

    Valuable Features

    There are several valuable features, including virtualization, of course, as well as DRS, High Availability, SRM, and vMotion.

    Improvements to My Organization

    It's really helped us out with our testing and development.

    Room for Improvement

    It's not perfect, and could use improvements with better stability and better support.

    Deployment Issues

    We attempted to upgrade from vSphere 5.0 to 5.5, but we weren't successful. We contacted technical support and, after a few tries, they closed our case and asked us to perform a fresh vCenter install and to create the inventory from there.

    Stability Issues

    It hasn't been as stable as we expected.

    Scalability Issues

    Scaling it is not an issue.

    Customer Service and Technical Support

    Customer Service:

    Customer service needs a lot of improvement. They need to improve on keeping customers informed of their ongoing issues. They need more support for resolving issues rather than offering workaround and hitting the same issue again.

    Technical Support:

    5/10 - I have opened tickets on a P1 support issue and it hasn't been resolved and I logged it over a month ago.

    Initial Setup

    The initial setup is simple.

    Implementation Team

    We implemented it in-house.

    Other Solutions Considered

    We didn't evaluate other options.

    Other Advice

    It's a good product, but you have to be patient with it when an issue arises.

    Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user321036 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Network/Systems Administrator at Tidewell Hospice
    Vendor
    It's allowed me to aggregate resources, including reducing the number of physical machines from about 200 to 30.

    Valuable Features

    The ability to aggregate resources.

    Improvements to My Organization

    We have saved money, reducing the number of physical machines. I probably would have had a couple hundred machines and I now have about thirty.

    Room for Improvement

    I can't even think of anything – it does everything I need it to.

    Stability Issues

    I love it – over the years its been one of the most stable platforms I've ever dealt with. The platform is more stable than the OS running on it.

    Scalability Issues

    I think it’s great. It’s been able to grow even as we care for more and more patients.

    Customer Service and Technical Support

    I love it. I’ve had great experience with VMware support – they have never failed to resolve an issue or understand how we got there so I don’t get to that issue again.

    Initial Setup

    I wasn’t there for the initial setup, but it's very straightforward.

    Other Solutions Considered

    When choosing a vendor we look at

    • Support
    • Usability
    • Cost

    You should also talk to someone knowledgeable not just online research – someone who can help cover questions that wouldn’t normally get covered.

    Other Advice

    Peer reviews are important but not the highest. There are a few groups I look to specifically, one of which is Spiceworks, but I respect the people I’ve dealt with.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user321078 - PeerSpot reviewer
    IT Manager at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees
    Real User
    We're able to virtualize hundreds of servers at as low a cost as possible, with planned implementation of Operation Management and, perhaps, VSAN as well.

    What is most valuable?

    • The ability to virtualize hundreds of servers
    • Hardware cost

    How has it helped my organization?

    We are a small company so having a solution that bring the costs as low as possible is the most valuable thing.

    What needs improvement?

    Right now, I’m looking to implement v6 with Operation Management so that would be the next step, and maybe VSAN as well.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's pretty stable, coupled with good performance.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Really high.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Luckily we have never had to use them – that says a lot.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We have always been using vSphere.

    How was the initial setup?

    Setup was very straightforward.

    What about the implementation team?

    We implemented on our own.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    To be honest, I didn’t try Microsoft, or Citrix, so it's difficult to compare, but I'm used to it and it works – works great.

    What other advice do I have?

    Compatibilities with software, with OS, we have some applications that are only running on XP and 32 bits. You need to do some research to make it work.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user321009 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Network Analyst at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Vendor
    We run 200 virtual servers on a few physical machines, saving on environmental costs like power and heat. However, internal notifications and performance monitoring could be improved.

    Valuable Features

    You get virtualized servers, which means you can run a bunch of servers on a couple of machines, so you save money and you save the environmental costs like power and heat. You also get the redundancy when you are using features like vMotion.

    Improvements to My Organization

    We have around 200 virtualized servers, so while if we had to buy 200 physical servers, it would cost a lot more compared to what we spend.

    Room for Improvement

    I would say that the internal notifications could be much clearer and the performance monitoring could be a lot better. They have an add-on but that costs money.

    Stability Issues

    It's very stable – the only thing I have found is that it’s a learning curve. You need to understand all aspects of your environment. Some people are just network or storage or server related, but you need to be aware of all areas. In general, if you need to troubleshoot a server, and VMware is not around, and we have a situation, it’s going to be harder for someone to understand the solution.

    Scalability Issues

    It’s fairly scalable, as we have over 2000 people, 120 branches across different provinces, and it can support our environment.

    Customer Service and Technical Support

    Technical support has been fine when they figure out if its hardware or software – we have HP hardware, and so the challenge is dealing with whose job it is, HP or VMWare. Once we understand what the problem is, the support is very good.

    Previous Solutions

    Initial Setup

    I would say not complex but it’s not click click click, it goes through a wizard but once you need to architect the network environment it’s a bit complex.

    Other Advice

    I would tell say that if you have the money you should buy the solution and go with blades. Also, make sure you do a lot of number crunching to show that the solution is valuable.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user265911 - PeerSpot reviewer
    it_user265911Technical Sales Director at Xorux
    Vendor

    Regarding performance monitoring, there are so many tools and even some of them are freeware as LPAR2RDD.

    See all 2 comments
    PeerSpot user
    CEO with 51-200 employees
    Vendor
    We have been able to create stable, enterprise-level services with it as the core product.

    What is most valuable?

    The stability in general, and the manageability of features like high availability, storage vMotion, and vMotion configuration via distributed switches.

    How has it helped my organization?

    vSphere is a core product in our services. Building our services on top of this product provides us the ability to create stable, enterprise level services.

    What needs improvement?

    Currently none, as the development of new features is already going at high speed.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using it for seven years, since v3.5.

    What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

    No issues encountered.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    No issues encountered.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    No issues encountered.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Customer Service:

    8/10.

    Technical Support:

    7/10.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We previously used XenEnterprise and RedHat Enterprise Virtualization based on KVM. Due to the stability and lack of features, we switched.

    How was the initial setup?

    It was straightforward.

    What about the implementation team?

    We did it in-house by our infrastructure team who are VMware Certified Professionals.

    What was our ROI?

    Using the vCloud Air Network program, we are in a usage based program. So no upfront investments are made for licenses.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are vCAN partners.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user234735 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Technology Consultant, ASEAN at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
    Consultant
    vSphere vs. Hyper-V

    Recently I got some questions about this one. Who is better? Or who is cheaper?

    I was worked in VMware and Microsoft, both covered virtualization products. Now, I’m working in one of Cloud Datacenter with many platform like Sun Solaris (Oracle), IBM AS400, IBM iSeries, IBM pSeries, Microsoft Hyper-V (the first Partner Hosted Productivity Cloud – PHPC in Asia), and VMware technologies (vSphere, vCloud and vCAC).

    Based on that, don’t think too much about the platform. The most important is the SLA. All platforms is good as long as we manage the SLA. And use the most suitable platform for your applications. If you want to use Microsoft, then Windows Hyper-V 2012R2 is the right one. Don’t use any version below Windows 2012R2.

    Anyway, back to the questions. Let’s make a simple requirement. This is roughly calculation.

    Customer requirements:

    They need to virtual all their infrastructure. 100 Physical Server with each servers have the specification: 2CPU, 8GB RAM, 100GB Disk. All Microsoft licenses are OEM.

    Total Requirements:

    • 100 x 2CPU = 200 pCPU
    • 100 x 8GB RAM = 800GB RAM
    • 100 x 100GB Disk = 10TB Disk
    • 100 Windows Server 2012R2 Licenses
    • Monitoring Tools required
    • High Availability supported

    Assumption:

    CPU based (Option 1):

    • Low CPU utilization, 10% average. 200 pCPU x 20% = 40 pCPU.
    • Server configures with 2×6 Cores/CPU = 12 pCPU.
    • Total server required based on CPU = 40 pCPU / 12 pCPU = 4 (Round Up).
    • With N+1 roles (HA), then total servers: 4 + 1 = 5 Servers

    RAM based (Option 2):

    • RAM Utilized 80%. 800GB RAM x 80% = 640GB RAM
    • Server configured with 128GB RAM. Maximum RAM utilized 80% then 128GB x 80% = 103GB (Round up)
    • Total server required: 640GB RAM / 103GB RAM = 7 Servers (Round Up)
    • With N+1 roles (HA), then total servers: 7 + 1 = 8 Servers
    • For Microsoft Hyper-V, assumption required 2GB RAM for hypervisor. 128GB RAM – 2GB RAM = 126GB RAM x 80% = 101GB (Round Up). 640GB RAM/101GB RAM = 7 Servers. Total Server (N+1): 7+1 = 8 Servers

    Because the application is highly memory consumption then we choice Option 2 (based on assumption and roughly calculation). I recommended to use the sizing calculator such as VMware Capacity Planning.

    Licenses Required:

    With Microsoft:

    1. 8 x Windows Server Datacenter 2012R2
    2. 8 x System Center 2012R2
    3. 1 x Microsoft SQL Server 2012 STD Edition -> For DB

    TOTAL: $78,994*

    *Web Price (Y2014), excluded support and CALs for MSFT products

    With VMware:

    1. 16 x vSphere with Operations Management Enterprise Plus 5.5
    2. 1 x vCenter Server Standard 5.5
    3. 8 x Windows Server Datacenter 2012R2 -> For Guest OS
    4. 1 x Microsoft SQL Server 2012 STD Edition -> For DB

    TOTAL: $123,053*

    *Pricelist (Y2014), excluded SnS and CALs for MSFT products

    In the end, all is your choices. Enjoy.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free VMware vSphere Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: March 2025
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free VMware vSphere Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.