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We use the product for disaster recovery purposes. It helps us expand the network and security for workloads running inside the environment. In the cloud, specifically with Azure VMware Solution or AWS, VMware NSX provides protection-related capabilities.
Regarding network management, it enables the ease of creating a network configuration for any application.
The product has valuable features for security and network extension. We can secure customer environments by effectively managing and securing traffic and facilitating seamless network extension. We can address challenges related to workload migration, where we often need to relocate workloads between environments due to changes in licensing or applications. The DFW, i.e., Distributed Firewall, is the most beneficial feature for network security and micro-segmentation.
The network-extending capabilities for the physical environment need improvement. Instead of virtualization, the ability to add physical servers to the network could be enhanced.
We have been using VMware NSX since 2018. We have worked with different versions depending on the customer's requirements. We are working with the latest version as well.
It is a stable platform.
We have medium to enterprise-level customers for VMware NSX. Regarding scalability, we can add new nodes or servers to the cluster. It automatically extends in a horizontal scale-out approach when the nodes are added.
I rate the scalability a ten out of ten.
We open a case and await the engineer's reply on escalation. It is a process similar to that of other vendors.
Neutral
The initial setup is straightforward. The implementation time ranges from days to weeks, depending on the business use cases per customer requirements. It involves the assessment of design, deploying, and verifying the same. I rate the process an eight out of ten.
The product pricing ranges from medium to expensive. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.
VMware NSX has played a significant role in supporting your organization's efforts in automated network provisioning and creating multi-tenant networks, especially when integrated with vRealize Automation or other automation tools. We were able to create an automated orchestrated workload and manage IP assignments.
I rate the product a ten out of ten.
I was part of the NSX troubleshooting team from VMware, where we worked with different customers to troubleshoot their NSX operational issues. Also, I was part of the design and deployment team. We do PSO projects and migration for customers.
The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the DFW (distributed firewall). The distributed firewall is much better and more powerful than the physical firewall because it's applied at the beginning level.
The software-defined version of VMware NSX contains all the security features like IPS and IDS. In the physical space, you have to get separate IDS, security, or load balancer products. VMware NSX provides several features like VPN, load balancers, DFW, and gateway firewall.
Since most people are very much used to physical networking, they find it difficult to use VMware NSX in the initial stage.
I have been using VMware NSX for the past six years.
The solution's stability is very good compared to its older versions. It is advisable not to go in a production environment with the latest version because it might sometimes have new features that can break.
I rate VMware NSX a nine out of ten for stability.
We can easily scale the solution with the current product version if we have more users.
I rate VMware NSX a nine out of ten for scalability
The solution's implementation is easy.
The initial phase of deployment involves deploying three NSX Managers. Then, you have to plan to do a lot of things like configurations and routing. If you have everything ready for configuration, you should be able to complete the VMware NSX installation in a month.
In the case of daily deployment, it depends on how much we are deploying and how many configurations we are doing. Two weeks should be more than sufficient to complete the configurations if we do it daily.
VMware NSX is a cheaper product compared to its competitor, Cisco.
Since most people are very much used to physical networking, they find it difficult to use VMware NSX in the initial stage. However, once you start using it, you'll be very much fond of the particular product. VMware NSX is very easy to manage.
You can deploy the solution on the cloud or on-prem, depending on the customer's requirement.
When changing from the physical to the virtual space, you have to plan the routing part. You'll have a hardening of networks in the physical space. However, when you bring it to NSX, everything is at the hypervisor level in the virtual space. That's one thing you will have to plan because a few critical applications might require a VLAN-backed network.
They have a restriction that they can't move it to the overlay networks and must remain in the physical VLAN. We have to plan properly for migrations because improper planning can break the current network or operations.
It would be good if users use all the features in the solution to have everything in one place. Users can access the web UI to manage security, load balancer, and VPN protection.
Overall, I rate VMware NSX an eight out of ten.
