Bunmi Sadiq - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at Syscodes Communications Ltd
Real User
Top 10
Easy access to infographics and manuals, greatly improved communication within the company
Pros and Cons
  • "Ability to move your virtual machines from one host to another."
  • "Integration with other vendors and other applications could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is for hosting our virtual machines. Our operational applications are installed on Citrix. I'm the chief technology officer and we are customers of Citrix.

How has it helped my organization?

Our applications are now online 24/7 so availability has improved. We've also enhanced our security. Citrix has helped us reach customers in a timely manner and our applications can be accessed via the web. The ability to order and make payments online has streamlined our business operations and enabled us to reach a wider range of customers. It's also helped us improve customer service and improve revenue generation.

What is most valuable?

Citrix allows you to move your virtual machines from one host to the other, with the host geographical prefix. I think that's an awesome feature. We can access infographics and manuals, and communicate easily with each other. Great security features.

What needs improvement?

I'd like to see improvement in integration with other vendors and other applications, like Microsoft, for example. Operability with different kinds of hardware and infrastructure could be included so that you don't have to approach the vendor. I should be able to operate with a diverse infrastructure or RPA. 

Buyer's Guide
Citrix Hypervisor
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Citrix Hypervisor. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable, we've hardly had any issues with it. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is highly scalable. We've upgraded our hardware from time to time and all it requires is installation of the Hypervisor; our virtual machines are moved to it and operations continue without any downtime. 

How are customer service and support?

We have a consultant who deals with technical support and manages it for us. 

How was the initial setup?

We used a consultant for deployment.

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

The solution is not expensive at all. 

What other advice do I have?

I highly recommend this solution, especially if cost is an issue. All the features; the security, scalability and the graph features are really good. 

I rate this solution 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.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Senior Manager of Engineering at Mechanics Bank
Real User
Top 5
Most people know VMWare vSphere and MS Hyper-V. XenServer fits right in the middle.

What is our primary use case?

A virtualization platform that was easy to maintain for our staff's level of expertise and allowed for inexpensive licensing when support was required.

How has it helped my organization?

Allowed us to maintain the desired level of high availability between our XenServer farms. Our response time to backend errors was faster than when we had a physical server farm.

What is most valuable?

All features of the product are valuable, depends on the situation. I have used all of the features at one time or another.

What needs improvement?

Integrated workload balancing and virtual switch management that doesn't require another virtual appliance to control.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than 15 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Rock Solid for the most part, of course, as with any technology there are software patches required for specific issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I haven't encountered any scalability issues yet. I have built multiple XenServer pools (simple HA pairs for SMB to large Enterprise deployments of 8-20 physical hosts).

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Provided you can get past the tier 1 support personnel quickly, it is great.

Technical Support:

All of the Citrix Engineers that I have worked with have been very knowledgable and helpful.

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

VMWare was the previous solution, we switched to lower our licensing costs and support costs.

How was the initial setup?

Installation is very straightforward and can be completed in less than 5 minutes.

What about the implementation team?

In-House team; I tested from the beginning and moved the platform into production.

What was our ROI?

N/A - not able to discuss

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

Cannot answer this question; but the product is free, you only need to purchase a license if you want commercial level support from Citrix.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

At the time, there were really only a couple of companies providing virtualization platform technologies. I had found XenSource and started testing the solution.

What other advice do I have?

Test, Test, Test as with any product, make sure it will accomplish what you expect. Citrix XenServer is not marketed out there so most of the people, I talk to, only are aware of VMWare and Hyper-V. XenServer fits right in the middle (in my opinion) of those two products.

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.
PeerSpot user
WilVan Lierop - PeerSpot reviewer
WilVan LieropWorks at a marketing services firm with 201-500 employees
Real User

I run XenServer for more than five years with zero downtime for the VM instances. A very solid environment.

See all 7 comments
Buyer's Guide
Citrix Hypervisor
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Citrix Hypervisor. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Manager IT at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Flexible, easy to set up, and user friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is extremely user friendly."
  • "The licensing costs are too high on the solution. They should work to make the costs more reasonable."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for application delivery that is centralized on-premises and hosted on data centers. For example, net applications. All the net applications I have published using the Citrix Hypervisor are there. On top of the Citrix Hypervisor, I position the Citrix application delivery infrastructure, and I have published all my applications that way. I'm just publishing and providing this application to my business users, as per their demand. It offers completely secure accessibility, and centralized access management.

What is most valuable?

The solution is extremely user friendly.

It's quite scalable.

We've found the solution to be very stable.

The product is working as per our expectations, and, it's giving us optimal performance in terms of connectivity for my end users. 

What needs improvement?

The licensing costs are too high on the solution. They should work to make the costs more reasonable.

It is not easy to adopt this quantitative footprint. It could be helpful if we could have some sort of optimum licensing model to make the adoption of this product easier. 

The integration with all products needs a bit of work. There should not be any kind of limitation for cross-areas, for example, you should be able to use Linux, and any other operating system you choose.

If I want to assign more than two TB of line, it is currently not supporting this. They should, however, because in some cases, you'd be required to have more than two TB of space. They should work to offer much more space than they do.

For how long have I used the solution?

Our organization has been using the solution for six months so far.

However, for my part, I've been working with it for more than 14 years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In my environment, I am using Citrix Hypervisor for my XenApp virtual apps and desktop. We are using seven XenApps around 13 IDS app. It's very a stable product, and I have never faced any kind of problem over the last six months. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash. It's reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very scalable. If an organization needs to expand, this solution will be able to handle the process. It's quite good. The scalability is one of it's greatest aspects.

How are customer service and technical support?

We haven't had any issues with technical support. They've been very good. We're satisfied with their level of support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward. There is not any complexity to worry about.

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

The licensing model is very expensive at the moment.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

As of now, in this COVID-19 paramedic situation, it's very remote-friendly product. It's great for IT and business processes if teams are planning to work from home remotely. This platform is quite good, in terms of publicity planning, remote connectivity, product flexibility, and user demands. Companies that want that kind of flexibility and freedom should explore this tool. It's quite useful.

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.
PeerSpot user
Enterprise Server and Storage Administrator at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Flexible, rugged, user-friendly, and easy to understand
Pros and Cons
  • "It is quite flexible and rugged. It is also easy to understand and user-friendly. It is not as complicated as some of the other solutions. It has its technicalities, but it is easy to understand. You can easily pick up in a short period of time and understand how to manage the infrastructure."
  • "I am not very sure about how flexible Citrix Hypervisor is with different types of infrastructures. I only know it is flexible with Nutanix, but I am not sure if it is also flexible with others. They can make its integration with other platforms or OEMs easy. They should also make it easy for users to manage their infrastructure. Citrix should make compatibility information related to a hypervisor easily available in a datasheet. Citrix isn't really recognized in this part of the world, and they need to expand their solution and make it more available. There are a lot of customers and companies that are looking for a solution like Citrix, and it should be available in this part of the world. They need to educate people more. Technically, it is good and flexible and has good ability, but it is not as much known as VMware or Microsoft. Their support should also be improved. Currently, if you don't have an updated version, they will not give you the attention."

What is most valuable?

It is quite flexible and rugged. It is also easy to understand and user-friendly. It is not as complicated as some of the other solutions. It has its technicalities, but it is easy to understand. You can easily pick up in a short period of time and understand how to manage the infrastructure.

What needs improvement?

I am not very sure about how flexible Citrix Hypervisor is with different types of infrastructures. I only know it is flexible with Nutanix, but I am not sure if it is also flexible with others. They can make its integration with other platforms or OEMs easy. They should also make it easy for users to manage their infrastructure. Citrix should make compatibility information related to a hypervisor easily available in a datasheet.

Citrix isn't really recognized in this part of the world, and they need to expand their solution and make it more available. There are a lot of customers and companies that are looking for a solution like Citrix, and it should be available in this part of the world. They need to educate people more. Technically, it is good and flexible and has good ability, but it is not as much known as VMware or Microsoft.

Their support should also be improved. Currently, if you don't have an updated version, they will not give you the attention.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is pretty stable. We have recently upgraded to a newer version. I used 7.6 for a long time, which was very stable in spite of being end-of-support. In terms of stability, they are doing a good job.

How are customer service and technical support?

We currently have a problem with technical support at our location. We don't have so many Citrix support companies or partners. We have just a few of them, and it is pretty difficult to get support and talk to Citrix directly. For this, two things are involved. You need to have the latest updates of infrastructure, and you should have got the support license. Otherwise, you can't get support from them. If you don't have the updated support or version, they will not give you the attention, which is a problem and a shortcoming.

I had to call them because we had a disconnect with our storage, and due to that, we lost a lot of data. I couldn't get support from Citrix because they informed me that I was using an older version of the solution. This is one of the shortcomings, so we had to work on the issue internally to resolve it. We had a backup, and we were able to restore everything,

How was the initial setup?

It is easy and straightforward. It all depends on the hosting platform. You need to be sure that the host is actually compatible with the version of the hypervisor that you're using. It matters a lot. If you're not using the right or compatible infrastructure, you may run into some problems. Citrix should make this information easily available for people in a datasheet. Most of the time, you have to go online for this information. It should be easily accessible for the users so that they can easily find information about compatible platforms. 

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

I am fine with their license support. What we have right now is permanent, so I don't have a problem with their license.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution for user endpoints or desktops. I would rate Citrix Hypervisor an eight 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.
PeerSpot user
Chief Operating Officer at CENTRE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH IN ZAMBIA
Real User
The ability to move a VM while it is still running and continue doing maintenance work is a big advantage
Pros and Cons
  • "The ability to move a virtual machine while it is running is a big advantage."
  • "It needs to have a more robust backup solution."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for this product is that it serves as the main computing platform for our enterprise software. Our ERP system and our SQL Servers run on top of that and all the applications that we deploy are essentially virtualized.

How has it helped my organization?

Server consolidation has saved us a lot of money over the years. Being a non-profit that is a very big consideration for us.

What is most valuable?

The feature that is most valuable to us is the XenMotion (live migration) feature. It is critical for us, especially when doing maintenance work. That is a must-have feature. Also Storage XenMotion. The ability to move a VM while it is still running and continue doing maintenance on that is a big advantage.

What needs improvement?

The third-party integration is not very advanced. I don't know if it's a lack of interest by developers. Compared with VMware, Xenserver doesn't have a lot of third-party add-ons. Maybe in some way that can be improved.

The number one feature that would make it a more robust product is a backup solution. Right now we have to buy Xen Orchestra as a separate solution to manage the tasks a little bit better. If it was integrated within the product, that would be good. Maybe Citrix should just buy Xen Orchestra and improve on it. It is a very good product. It does everything we want to do, but it's a separate product which means we have to pay another license in addition to the ones for XenServer. So I really would want to see improvements in the backup arena and a more robust clean-up job after some tasks such as snapshots fail to complete.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product since 2011, so I have been using it eight years or more.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

As far as stability, we have never had any problems that we've not been able to overcome. The only thing we have experienced is that sometimes when you are doing your backups or you are creating a snapshot, you get orphaned images or other unnecessary files that the system fails to auto clean. But this is not really any failure of the system as far as stability. 

We have 16 licenses at the moment and we run it on four Dell R910 machines with four CPUs in each, and each is eight-core. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is easy to scale up. You can grow as you wish.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is quite quick and responsive. Whenever we have a problem, they are able to log in and check on the issue for us. Technical support has been good for us. We do pay for annual tech support. They are quite good.

How was the initial setup?

Initially, I would say the setup was straightforward. When we consulted with Citrix about our plan for implementation we created our design diagrams, then we sent them the diagrams so they could check whether the design was going to work or not. When they looked at our diagram, they confirmed that it was a good design in terms of fail-over at both hardware level (host pools and storage) as well as physical network design. So we just deployed the product the way we had planned and it was straight forward after the plan was confirmed.

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

I would advise that with this setup, you are better off also taking up the paid support. The Tech support with these guys is fantastic. They will call you within minutes of logging the issue and with you to resolve the problem. If you provide access to the host they will log in and troubleshoot with you and show you which commands were run to solve the problem. 10/10 score on Technical support.

What other advice do I have?

I think the biggest issue that I've seen that scares off a lot of potential customers is that they think it is complicated to set up. There are not many people who have deployed the product compared to other products. I think new clients should start small and gain confidence. There is no harm in having a mixed environment where they can at least try it out. If they like it they can continue to roll out the deployment. 

For us, the attraction has been that the licensing is straight forward. You don't have to think about what it will cost for add on features. It's really straightforward in that you pay for the number of CPU cores you have and that is if you want Technical Support. It is very easy for us to predict our costs. With other products, it is really difficult to know how much it's going to cost from year-to-year. With this product, we are able to say for sure what the cost will be.

On a scale from one to ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best, I would rate this product as a nine. It is not a ten only because I don't have an easy way to do replication and backup. We had to learn to use the command line just to do that. But other than that, it's a very stable product. We have never had trouble, in addition, the hypervisor has a very small footprint on the host.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Information Technology Specialist at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Simple infrastructure management, highly stable, and excellent technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "Citrix Hypervisor integrates easily and I can manage the infrastructure better. If I need to take a machine down to expand the hard drive, I do not have to physically be here. I do not need to order new equipment or new hard drives. I can shut it down, increase the drive space and bring it back up."
  • "I find that the features in Citrix Hypervisor are not as rich as with VMware. It would be a benefit if they had some of the other features VMware has, such as the ability to expand a drive on the fly. You do not have to take down the machine to do it but in Citrix you do."

What is our primary use case?

We use Citrix Hypervisor to have greater control over our infrastructure. For example, file services, domain controllers, databases, and the entire active directories within it.

How has it helped my organization?

We are able to easily manage our infrastructure with the use of Citrix Hypervisor.

What is most valuable?

Citrix Hypervisor integrates easily and I can manage the infrastructure better. If I need to take a machine down to expand the hard drive, I do not have to physically be here. I do not need to order new equipment or new hard drives. I can shut it down, increase the drive space and bring it back up. I find that hypervisor updates are extremely easy to do.

What needs improvement?

I find that the features in Citrix Hypervisor are not as rich as with VMware. It would be a benefit if they had some of the other features VMware has, such as the ability to expand a drive on the fly. You do not have to take down the machine to do it but in Citrix you do.

In a future release, Citrix Hypervisor should update its features to provide as many features as VMware does.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Citrix Hypervisor for nearly two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Citrix Hypervisor has been very stable. I have been impressed with updating of the hosts. For example, in the interface, you will be notified when there are updates and to perform the updates is quite simple.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. If you need additional resources, you could add hosts. When I started at my current company we had three hosts and now we have five. We have increased the number of servers that we have, along with memory, and could then provide additional offerings because we have the resources to do so.

We have approximately 130 to 150 users using the solution in my company.

How are customer service and support?

Citrix Hypervisor's technical support is very good. They provide high-level support and are very responsive. Once you are in contact with the support, they will remote into your system, and take a look at how the system is operating internally. They usually resolve any issues relatively fast.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I have previously used VMware.

How was the initial setup?

The installation of Citrix Hypervisor is simple once you get used to it. My background was more with VMware, but when I joined this organization, they used Citrix. Once you learn the intricacies it is simple. There are some elements of the installations that are complex that could be simplified. If you have used a similar solution before this one it not too hard to figure out.

What about the implementation team?

I am the only one in the company that does the maintenance of the solution.

What was our ROI?

The solution virtualizes the environment which saves on environmental and hardware costs.

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

There is a license required to use this solution. You need a license on every server, but the license is more for support than anything else. The cost is not expensive, it is a fraction of the cost of VMware. When you look at the cost overall and features, Citrix Hypervisor has a very attractive offering.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Citrix Hypervisor an eight 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.
PeerSpot user
Systems Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Is easy to install, but storage monitoring and network management need improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "I've found the following features to be the most valuable: user personalization layer, app layering, provisioning, and notification services for integration between different domains."
  • "There are several areas that need improvement including the stability of the networking stack and networking management."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for different VDI scenarios and application publishing.

What is most valuable?

I've found the following features to be the most valuable: user personalization layer, app layering, provisioning, and notification services for integration between different domains.

What needs improvement?

There are several areas that need improvement including the stability of the networking stack and networking management.

Storage monitoring also needs to be improved because at the moment, we cannot monitor GFS2 partitions on Citrix Hypervisor. This means that we need to find third party solutions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it for 16 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Overall, the stability is good. However, when there are problems in some areas, such as networking, it results in problems overall with the stability of Citrix Hypervisor.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is okay for small- and medium-sized businesses. However, additional features like site recovery for multi-domains and multi-data center deployment scenarios will be useful for different customers.

How are customer service and support?

As for technical support, sometimes we spend a lot of time explaining what we need to do, what we do, etc. with a lot of emails, conversations, and chats that are not very efficient. Then at other times, we have really perfect and amazing conversations with support engineers, and they quickly provide solutions and resolve our problems.

Overall, however, I've seen a decrease in the expertise of Hypervisor vendors. Previously, the time for resolution from vendor support was less than it is now.

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

We have used RDS, VMware, and Parellels. We switched to Citrix Hypervisor because of its scalability, management, and stability. CVAD was also a factor.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is really easy. If you have basic knowledge of IT technology, deployment is not really difficult. However, additional components like provisioning require more knowledge and expertise, but they can be handled by mid-range admins.

Depending on the case, deployment can take from two hours to several days.

What other advice do I have?

You should try Citrix Hypervisor. You may have pain points sometimes, but if you build it and tune it well for your requirements, this solution can help you do your job in different scenarios without any problems. It's all about business continuity and the stability of your solution.

Overall, I would rate Citrix Hypervisor at seven on a scale from one to 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.
PeerSpot user
Works at State of Alabama, Office of Information Technology
Real User
Cost-effective, efficient, and has good support
Pros and Cons
  • "The support for this solution is phenomenal."
  • "The built-in networking features are a little limited."

What is our primary use case?

We migrated from VMware to XenCenter to cut costs.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution is more cost-effective and hardware-efficient with Citrix VDI.

What is most valuable?

The support for this solution is phenomenal.

What needs improvement?

The built-in networking features are a little limited.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for six months.

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

Prior to this solution, we used VMware.

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 Citrix Hypervisor Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Citrix Hypervisor Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.