VMware Aria Operations for Logs Reviews

Our primary use case for VMware Aria Operations for Logs is troubleshooting. We manage many different use cases, but most of all, it is for troubleshooting. The feature where we can narrow into a specific time and filter from there on the heavy hitters and anomalies is very effective for troubleshooting. 

We use this tool for infrastructure troubleshooting and for managing logs more effectively compared to other tools like Splunk.

The primary benefit to our organization is saving money on other logging tools, such as Splunk. VMware is licensed on hardware rather than the amount of data, which helps reduce costs. Instead of sending all logs to Splunk, we filter them using VMware, which saves us from paying high storage costs associated with Splunk.

It's a vital tool for us when diagnosing performance issues, and recommending upgrades or downsizing, especially regarding CPU, memory, or storage latencies across our infrastructure.

In terms of monitoring and security, it's that we get alerted. We set up a system through another appliance, which is integrated with vRealize Operations for the logs, granular investigation, local analysis, and such.

The real-time log monitoring feature is minimal as we delve into logs primarily for in-depth analysis of significant issues rather than routine monitoring.

The integration is also good. Our setup includes multiple vCenters and hardware products from various vendors, ensuring seamless integration.

We're using vRealize Log Insight version 6.7, and it's due for an upgrade to version 7 now. We predominantly use it for capacity management and overall monitoring. We also use the solution for the automation and deployment of new servers, so these are our major use cases for vRealize Log Insight.

One of the most valuable features of vRealize Log Insight is that it gives you a clear forecast about your existing machines, for example, how long your machines could be supported and how long the remaining capacity is to host your machines. This is one of the best options available within vRealize Log Insight.

Another valuable feature of the solution is automation. My company deploys a lot of automation when required in a very, very short period, and in a very uniform manner, and even if the automation is being deployed for different processes and departments, it's pretty much the same across the environment, so vRealize Log Insight helps reduce a lot of ambiguities and helps my company manage operational efficiencies well.

The solution is quite user-friendly.

The tool does not provide a centralized pane for monitoring. We must go to different consoles with different licenses associated with them. Nutanix Prism offers such features in one pane, and there’s no need for additional licenses. Prism also provides life cycle management functions.

I primarily use VMware Aria Operations for Logs for troubleshooting and monitoring.

The most valuable features are log centralization and long-term retention for logs. I also appreciate the dashboards. Logs analytics capabilities are part of that too, as they work alongside dashboards. These elements help in retaining logs and providing useful insights.

There are various use cases for it. We use it for Operations monitoring. It's part of VMware's suite of products, including vRealize Automation (vRA) for automation and vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) for orchestration. Previously, it was known as VMware vRealize Log Insight.

vROPs tells us about the health, risk, and efficiency of our systems. For example, it identifies over-provisioned VMs that can be rightsized. This helps with cost sustainability by reclaiming resources in VMware, reusing them, and avoiding additional servers. That's one benefit.

Secondly, it helps us identify situations where VMs need more resources so we can upsize them before encountering issues. This allows us to be more proactive on potential problems.

The insights it gives for the virtual environment are valuable. vRealize being built on vROPs and Aria being native to VMware are both plus points. However, the landscape is changing, and this is where it gets interesting.

Here's the key difference: If you only care about infrastructure and its management, then vROPs or Aria are great. But today, organizations and enterprises need end-to-end visibility. This means full-stack visibility across cloud, applications, services, all the way down to transactions. That's where other products come into play. 

vROPs or Aria limit themselves to the infrastructure layer because they lack visibility into the layers above, which require additional tools specifically designed for those purposes.

If you only need visibility up to the infrastructure layer, they're good. But that's not enough. Let's say you need a dashboard showing complete visibility for applications and stacks.  As you move up the stack, visibility into just the infrastructure isn't enough. Ultimately, you need to see how that infrastructure helps or hinders the applications and services you deliver to customers. 

That's where other products come into the picture. Now, in my case, I manage the entire VMware stack along with many other systems, creating a heterogeneous ecosystem. The challenge is having to look at multiple management consoles - vROPs for one thing, then somewhere else for another, and so on. What's truly needed is a holistic view, and that's the goal.