VMware Aria Operations Reviews

I use the solution in my company as it comes along with our VMware license, and it is very useful for analyzing our issues and incidents. It is quite a well-performing tool.

The most valuable features for capacity planning revolve around the fact that real-time alerts are good for us. For capacity planning, even if you see any kind of computing, I get proper updates via logs from VMware vROps and Aria Operations.

Regarding what the tool is meant for, I believe that we will get a proper response from it in our company. It is a good product.

There are some delays in response to the solution's technical support, making it an area where improvements are needed.

I have been using VMware Aria Operations for two to three years. My company has a partnership with VMware.

It is a good and stable solution.

It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

I am just a customer of the tool. Our company has an environment with VMware Aria Operations and other platforms, and we are happy with them.

I rate the technical support a five or six out of ten.

Neutral

I rate the product's initial setup phase a seven or eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

The product's deployment phase was managed in a few hours.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

The tool comes with a VMware ESXi license. I don't know whether the tool is expensive. If one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product price an eight out of ten.

Our company doesn't have any automation processes in our infrastructure. My company has not integrated VMware Aria Operations with any automation tool.

I am not sure about the tool's AI part, but for analyzing and insights, it is a very good tool.

I recommend the solution to others.

I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

There is a lot of different operations software available and some customers use other vendors instead of Broadcom VMware. My use case primarily involves on-premises installations as I prefer on-premises over cloud setups.

The solution has not really shortened incident response times, though it is a predictive tool that informs when something is about to happen. It has helped in anticipating issues, thereby assisting my team significantly.

One of the most valuable features is the ability to perform 'what-if' scenarios. We have basic solutions already implemented, so with the click of a button, issues can be fixed. It also facilitates easier reporting. The predictive analytics is a great tool for informing the operations manager about imminent requirements like running out of storage.

I can't pinpoint any specific areas for improvement at the moment, though there is always room for better pricing, licensing options, and potential enhancements in the user interface or customization.

I have around ten years of experience working with Aria Operations, as part of my work in various operations spheres.

The stability of this solution is excellent.

The scalability of the solution is good. I rate it an eight or nine out of ten.

I always receive top-notch support from VMware when I call, rating it a ten out of ten.

Positive

Some customers use other vendors not due to the fact their products are necessarily better. They use them to avoid being locked into one vendor for everything. It may be that they have a history with other products like OP5.

The setup process is straightforward. Though it may require a learning curve for the environment with configurations, it is manageable for IT professionals like myself.

The customizable dashboards are notably beneficial, providing flexibility to configure them according to specific needs and requirements.

The cost is included in our vCloud Operations licensing. I am unsure of the exact pricing or if it is available separately nowadays.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

I use two key features of VMware Aria Operations. The first one is job automation, which helps me to automate tasks and streamline operations. The second feature is capacity utilization analysis. It provides reports and insight into the real capacity utilization of VMs over the past six months.

Its job automation features and reporting capabilities are unique and valuable.

After the automation, the code changes are implemented as well as CPU changes in VMs, which require a reboot. Enhancing automation features without interruption would be beneficial.

I have been using this product for six months now.

The stability is almost perfect. I would rate it nine out of ten.

It offers excellent scalability capabilities. I would rate it nine out of ten.

We experienced a delay in their assistance, which was ultimately attributed to the unavailability of an engineer. Consequently, the troubleshooting process was prolonged and took approximately fourteen days to resolve. I would rate it eight out ten.

Positive

We previously used Microsoft Hyper-V, but it doesn't provide the stability nor as many valuable features as VMware Aria Operations.

The initial setup was easy. I would rate it nine out of ten.

The deployment process took about two months and few people to complete. It involved migrating all components from Microsoft Hyper-V system to VMware Aria Operations. The implementation of the solution was facilitated by CRU.

It is an affordable solution that doesn't require any additional costs. I would rate it five out of ten.

I would rate it eight out of ten.

I use the solution in my company for monitoring and capacity management.

The solution's most valuable feature is a native product from VMware itself, so it tightly works with VMware products. Using events in VMware Aria Operations, we can easily automate tasks by integrating with vRO workflows.

The only area of concern when using the integration features is when we want to forward the logs from VMware vRealize Log Insight to Apache Kafka. Apache Kafka is an enterprise solution for data management. We cannot forward the logs to Apache because we cannot find the right solution.

Currently, whatever our company raises goes to GSE. The technical support person has to start from scratch, so he doesn't have the knowledge on the HSBC side. There are a lot of issues. There is probably a need to sort the account management layer only. Account management strategy is an area of concern where improvements are needed.

I have been using VMware Aria Operations for more than ten years. My company is a customer of the tool.

My company did not experience any stability issues with the tool. The tool is 100 percent stable.

My company did not explore the solution's scalability.

In terms of scalability, the tool has clustering technology. It has been the clustering technology in infrastructure that makes the tool easily scalable.

My company is never 100 percent satisfied with the solution's technical support. I rate the technical support a six to seven out of ten.

Neutral

I use VMware Aria Operations, VMware Skyline, and VMware vRealize Log Insight.

The product's initial setup phase is straightforward.

My company's SMEs do the product's maintenance.

One person can deploy the solution.

The solution can be deployed in less than an hour.

I don't know if the tool helped with cost savings since it was implemented a long time ago, and back then, we did not convert it to dollar savings.

When it comes to the tool's automation capabilities, my company is not using the native one. Based on the events, we will pick up certain things and integrate them with vRO, and then we will run a few workflows, which is what automation is for us.

I did not see many issues with the product's integration features.

I think the tool usually has patches, especially critical ones. The tool normally sends notifications to customers. There are just regular patches from VMware.

Right now, with the current acquisition of VMware, maybe not as of now because of the impact on the cost plus the current transition that's one thing is the support. Yeah. So maybe the recommendation will be to have different virtualization technologies such as Nutanix and Red Hat OpenShift.

The tool might have integration features, but we are not using it.

I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

We use it for daily administration tasks.

If a user is experiencing issues with an application running on a Windows server, and the application is almost non-functional, I investigate the cause. If the server is overloaded, I address the issue by expanding the storage capacity of several disks within a few minutes. This ensures that the application can operate at normal speed and reliability.

What I find most valuable is its simplicity, which allows us to seamlessly migrate views from one physical server to another, be it due to resource overloads or transitioning from one set of disks to another. This process occurs without any disruption to the machine, ensuring continuous operation.

While the system itself continues to operate, the user interface may temporarily freeze or fail to display immediate changes. It requires loading and other steps before all modifications become visible. This limitation hinders my ability to customize the display of certain elements, posing a minor challenge within the system. Having the capability to manage the enterprise display would be highly beneficial.

I have been using it for almost twenty years.

I would rate its stability nine out of ten.

It provides excellent scalability capabilities. We have a couple of hundreds of users within our organization. There is a plan to increase usage in the future. With new personnel joining our company each month, I anticipate that this environment will likely double within the next year and a half or possibly two years. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Technical support poses a challenge, especially for large companies with competition centers situated in countries like India and Malaysia. When an issue arises in the morning for us, it's nearing the end of the day for their support teams. As a result, cases are often shifted from one person to another, requiring me to explain the same problem two or three times. Another factor is that English is not our native language. The variations in pronunciation across Europe, Malaysia, India, the United States, and Australia sometimes lead to difficulties in understanding each other. This language barrier has prompted us to resort to written communication, particularly through chat, which impacts the efficiency of problem resolution. I would rate it five out of ten.

Neutral

I've used Microsoft solutions and previously worked with Citrix, but I find that VMware surpasses both in nearly every aspect. It stands out as a superior product, particularly in minimizing bandwidth requirements for communication, whether it's a direct or indirect connection. This is especially beneficial for long-distance connections between two countries or similar scenarios.

The complexity of the initial setup depends on the smoothness of the upgrade process. If any issues arise, resolving them may require a significant investment of time—many hours or even days—addressing nuances to establish a good, proper configuration.

The deployment time significantly hinges on the scale of the environment. For smaller environments, such as a few servers, it typically takes just a couple of days. This includes the configuration process and addressing any potential issues. However, managing hundreds of ESX servers, and deploying such a substantial environment can be challenging and time-consuming.

Over the years, our environment has remained quite consistent, with a moderate number of ESX servers per site. The foundational physical servers for the VMware Infrastructure are regularly upgraded to newer generations. Despite the steady evolution, I've never encountered significant issues where resources approach full capacity. I actively monitor the environment with operations, using it as an additional tool rather than a critical necessity, given the robustness of our system and the reliability of the basic online information it provides.

Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

VMware Aria Operations is a new platform that provides visibility into different areas of the infrastructure, reduces or eliminates downtime, and makes customers more proactive. It gives customers the insights they need to be proactive rather than not active, and it helps them plan for capacity needs, ensuring that they are doing their best to avoid over-provisioning or experiencing contention. It also has a self-service option so that end users can be more independent from the infrastructure team and monitor their needs.

Avoiding problems in the monitoring area is our strength. We use real-time monitoring models and real-time monitoring to do this. We also provide other capabilities, such as seeing changes in the environment.

The VMware Aria Operations solution is a very technical product and is not for everyone. As a top-of-the-chain VMware tool, it is only normal that it has a learning curve. While the UI has been improved, it may still be difficult for some users. The solution has a lot of functionality and can monitor all areas of infrastructure, such as storage and network.

I have been using VMware Aria Operations as a partner for seven years.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

I rate the solution’s scalability a ten out of ten.

The documentation is perfect.

Positive

The initial setup is easy. The setup time depends on the scale, but it can be as short as a few hours. Once the valet solution is deployed, you must link it to the infrastructure. This process takes a few hours, as the key must pull data from all the infrastructure components. In most cases, the valet solution will remove the entire infrastructure into CRM within a few hours or less.

I rate the initial setup an eight out of ten. 

Most small users don't adopt VMware Aria Operations until it's necessary. Small businesses are looking for it, too. We need more monitoring and insights, so we're analyzing solutions to help us out here.

I rate the solution’s pricing a five out of ten.

VMware Aria Operations has many hands-on plug-ins that can help you monitor all the elements in your infrastructure, such as storage, networks, and more, beyond VMware infrastructure itself.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

In many cases, I have worked with vCenter within our virtualization environment. Some problems result in vCenter becoming corrupted, making it unusable. Consequently, I resort to utilizing it as a standalone server for each issue. This is the primary problem I've faced over the past two years, and for every problem that arises, I manage to resolve it. I've observed that using each server independently is the standard practice, and I occasionally utilize it for various purposes.

I have found the backup extremely useful in my use cases.               

In this vCenter, my wish is to establish a backup system that doesn't require VIN. It involves creating a backup ticket directly from the vCenter for the virtual machines and performing the backup task for each server, ensuring redundancy without the need for additional software. This would be a preferable solution if all of this could be accomplished within vCenter itself.

I have been using VMware Aria Operations for the last two years.

I would rate the stability a seven out of ten.

I would rate it seven out of ten. Based on my experience, there have been occasional issues with vCenter. One of the recurring problems involves vCenter going offline, and when that happens, I'm unable to resolve it, necessitating the installation and reintegration into the system. This has been an ongoing challenge throughout its entire lifespan. However, when it comes to accessing the servers individually, there's a different issue. While using the solution, there are frequent occurrences where, when I make changes to a machine, such as adjusting RAM or other resources, I sometimes encounter a situation where the data doesn't load properly, resulting in a yellow screen. To rectify this, I have to refresh the page and then make the necessary changes to the machine. While this can be somewhat frustrating, it's not overly difficult for me to manage, and I've learned to handle it without considering it a significant problem.

I haven't taken any formal courses on vCenter, yet I've managed to install and troubleshoot them successfully. I've relied heavily on online resources, and the wealth of information available on the Internet has proven to be a valuable asset. I haven't sought support from any specific company. However, it's possible that in the future, I might encounter a problem that I can't resolve on my own, even with online resources. At that point, reaching out to a company for assistance might be necessary.

It is not difficult but sometimes requires extensive reading and knowledge to install it. It's not a complex task, but I need to fully comprehend everything in order to install it. Sometimes network-related issues can complicate matters, and having a strong background in network infrastructure, including switches and routing, is crucial for successful execution. If there's a preference, I'd appreciate guidance on which one to install. Also, it would be convenient if I didn't have to create everything from scratch on the switch. Some elements may need to be set up physically, and then I can connect them to two switches for network installation, requiring a three-step installation process. The deployment is scheduled for two months to complete the installation and server replacement. This timeframe should encompass all aspects of the solution.

It's not particularly challenging, but it's important to remain close to the users, ensuring that the data is functioning correctly. We need to verify its operation for a week. Out of ten servers, everything is working fine. Then, I'll proceed to another server, following a similar approach, to ensure it is safely set up. We won't be dealing with desktop servers; it's more about efficient and timely execution.  

I would rate it six out of ten.

There's a smaller category that stands out due to its affordability, especially for recent versions, which I rate as four or five in terms of value. However, if you're looking for a vCenter with older, more advanced features, it comes at a significantly higher cost, and I would rate it around ten. They provide us with a choice between a recent version and one integrated, and I lean towards the former.

I would rate it overall an eight out of ten. 

Our clients use VROps to monitor their virtual machine performance, create reports, do capacity planning, and do project planning. We also use the tenant-student app for billing purposes.

I've found the reporting and analytics features to be the most valuable. 

The latest release of VMware Aria Operations has some great new automation features, but I think the pricing could be improved. It's quite expensive, especially for the entire VM workload.

In future releases, I would like to see VMware Aria Operations integrate with Ansible. I understand that VMware has their own orchestration and automation product, but I think it would be valuable to be able to integrate with Ansible as well. This would give users the flexibility to choose the best tool for the job, without having to invest in two separate products.

I have been using VROps for about eight years.

It is a very stable solution. But it requires a lot of knowledge to manage. For example, if you are collecting a lot of data for analysis, the virtual appliance drive spaces can fill up. In this case, you need engineers who know how to expand those spaces. The procedure is simple: you just add a new VMDK and start the appliance. The appliance will automatically expand the drives with the NVMe and stuff. However, the problem is that you need engineers who know how to manage and clear up the logs and ensure that they are sent as a stop.

I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten.  I did have some scalability issues when working with the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) stack. For example, if I deployed one instance and needed to scale out to a second instance, I would sometimes run into problems. 

VROps is most suitable for enterprise-level companies.

The initial setup process is fairly simple, especially if you are only setting up a standalone instance. However, if you are setting up a multi-tenant or multi-cluster environment, the setup process can take longer.

Our clients have hosted it on cloud as well as on-premises. 

The licensing is quite expensive for our company. I would probably give it a rating of seven out of ten, where one being expensive and ten being affordable.

I've used both VMware Aria Operations and Veeam ONE.

If I need to troubleshoot a problem, I would use VMware Aria Operations. If I need to get a complete overview of my environment and generate reports, I would use Veeam ONE.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. There is only one area of improvement for me.