VMware NSX Reviews

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.

The tool is very useful for cloud providers who need to manage things like Microsoft Enterprise.

The performance is good.

The setup is complex and should be made easier.

I have been using the solution for three years.

It is a stable solution.

It is a scalable solution. Good to scale in and scale out, and add benefits resources. Customers use it across the globe.

The technical support team is dependable because we use the service a lot of time. We opened a lot of cases and it was solved.

The tool's setup is complex. When I deployed it myself, it took less than one day.

We can do many things with NSF; for now, most of the things are the micro security capabilities and features. I recommend the solution. I rate it eight out of ten.

We are using VMware NSX primarily to enable address mechanisms in terms of having to provide the workloads publicly.

In India and similar regions, the CSP faces a significant challenge. The primary issue is related to network address cancellation, which requires private to public IT mapping and the use of the CSP's own IP address space. VMware NSX has been effective in addressing this problem, along with the virtual firewall's ability to function as a network firewall. This has helped to minimize the need for customers to take responsibility for their network security. In these regions, customers expect full-service solutions and do not typically embrace DIY approaches. An analogy for this situation is that if a customer buys a toothbrush from you, they might expect you to brush their teeth for them.

VMware NSX's overlay network is its most valuable feature, as it aligns with any network philosophy and allows for efficient addressing mechanisms. Additionally, the ability to extend the on-premise network into the provider space is beneficial. There are many features provided.

There is room for improvement in VMware NSX's workload management, particularly in the orchestration layer and in managing workloads across multiple clouds.

Additionally, where workload management could be improved is in the ability to federate workloads seamlessly between different control panels. For example, if I am using VMware vCenter as my control panel and have partnered with a non-VMware provider, I should be able to manage my workloads as a customer without having to worry about orchestration. This is an area where there is potential for improvement.

I have been using VMware NSX for approximately eight years.

The scalability of VMware NSX is similar to other solutions. It is scalable.

I rate the scalability of VMware NSX a seven out of ten.

We did not have local support to go to in India. There is no support center here.

I have used Qumulo but we needed to buy a switch for it which was not favorable.

The initial setup of VMware NSX is not complex. If someone has an understanding of how networks work it will be easy. It can take some time to be completed. For example, to configure the solution with the correct commands.

The implementation time can vary depending on the clarity and complexity of the requirements.

When comparing VMware NSX to OpenStack, VMware NSX is simpler to implement.

I rate the initial setup of VMware NSX a six out of ten.

The price of VMware NSX is optimal. Additionally, the price of the solution can be negotiated with the vendor. Many areas of the solution can impact the cost, such as features, time for onboarding, and support needed.

We evaluated other options before choosing VMware NSX.

VMware is a pioneer in virtualization, they are good at what they do. They score high overall in capability.

I rate VMware NSX an eight out of ten.

We use the solution for our DMC firewall to micro-segment the networks for the CRUD matrix.

The most valuable feature is the integration with the firewall.

The cost of the solution has room for improvement.

I have been using the solution for three years.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable.

We have around 4,000 people using the solution.

The technical support is sometimes delayed but they always resolve our issues.

Positive

The implementation was completed by a vendor.

The cost of the solution is a bit high.

I give the solution an eight out of ten.

The maintenance is done by our vendor.

The solution is great and I recommend it.

The solution is primarily used for micro-segmentation for the security of virtual machines.

VMware NSX offers some of the best features for security, such as micro-segmentation. This feature allows us to define policies on a per-virtual machine basis. For example, if we have four virtual machines, we can have four different firewalls attached to each of the VMs. This allows us to monitor the traffic between each VM, as they will have to go through two firewalls or two IPs. This added layer of security provides a great benefit to those utilizing the solution.

Despite being somewhat behind in the cybersecurity field, VMware should develop a cloud and a red team to continuously monitor for new malware and ransomware. They must maintain their own cloud to do their own research, and send the resulting hashes or values to all customers using VMware NSX. This will ensure that each customer is regularly updated with the latest malware and ransomware hashes to keep their systems secure.

Web filtering is a good feature that I would like to have added to the solution.

I would like the ability to limit the bandwidth per virtual machine to ensure that I understand the throughput requirements of any application that is running. This way, I can be protected from the risks of a DoS or DDoS attack, which may require a high level of throughput. This limitation would apply to Layer 4 or Layer 5 of the network.

I have been using the solution for three years.

VMware NSX is stable.

The great advantage of VMware is its scalability and hardware independence; The solution is compatible with a wide range of server brands, including Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Cisco.

My job was to offer consultancy, demonstrations, and conceptual approval to the VMware official team and their partners.

Positive

Of all the cybersecurity vendors we have, the installation of VMware products is the most straightforward. The time needed to deploy depends on the purpose of the use case. Complex tasks between two data centers could take up to four days, whereas micro-segmentation would usually take only two days.

I give the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is missing the red teams and R&D necessary to continuously receive updates from the cloud. Additionally, two other features are absent from VMware NSX which are bandwidth limitation and URL filtering.

We have two people using the solution. I'm the only architect, and the other person is mainly responsible for checking logs to determine if any resources are needed and then assigning those resources to the appropriate virtual machines. 

For someone who wants to secure their data center and three-tier application architecture (database, web application, etc.), they should use micro-segmentation with VMware NSX. This would enable them to set policies on a per-virtual machine basis. For example, if each VM has two virtual NICs assigned to it, each virtual NIC would have its own firewall, policy, and IP. This way, even when two virtual machines need to communicate with each other, their traffic will pass through two separate firewalls within the server. In addition to micro-segmentation, NSX also provides switching and routing services. The use of a data center firewall can be cost-effective for enterprise customers, SMBs, and medium-sized customers. By utilizing the routing, switching, and firewall capabilities provided by the data center firewall, the load on data center switches and routing can be reduced, making it a more cost-efficient option. The throughput required by the data center firewall, be it a Fortinet or Palo Alto Checkpoint, is directly proportional to the cost. With increased throughput, the cost of the firewall will also increase. VMware NSX offloads the workload from the data center firewall, taking on the task itself. This is possible without impacting performance because it is a software firewall, so it absorbs all the load from the data center firewall, providing the same security measures as the legacy firewall would.

We are using VMware NSX for network security.

It is used for Tanzu, it is successful for our Kubernetes environment.

The most valuable features are ease of use and user interface.

The security feature for the Kubernetes environment can be improved.

I have been using this solution for approximately one year.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable. 

We have approximately 10 users using this solution in my organization.

We have been satisfied with the technical support. They were able to solve our problems. However, they could be faster.

Positive

The installation is straightforward and it took approximately two days.

We did the implementation ourselves. We have a manager and an administrator that does the maintenance of the solution.

There is a license required for this solution and there is also a support license available. 

The price of the solution could be better.

I would recommend it to others.

I rate VMware NSX ten out of ten.

I use VMware NSX for virtualizing networks for VMware virtual machines.

VMware NSX improved my organization because it's more flexible than network hardware and provides many solutions, such as firewalls and load balancers.

The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the high bandwidth.

A room for improvement in VMware NSX is that it has some security vulnerabilities, which means my company has to apply the patches every once in a while.

I have two years of experience with VMware NSX, and I've worked with the solution in the last twelve months.

VMware NSX is a stable solution.

VMware NSX is a scalable solution.

I have no experience contacting VMware NSX technical support.

I didn't use a previous solution before I used VMware NSX.

My company went with VMware NSX because the infrastructure within the company is VMware.

The initial setup for VMware NSX is not that complex. It's in the middle, so I'd rate it as five out of ten.

I'm trying to remember how long the deployment of the solution took, but it didn't take up a lot of time.

A third party helped my company with VMware NSX implementation.

I have experience with VMware NSX.

I'm using the latest version of the solution.

Sometimes, VMware NSX requires maintenance. The third-party was responsible for the first time, and then the vendor took over the subsequent maintenance activities.

VMware NSX has about three hundred users in the company.

I don't know if there's any plan to increase usage for the solution.

My rating for VMware NSX is nine out of ten.

We use this solution for network virtualization alongside Nutanix and for the firewall blueprint. I'm an IT manager. 

This product is like the layer between traditional networking and virtualization. It gives you the flexibility to deploy and have network virtualization on different types of firewalls. We implemented this solution when we moved to the private cloud. 

The setup of the solution could be simplified.

I've been using this solution for two years. 

We haven't had any issues with stability. 

The solution is scalable, but we haven't tested that yet. We have three network engineers using the product. We don't plan to increase usage in the near future. 

The response time of the technical support team could improve. We also sometimes had the feeling that they didn't properly understand the issue.

Positive

The initial setup is not that straightforward. We used a consultant and even then deployment took a full week. It wasn't easy. 

This is a good solution if it fits your requirements. You can achieve a lot if it suits your needs. I rate this solution eight out of 10.