VMware NSX Reviews

What I found most valuable is the security offered by VMware NSX. I also like that it is a feature-rich product.

VMware NSX should be able to scale for different customers, even the big ones. Its scalability needs improvement. Stability for it should also be improved.

An additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of this product is for it to have more integration with other public clouds.

I have concerns on the stability of VMware NSX, because it breaks multiple times in customer environments, especially when you scale it across a big data center.

VMware NSX still has a lot of scalability limitations, and needs improvement on how it can scale.

The support for VMware NSX has not been good recently. Some of their experienced staff have left the company, and that has impacted all their business units, including support.

VMware NSX is straightforward to install and configure, but for a user who's new to it, the product can be somewhat complex to understand, though not too complex.

The pricing model for VMware NSX is good, especially because it has a lot of features.

VMware NSX is a good product. It's the best solution in terms of the Enterprise FTN.

I'm quite competent on this product, because I've been working on it for a long time, so I find it easier to use.

I'm rating VMware NSX nine out of ten.

NSX gives us the ability to put our network, NSX, onto any network there is, which allows us not to have to go to the network team to create networks our VLANs for networks. We can just create all our networks right from the start. Whenever we want to spin something up, we just spin it up.

So far, what I've seen here at VMworld, it seems to be improving just the same line as everything else. It's going to expand, grow and grow and grow. It's going everywhere. It's not just going into "I'm using the V version of NSX," but it's going out to every environment. It's going out to all the clouds so that even if you have the V, you can also use the cloud part and put it into there, so it seems to be growing where it needs to go.

It still needs to grow. There are still some features that it doesn't do, like it doesn't do multicasting. It does do some multicasting, but it's within their own infrastructure, but multicasting in general, it doesn't do.

So far, it's been very stable. I've used it since the very beginning and it's been very stable in the beginning, and as they've added more and more features, it's become more and more stable in the environment; that is, better in the environment because we're able to use more and more features within it.

So far it's been very scalable, and with the new versions that are coming out, it's even more and more scalable. They've added more and more features of routing that they didn't have in the first versions, which allow it to be more scalable. It's become better than the actual infrastructure, the original network infrastructure that's there, because we can lay it on anything and it will scale to any part of the network that we want.

So far, I've had very good tech support. A lot of the guys we talk to are very knowledgeable, and if they don't know it, they're able to talk to others within their group that will know it. So I've gotten very good results from them.

The installation is very straightforward. The part that gets complex is how you do your routing, how you do your ESGs, how you set up the actual network itself within it. But once it's set up, you just create virtual switches and put any network you want on it. It becomes almost seamless.

In terms of criteria for selecting a vendor, it's a little of everything. It's the reputation that they have, but it's also more of the tech support, as well as the documentation that they have, because not everybody in their environment, as well as your own environment, knows everything. So you have to be able to look up stuff and have that knowledge to be able to do it, as well as allow them to do it.

They have a lot of good KB articles on what's going on, so if you need a problem solved, you look at that first and you'll be able to find it pretty easily.

Some of NSX's most valuable features are:

• Its distributed firewall
• The we can actually extend Layer 2 networking across datacenters, and also Layer 3 networking, which comes along with it.
• The routing and switching.

They could branch out to the physical layer. Today, it's just the virtual layer, and they're starting to talk about the physical layer. We'd like to see the physical layer incorporated.

We've been using NSX now with Layer 2 stretching for approximately 10 months. We're getting ready to really ramp up the DFW, which is the distributed firewall piece, which we and our security team are very excited about.

NSX is a very stable product.

We've already scaled it across two data centers. We'll be incorporating two additional data centers, to give us that footprint, or IP address migration across four data centers. So, it's quite scalable.

The tech support for NSX is awesome. We are a premier production customer for VMware, therefore the tech support and the tech support representatives don't start a lower level. We start at the mid-level of the tech support engineers. Thus, we get answers very quickly. We also work with our technical account manager who knows what we're doing and what we've got coming up, so he's able to push things for us on the tech support side.

Our tech support's awesome.

The most important criteria when selecting a vendor (like VMware), it's important to us that they have the following:

• Their name recognition.
• The support that they provide.
• Their placement in the industry as a leader.
• The things that they're doing with NSX, which are phenomenal.

We're a supporter of VMware, and likewise they're a supporter and a partner with us and what we're doing.

It's really a great product. It fits all of our needs. Everything that we've asked it to do or asked VMware to help us get done with it, we've been able to do. Therefore, we're very excited about the product.

Our clients consist of enterprise companies. 

From my experience, VMware on a private cloud is a good choice. They offer some great webinars and workshops to learn how to use the product better.

Over the last two years, they've enhanced a lot, especially in regard to integration with OpenStack.

It's great for building a virtualized environment. It features great motion mobility, its own logical distributor, router switches, load balance, firewall, etc. 

I have been using VMware NSX for four to five years. 

Personally, I find VMware NSX to be very stable. 

They need to enhance their technical support. There is no comparison between VMware technical support and Cisco's technical support. It's one of the main criteria that everyone is looking for.

The initial setup was straightforward. Deployment was very easy.

VMware NSX is expensive and everything is licensed. We have to pay for each individual feature. 

Be sure to read over the documentation on their website. They announce a lot of webinars and workshops for the product. It's good marketing and you should attend them. 

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of six. 

I work with two different companies with different large cloud environments. 

This product is a software-defined network, and that allows you to create virtual access networks and managing security to allow for different workloads.

The solution offers a very good software-defined network that allows you to create virtual access networks. It's very helpful at allowing you to manage security to allow for different workloads. 

One of the big improvements between the NSX-V and NSX-T is that in NSX-T you are no longer dependent on V-Center anymore. That was a huge improvement due to the fact that it allows you to take into account new cases, and have better scalability, among other improvements.

There is always room for improvement, in any solution. 

In some cases, this product is very technical. 

Some configuration maximums are limiting to the user, especially when it comes to the deployment of very, very large environments. There are limits to the number of firewall rules, security groups, et cetera. With the number of security groups, you can nest all these limits, however, somehow limiting the use cases may be restrictive for the free design of different use cases.

I've been working with the solution for a while at this point. It's been at least a couple of years.

The scalability capabilities have improved in NSX-T. It is much better than when the NSX-V version was out.

I work with two different clients, both of which are quite sizeable. They have thousands of machines and thousands of security groups.

I didn't work with another solution per se, however, the previous triggered cloud tool that we had was by VMware. It was not really, at least at the very beginning, a tool for a software-defined network, however, there were some elements that allowed you to create customer networks practically on the fly. There were also some other network visualization techniques, which allowed you actually to encapsulate the traffic and to create networks on the fly. You had some security constructs, including tenents constructs, that you can find somehow in the VRA today. The tenant concept is also present in NSX.

Our customers can use the solution for free, however, this comes with restrictions.

We are consultants and integrators. We have a business relationship with VMware.

I am working with both NSX-V and NSX-T. The latest one is actually NSX-T.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate it at an eight.

Security. Our Trend platform runs off NSX.

We use the solution strictly for security.

Roughly six months.

We didn't have this issue, but I would recommend to others looking at this solution to make sure that their hardware is compatible.

It seems to be taking care of our whole environment. It seems to be pretty scalable.

I have not used it, but my coworker has. Every time he talks to them, they're easy to get a hold of; very knowledgeable and they solve his issues right away.

If you put in a trouble ticket, they contact you very quickly (in response). If there is a problem, it usually isn't around very long. They jump on it, fix it, and it's done.

We were on McAfee, and we switched to Trend. We switched to Trend because Trend supports virtual environment a lot better than McAfee does.

Trend migrated in a way that it will only work with NSX. The older version of Trend that we were on worked without NSX. The newer version does not. Now, we use NSX in conjunction with Trend.

We upgraded Trend to keep up-to-date and all the security loopholes closed.

Most important criteria when selecting a vendor:

• They have to be able to support the environment you're running.
• The service and support is a big must. We work at an Enterprise level, so sometimes you can't go with the little new guy. You need that 24 hour service and support, seven days a week. It is very important for us.

VMware NSX can be used for micro-segmentation in the network space.

The solution is very good at micro-segmentation.

VMware NSX provides a lot of automation capabilities, but there is still room for improvement.

I have been using VMware NSX for approximately 14 years.

The stability of VMware NSX is good.

VMware has been the market leader for stability. If you look at the competitors,  I would rate that it's one of the top five solutions which I have worked on in this space.

VMware NSX provides excellent support.

If you are a new user and are looking for overall automation skills, then VMware vRealize Automation fits the purpose.

If the new user is looking for micro-segmentation in the network space, then  VMware NSX is the best solution. It has a very good capability in terms of micro-segmentation. Although, there are certain capabilities of the Layer 7 functionality, which other solutions have available, specifically from the Cisco stack. However, VMware NSX is an overall good solution when it comes to virtualization and Automation.

I rate VMware NSX a nine out of ten.

Our customers had multiple data centers in different locations. Now, with NSX we built one fabric over an IP transport, like WAN internet. When we created the switches, it spread out over the data centers which are the configuration and the management of the underlying network for the VM workloads.

The reusability of the objects for the switches has improved our client's organization. For example, if I do some sort of vMotion, there is no need to recreate the portal groups on the other sides. We have one centralized NSX Manager which is managing those controllers on those sites.

The most valuable features would be the easy management and the possibility of using our existing vSphere environment so that we don't need to purchase a new hardware.

Layers 4 and 7 load balancing are good. We like that it's integrated with the vSphere. This means that we can see its full capabilities because of the full visibility of the kernel on the NSX management.

Microsementation is really powerful. With the existing networks of the legacy networks, we need to build a firewall between the segments in order to do microsegmentation but now having, for example, one VLAN connected to multiple VLANs, I can do micro-segmentation between the workloads even with the ushering the same segments.

I would like them to make integration with other vendors easier.

It's pretty stable. Just deploy it and just forget about it. It's also robust, flexible, and scalable. 

Scalability is really easy. We can scale within an hour. We can scale either new controllers or add new hosts to the fabric.

We haven't had to use their technical support yet, which is a good thing.

I'm involved in the decision making. My boss would say that it's time to advance the customer so we'll look into a solution.

We were already a VMware-based customer so our first option for an SDN solution was to go with NSX. 

The initial setup was straightforward. It follows a certain structure and you won't miss a step. It's all on the same level, step by step.

It has saved us CapEx. They should adjust the license for NSX so that we can invest in the infrastructure or purchasing of new hardware. This solution is reasonably priced compared to other vendors.

Our customers usually compare NSX to Cisco ACI. The main issue is the underlying network that VMware does not provide visibility to. They chose NSX because they were already VMware customers and they already had vSphere. The second reason they chose NSX is because of the powerful features like microsegmentation, as opposed to relying on other vendors to manage the microsegmentation feature.

I would rate this solution an eight because of its ease of deployment. I'm a partner so this is what I mostly care about. Also because of the ease of scalability.

If you're looking into NSX or similar solutions I would recommend you to first learn about vSphere and other VMware products because it's essential in order to implement NSX. Without that knowledge, it would be hard for you to understand.

And to those who think NSX is complex I would say it's not. You need to try it and see.