VMware vSphere Foundation Reviews

I am currently using vSphere Foundation to manage multiple standalone servers and our cluster environment. It provides me with good manageability from a virtualization perspective.

I find the manageability and interface of vSphere Foundation to be very good, more understandable, and futuristic compared to open-source alternatives. It provides me with a lot of features that I am comfortable using for virtualization. I manage multiple servers with ease, which is a significant benefit for my organization's virtualization needs.

One area of concern is Oracle's lack of support for VMware in terms of core licensing. It is not legally compliant to use an Oracle database on VMware, which does not support Oracle core-based licensing. Therefore, I decided to decommission VMware due to these licensing issues.

I have used VMware vSphere Foundation for eight years.

VMware vSphere Foundation is stable. It is a standard tool and is considered very stable.

VMware vSphere Foundation is scalable.

The support service is not very good. I often resolve issues myself or with community help, as the response time from support is not as expected. I would rate their support five out of ten.

I am using a kernel-based virtualization solution from Oracle. I am in the process of decommissioning VMware and transitioning to this Oracle solution due to VMware's licensing costs and limitations.

The initial setup involves configuring a lot of elements like the server and storage, which requires a significant amount of time and resources.

The deployment involved three to five people. I manage some aspects of maintenance myself.

While the return on investment is not clearly defined, the manageability of multiple servers without needing additional personnel or specialists is beneficial.

Licensing costs are very high, and older licenses like version 6.5 are not upgradable, making it costly to maintain or upgrade.

I have adopted a kernel-based virtualization solution from Oracle.

Overall, I would not recommend VMware vSphere Foundation at this time. My overall rating for the solution is six out of ten.

I work for a data center as a system administrator. I oversee production and analyze systems. We host our workloads on VMware and virtualized infrastructure.

The features are easy to manage, and the user experience is excellent. Each version of vSphere offers a range of features, from basic hypervisors to vCenter, which are easy to manage. It is more reliable than others. VMware has the largest portfolio, and I appreciate how they manage virtual infrastructure. The virtual stack of vCenter, its distributed resources system, high availability engines, and the ability to move VM workloads from one host to another are outstanding. No other vendor provides such features to the extent VMware does.

The licensing model is an area for improvement. Recently, VMware shifted its licensing models, and they should streamline it. Now they have time-based and core-based licensing, which may or may not be relevant. While not a technical issue, obtaining VMware can be difficult.

I have been using VMware for four to five years.

The main strength of VMware is its stability.

VMware has the best scalability. You can simply add more hosts to your VMware stack seamlessly, scaling up vertically or horizontally.

Support from VMware is rarely needed. I have enterprise support, but I barely use it. Most of the time, VMware operates smoothly without requiring support. In the past year, I have approached support once or twice, mostly during upgrades. Operations are stable and reliable, minimizing the need for support.

Positive

I have some experience with OpenShift as well. I consider NeoBLayer the top option.

The initial setup is easy, and you don't need very high skills for that. You can easily install and deploy VMware technologies on any VMware product.

An individual can handle deployment, however, it depends on the scale. For a small setup, a single individual can manage it.

VMware is on the expensive side.

I also use KVM-based hypervisors.

I have experienced many types of software. From a user point of view, I don't see limitations in VMware's features. Comparing VMware with other products, it offers the best features and options. VMware provides the best features. 

I am a certified engineer for VMware, specifically a data center certified engineer. 

Overall, I rate VMware a nine out of ten.

I use vSphere Foundation for virtualization. I handle multiple VMs and have been involved in deploying it for various industries, including banking, FMCG, and telecoms. I work as a service provider, offering support and administration of the solution.

vSphere Foundation is valuable due to its scalability, reliability, and ease of management. It allows multiple VMs in one server, making it cost-effective. Its high availability and the convenience of management are significant benefits for my customers.

VMware needs to improve cost efficiency, especially in Pakistan, as customers often seek more affordable solutions. Reducing costs would enhance the product's appeal.

I have nearly ten years of experience working with vSphere Foundation.

vSphere Foundation is a very stable product, with about 90% of our customers using it. It performs reliably across various environments.

vSphere Foundation is very easy to scale. It's straightforward to procure additional licenses, install them on the host and add them to the same cluster.

Customer support in Pakistan is satisfactory. The support team is certified and competent, particularly in emergencies. Though some connections are through resources in India, the support quality remains high.

The initial setup of vSphere Foundation is very easy. I would rate it a 7.5 out of ten.

vSphere Foundation is considered very expensive, especially when compared to competitive Chinese products. The costs include licensing and additional support fees.

My advice to users considering vSphere Foundation is that it is a very stable, user-friendly, and easy-to-use product. Customers should understand its cost implications and plan accordingly. 

I rate the product eight out of ten.

I have been selling to companies through distribution channels, reaching out to government entities like in Sao Paulo for solutions such as backup systems where the base of that backup solution was VMware. I am not sure about the final use, however, these have been the main solutions I have sold recently.

One valuable feature of vSphere is the possibility to distribute file systems in a hyperconvergent foundation. This allows virtualization and the establishment of a private cloud, serving as a first step to the public cloud. VMware provides the tools needed to move environments between private and public clouds seamlessly.

In the last year, the main issue was pricing. With the Broadcom acquisition of VMware, there were delays and confusion in Brazil and some LATAM countries involving quoting and purchasing. Historically, these issues may have been related to the acquisition period.

I have been selling vSphere and VMware suites for 15 years through various companies.

vSphere has good scalability for common environments and also in hyperconverged environments.

The support from VMware has been excellent. There is nonstop support available around the world, which allows issues to be resolved continuously without interruption, regardless of whether the problem occurs in the USA, India, or another location.

Neutral

The initial setup is of medium difficulty. It requires knowledge from those implementing it, as they need to have a background in what they want to accomplish. Though not overly difficult, it involves understanding the intended application thoroughly.

A team typically involves a VMware specialist and someone with expertise in the client's core business area to ensure all solutions align with business needs. Generally, two people are sufficient for an enterprise-level deployment.

In 2021 and 2022, the price was high. The specifics under Broadcom's management remain uncertain. In Brazil, we are increasingly using open-source alternatives like Proxmox due to their lower prices in comparison.

We have been considering alternatives like Proxmox due to pricing issues with VMware.

I rate the VMware vSphere Foundation solution a seven out of ten. 

This rating is influenced by pricing as well as the transitional issues related to the acquisition by Broadcom.

We have one of the most important companies in Mexico, and we built a private cloud in their own data center. We installed all VMware products for this deployment.

I find that VMware vSphere is not very user-friendly at first, as there is a significant learning curve involved with installation. However, it is extremely well-established and once deployed, I do not have to worry about the underlying platform. I only need to focus on managing virtual machines. 

The solution supports the creation of a large virtual environment consisting of thousands of virtual machines, and the performance is excellent. The scalability is impressive, and when the console is installed, it is very user-friendly. I also find the stability of the solution to be excellent, though I need to stay updated due to frequent security updates in response to threats and attacks.

Some customers in Latin America and Mexico, including myself, face challenges due to the lack of language support from engineers. Improving language support can enhance my satisfaction as a customer.

I have had experience with VMware vSphere for eight years.

I find the stability to be remarkable, however, frequent updates are required due to constant security challenges and attacks.

The solution offers excellent scalability, allowing me to efficiently expand my environments as needed.

I find the customer service to be quite strong, with a rating of nine out of ten. There is room for improvement, particularly in providing better language support for Latin American and Mexican customers.

Positive

Setting up VMware vSphere is challenging for me, especially without prior virtualization experience. However, with some existing skills and experience, it becomes more manageable.

The product is considered expensive by me, and pricing is a significant factor to consider.

I recommend VMware vSphere Foundation completely. Overall, it is an excellent solution, and I rate it a ten out of ten. 

The price is a drawback, however, in all other aspects, it is completely good. I have experience with Zen Mobile, however, I'm currently not updated with the technology.

We deploy various technologies like Python, Node.js, and other applications on our on-prem infrastructure. We mainly use VMware for testing purposes.

Our production environment is on the cloud, while our UAT (User Acceptance Testing) environment is on VMware. All the deployments and changes are tested on VMware first.

The product has remained largely the same. I previously used VMware ESXi, and while it's now a licensed product, the core features haven’t changed much.

Compared to older versions, the current version provides better visibility into hardware usage, including bare-metal usage. It helps us see whether our configuration is adequate and prompts us with questions if there are potential issues, asking whether we want to proceed.

The visibility feature is very helpful. These features have improved the IT efficiency significantly. 

You can have the best product in the world, but if it’s not accessible to customers, it doesn’t matter. That’s my main concern.

People might be confused about where to purchase the product like vSphere. I don't even know who handles this.

Broadcom hasn't advertised much since the merger. So, are the same vendors who used to work with VMware still handling purchases? No one really knows.

The only obstacle is the purchase of the product. If you're trying to buy a product and you can't find vendors that provide support or product details, then who will help with the purchase?

The only challenge was procurement. Other than that, everything has been smooth. No issues.

I’ve been working with VMware since 2015. After the Broadcom acquisition, the process of purchasing products became more difficult. We no longer had clear contacts from Broadcom, and it was challenging to place orders or even know who to reach out to for support. Before this, I had no issues with VMware.

I work with version 8. 

I would rate the stability a six out of ten.  It still has room to improve.

Since, I haven’t explored the product in-depth yet.

Since we use it in our UAT environment, I don’t think any issues with scalability would currently affect our business. If we were using it in production, that might be a different story.

I would rate the scalability a six out of ten. I need more time to explore. I want to understand all the options it offers and how they can benefit our business.

Some VMs are used by all employees if they are in the repository. Other VMs are for project-oriented deployments, and only about ten to fifteen members access those.

We plan to increase the usage of vSphere Foundation in the future.

At my current company, I work with Intel severs, Dell, and VMware. As a technical professional, I provide solutions for organizations. I work with both physical hardware and cloud technology.

It’s easy to set up. No issues at all. I would rate my experience with the initial setup a ten out of ten, with ten being the easiest. 

It took around 45 minutes to deploy it. It was pretty quick. 

For deployment, we took backups of VMs, like email backups. While doing that, we exported the VMs as well.

For us, with only two servers, one person was enough.

We don’t need a large team for maintenance. If it's something specific to voice, we might need an expert, but for VMware, we don’t need a dedicated person to manage it.

I haven't needed any support for installation or anything.

There will be organizational value because after upgrading, there are many features we still need to explore and engage with the business. Once that happens, we'll see the value. We haven't seen a direct return on investment yet.

The purchasing process became more complicated after the merger with Broadcom. We don’t have the same level of access to Broadcom representatives as we did with VMware. It’s difficult to know who to contact for support or where to submit orders.

I would rate the pricing a ten out of ten, with one being very cheap and ten being very expensive. It's quite expensive because you can get a cloud instance at a lower cost for the same configuration.

The price could be lower.

I was working on VMware ESXi. It's an open-source tool. We wanted to upgrade our infrastructure. So, it was an upgrade.

We had a lot of data on other options, but this one was user-friendly.

So user-friendliness was the crucial factor for me.

I would rate it a six out of ten. If the pricing and procurement process are addressed, it could be a good product. Those are the main concerns. There’s competition like Microsoft Hyper-V, which is cheaper than VMware.

Our primary use case for VMware vSphere Foundation is virtualization.

The most beneficial features of VMware vSphere Foundation for IT infrastructure are its licensing, scalability features, and user-friendliness.

The area where VMware vSphere Foundation has room for improvement is in its licensing.

I have more than ten years of experience reselling these VMware solutions.

I'd rate the stability of VMware vSphere Foundation at ten out of ten.

I would rate the scalability of VMware vSphere Foundation on a scale from one to ten.

I rate VMware's technical support at eight or nine out of ten. I have not seen any troubles with technical support or any long-term waiting as mentioned by my clients.

Positive

Regarding the initial setup, VMware vSphere Foundation is a straightforward solution, although it can be a bit complex.

The pricing and licensing of VMware vSphere Foundation is quite expensive. I would rate the pricing a ten out of ten, where ten is expensive.

Based on my experience, I would wholeheartedly recommend VMware vSphere Foundation to others as it is my number one choice.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.