VMware vSphere Reviews

The primary reason our customers use vSphere is to consolidate their workloads and realize the other benefits that virtualization provides. For example, they create HA or VM-level HA to facilitate DR.

Essentially, our clients use vSphere for all of the reasons that people use a virtualization layer.

I am a virtualization technician, doing software technology consulting for virtualization and VDI. 

This is a solution that is normally very straightforward. It doesn't give you many surprises. It's very stable. However, one should have good knowledge when it comes to it because sometimes, you have to use the command line for troubleshooting. For unseen problems, you sometimes need to dig deep to troubleshoot.

vSphere is a robust and feature-rich virtualization platform. It is the number one virtualization-layer platform available, and a lot of people trust it.

Many other platforms now provide similar features but VMware was the first to provide enhanced recorders, DRS, fault tolerance, vMotion, and others. They pioneered these features and they are very stable.

VMware also provides software-defined storage, vSAN, which is built into the kernel. This is a plus point.

Other good features include DRS, HA, fault tolerance, vSAN, and vCenter is a very good management interface.

This platform is easy to maintain. 

To manage it properly, you have to know this product really well. For the most part, it is very easy to use.

I began working with VMware vSphere in 2007 or 2008 when it was version 3.x. 

This is the most stable virtualization platform available.

In the three years that I have been running my consultancy, I've found that VMware is always part of a large project. Most of the time, I have had a good experience with it.

We have done multiple enterprise services projects using this solution. For example, we were working on a Horizon View PoC for a client.

vSphere is scalable; you just have to add to your cluster and it will increase. You can scale up or scale-out, like any other software. Basically, you can add to it as much as you want to.

I trust VMware products and I definitely want our installed base to increase. I want to enhance my own knowledge and skillset, as well. As we move forward and expand, I am equipping myself with more cloud knowledge and focusing on new technologies. One new product that I am looking at is Carbon Black. Throughout this, I will continue to promote VMware because they are a vendor that I trust.

The VMware support is very professional. Most of the time we've used them, they were very good.

As a technology consultant working for customers with varying requirements, I work with other virtualization platforms. Two of these are Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer.

The initial setup is very easy and there is nothing difficult about it. Initially, some people get stuck when they are setting up the supporting services, like DNS, but other than that, the setup is plain and simple.

The length of time required for deployment depends on whether your disk is an SSD. If so, then the copying will be fast. Also, if you have more memory then it will install quicker. 

Regardless of how it is set up, you have to build the basic infrastructure to put in most of your workloads. Sometimes, you manage an existing one but most of the time, we have to deploy a VMware infrastructure.

A single person can basically manage it, although this depends upon the deployment size. If it's a huge deployment, then it requires a good design and it requires proper planning. You need to know your capacity requirements, for example.

If you understand the environment and the design then maybe you can segregate the work into two or three people. Sometimes if it's a small project, a single person can do it. It all depends on the files and complexity of the solution you are providing to the customer.

We deploy this product ourselves.

The licensing model is not complex.

It is a perpetual licensing but there is also an annual maintenance cost. The price of the solution depends on the features that you want. You can have a very basic setup or you can choose a more advanced set of features. The more features that you want and the more extensive your requirement is, the more you have to pay.

In Pakistan, for the most part, organizations are still catching up in terms of the cloud. There are no large data centers because cloud providers do not exist locally. Neither AWS nor Azure has a presence.

The closest data centers to us are Singapore and Dubai. As such, the cloud is not very popular yet and most of our customers have on-premises deployments. We do expect this to change.

My advice for anybody who is implementing this product, or any piece of software, is to have a reasonable level of knowledge in advance of the deployment. That is key in IT.

If you are a consultant, as opposed to an end-user, then you need to have a deep knowledge of the product because there are circumstances where you have to go beyond the normal configuration. Sometimes you have issues that can only be resolved if you are well-equipped with the knowledge.

I also recommend that people plan their deployment. VMware is a wonderful product and it will definitely provide you with the functionality to meet your technical requirements. You will be a very satisfied customer while using it, but the key is to know the product and plan things properly.

Overall, this is a good product and I do not feel that there is much missing. It is the best virtualization platform available.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

We use the solution for the virtualization of the environment. We've converted more than 90% of our environment from physical to virtual.

The higher availability and the vMotion, I would say, are what makes it very interesting as you avoid systems being down. It provides, if you cluster, high availability, and your services can move from system to system to avoid downtime.

The solution is stable.

The scalability is great.

Technical support is helpful and always available. 

There are certain issues that can be improved. No solution is perfect, even though it's working for most of us most of the time. There are certain issues that crop up and some of them are not due to VMware. It could be due to the hardware it is running on. Therefore, it would be ideal if they could provide more knowledge on the fault tolerance and the high availability as some things are just assumed and then users find later that the use cases are different. Sometimes you may assume something applies to a use case only to find that it doesn't. If they improve on the knowledge base and documentation, it would be extremely helpful.

I've been using the solution since 2012. It's been a while. 

The stability of the product is good. I haven't dealt with bugs or glitches. It's reliable. 

The product is scalable. You can increase the number of servers. You can increase the number of computer resources, storage, CPU, memory. It's up to you how huge you want your clusters to be.

This is an enterprise solution. It is not used by users. It is an enterprise technology solution. Therefore, we won't be adding more users. 

Almost all the engineers in the organization are using the solution. I would say maybe 15 engineers are actively using it. 

The technical support is always there. They're always available. When you have an issue, you just log a call with them and set up a service request. They assist you directly. An engineer will be assigned to assist.

We have other tools, such as Oracle VM, which we are using in other areas, however, VMware is used more than the Oracle VM.

For the initial setup, you need to do design work with someone who understands VMware, who is actually certified by VMware. You need someone certified to do it.

Deployment is not a problem. As long as you take time doing your design, the deployment will not take long. You can do it within a week.

If you have one certified engineer, the implementation will go fine. 

In terms of the management of the solution, we have about four engineers who are looking after it.

You cannot do it by yourself. You need a certified engineer. That's a requirement from VMware and it's so that the environment is stable to avoid unnecessary scraping.

You do need a license. Most of these vendors also offer what they call the free version of the software. If you want more support, more features, you have to go for the paid versions. That said, you can still get the free or community version of it.

I'd recommend the solution to other users. It's a good technology. They're pioneers in the industry.

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

My primary use case is to consolidate the number of physical servers required. We created our motion machines out of it, and it acts as very easy management for backup and security.

VMWare vSphere has really helped us grow as a business, and going for a virtual backup solution has made my life so much easier.

The most valuable features are High Availability (HA), which reduces downtime, and Fault Tolerance (FT), a mirror solution that ensures no data loss. Its vMotion feature is also valuable, as it allows me to move all my virtual emissions to an available host before performing maintenance. I also value a feature called Distributed Virtual Switch, which allows me to create a private VLAN and do L2 management and switch management.

An area for improvement would be integration with different platforms. In a future release, I would like to see a feature that alerts the user if they make a mistake with configuration or if there is a vulnerability.

I've been using this solution for seven years.

This solution is scalable - it can go up to 64 nodes on the cluster in terms of storage.

VMWare's support is great - they respond immediately to requests for help.

Previously I also worked with Hyper-V, but some of my Linux machines were having problems with it.

The ease of installation depends on your organization's infrastructure - it can be very simple or complicated depending on what you want it to do.

If you want to reduce your costs, I would recommend going forward with virtualization. I would rate this solution as nine out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for real-time backups. It can create new VMs.

The solution is stable.

I don't have a problem with scalability.

The product is very easy to install.

The reporting could be improved.

We'd like to see better monitoring. There should be better alert systems in place. 

We['ve been using the solution for two to three years at this point. It hasn't been too long.

The product has been stable so far. The performance and reliability are good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

The product can scale. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so.

We have two people using the solution at this time. 

We have basically updated the hard disk size of VMware servers so that to accommodate the data of the existing clients. I can't say if we will scale beyond this.

We have called VMware regarding Microsoft Cloud integration.

We were using a third-party utility product. Now, events are being pushed through VMware.

The installation process is quite straightforward. It's not overly complex. I wouldn't say it's difficult. A company shouldn't have any issues with the setup process. 

While we have an integrator handle our deployment we manage the solution by ourselves, in-house. 

You only need two people for deployment or maintenance tasks. 

We had an integrator with us through the process and they assisted with the setup initially.

We have a yearly subscription that we pay for this product.

While we are currently using the on-premises deployment, our plan is to move completely to the cloud. 

We are using the latest version of the solution at this point. I can't speak to the exact version number.

I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten overall. It's a very useful product.

I would recommend the solution to other users or other companies.

The primary use case for vSphere depends on the center. This solution can be implemented both on-premises and on the cloud. 

The most valuable feature of vSphere is its modularity. I also like the maturity updates. It's available everywhere and almost all the data centers are using it. 

vSphere could perhaps be improved by more integration or better security. If there is ever something that could be improved, I am open to looking into it and proposing the improvement. 

I'm a Solution Designer, not a user, but I have been working with vSphere products for over ten years. 

This solution is stable. 

This solution is scalable. 

I don't have experience with VMware support. 

I didn't personally install this solution. 

My customers pay for a license to use vSphere. In Egypt, the license is yearly, and we buy three years. 

I rate vSphere a nine out of ten. I have a lot of customers using vSphere. I recommend this product for those who are looking into implementing it, but it depends on their needs. There are other similar products I can propose too. 

We use VMware vSphere to deploy servers.

VMware vSphere is user-friendly and simple.

The solution could improve by having more integration.

I have been using VMware vSphere for approximately 10 years.

The solution is stable and has good performance.

VMware vSphere is scalable.

I have approximately 1,000 users using this solution.

The technology has been fine.

We have a two-person technical team consisting of a technician and a security administrator.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate VMware vSphere a ten out of ten.

My primary use case is defense hyper combat fan solutions.

The features I've found most valuable are that the enterprise direction is very complete and the data center provides almost everything you need.

One issue with the product is that the sentencing has changed a lot.

I have been using this solution for about a year.

I would rate this product as nine out of ten.

VMware vSphere is primarily used for server virtualization and automation.

The most valuable features are the virtualization and the performance on the virtualization platform.

Both the price and the licensing fee are expensive, especially for our clients with a smaller workload.

I have been working with VMware vSphere for 14 years.

We have versions ranging from ESX 3.0 to the most recent one.

We have clients who use various deployment methods, including cloud, hybrid, and on-premises. 

VMware vSphere is a reliable solution.

It is easy to scale.

We scale with VMware vSphere as well as vSAN.

We have customers with hundreds of servers running on vSphere.

We have contacted technical support many times.

Technical support is responsive. I would rate them an eight or nine out of ten.

We are system integrators. We use a wide range of hardware and products.

On a daily basis, we work with servers, virtualization, VMware, and EMC storage boxes, as well as pure storage.

Our clients have tried Hyper-V as well and other solutions, but the consistency is better and there are fewer issues with the vSphere interface.

The initial setup is not complex. 

It may be complex for the users, but not for the IT person; it is not a problem, and at all difficult

The licensing and pricing need to be improved. 

The price is not an issue for our mid-sized or large-sized customers, but it can be expensive for our smaller customers.

Virtualization fulfills the requirements very well.

I would rate VMware vSphere a 10 out of 10.