We have been using ESXi hypervisors with vCenter. We use it for both private and public clouds.
Executive Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Easy and quick to install, flexible, and stable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are that it's stable, easy to use, and it's flexible."
- "The price is a big issue for us because the market is very competitive in our country, so we can't really push our VMware vSphere products because the customers will prefer to use something cheaper."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are that it's stable, easy to use, and it's flexible.
What needs improvement?
The price is a big issue for us because the market is very competitive in our country, so we can't really push our VMware vSphere products because the customers will prefer to use something cheaper. Customers in our country are very price-sensitive, so if the price were reduced it would be more popular.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with VMware vSphere for the past decade.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a simple product to use and we haven't had any issues with using it, right out of the box. We plan to continue using it in the future.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable product. Our entire business and virtual machines run on vSphere, and our customers do, as well.
How are customer service and support?
We have been in contact with technical support and had a good experience. We are satisfied with them.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use another similar solution prior to vSphere.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment is straightforward and probably takes less than 20 minutes per host.
What about the implementation team?
It is easy to install and we did it by ourselves.
We have two engineers who are responsible for maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is an expensive product, especially because we need to pay in US Dollars. Really, it depends on the exchange rate. If the exchange in our country is bad then the product becomes even more expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated other hypervisors and based on my experience, I find that vSphere is top-rated.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good product and I recommend it.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Pré-vendas at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Benchmark of the visualization market and the go-to choice for about every customer that we deal with.
Pros and Cons
- "Vmware vSphere is the benchmark of the visualization market."
- "It would be useful to have features like micro-segmentation, changing the mix as well as part of vSphere"
What is our primary use case?
Most use cases are here in Brazil. The company is moving to vSphere after exchanging from a legacy platform. Most of our clients have not previously considered digitalization. Now, they look up KVM solutions for DevOps, the Zain app, and Zain desktops for desktop visualization. For some clients, these alternatives may seem more enticing. We did a vSphere implementation for a customer in the last 12 months. I think it was version 6.5.3. We used it for a retail company. We also cater to small to medium-sized companies in the US market. I estimate about a hundred people use vSphere.
How has it helped my organization?
Visualizing infrastructure is a very important aspect of what we do. VMware vSphere is the benchmark of the visualization market. It's the go-to choice for about every customer that we deal with.
What is most valuable?
As we are a service partner, I think the most valuable feature vSphere has is the ability to visualize infrastructure. Other similar software does not have this capability.
What needs improvement?
The visualization market is likely going to adopt more features in the network aspect of the typical data center. It would be useful to have features like micro-segmentation, changing the mix as well as part of vSphere. This is not currently provided and to achieve this, you need the VMware NSX product, which is a different product with its own license. I think some sort of migration tool could be introduced to migrate to the cloud. It should include integrations with a hooked cloud environment, or on-prem and even between clusters. For example, sometimes I need to migrate a VM from a vSphere environment to a hooked cloud environment.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked with vSphere for some years. My company has had a contract with Lenovo for about a year and a half. I am an IT professional. I work with VMware vSphere for our customers.
We are a value-added distributor for some partners like Lenovo. We re-sell vSphere as an end product. We are VMware partners.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
vSphere is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable as it is the visualization benchmark.
How are customer service and technical support?
I don't remember engaging technical support for vSphere. I have not required support thus far for the product. The documentation is very good.
How was the initial setup?
I had some issues with this installation, but not from the vSphere angle. We have to watch compatibility measures between the hardware we are using and other software. It's not a problem with vSphere itself. It's the basic compatibility that we must follow.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license growth of vSphere depends on the growth of the visual environment and the addition of more hosts.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Although vSphere is still a very useful option for visualization, some clients are trying alternative DevOps solutions for less critical sites. However, they use vSphere as an option for visualization in production.
What other advice do I have?
Just follow the documentation. It's very useful and informative. Before you implement, check the licensing, to see if the license is okay and the compatibility metrics are okay. I would rate VMware vSphere 9 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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Jefatura del Departamento de Tecnologías de la Información at SERGEAR SAC
Provides great backup and is extremely reliable
Pros and Cons
- "Provides good backup to our servers."
- "It's an expensive solution."
What is our primary use case?
We are a construction business and this solution enables us to securely operate our technology. We are customers of VMware vSphere and I'm the company's head of IT.
How has it helped my organization?
We have many power outages and VMware is very reliable in terms of dealing with that kind of experience on a regular basis.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the reliability for our own servers, the backup of the information on our servers.
What needs improvement?
The main issue for us is the cost of the solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is fine - we need to upgrade our hardware and that is currently an issue.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We currently have 25 employees using this solution with another 20 users who work remotely.
We have two people managing vSphere.
How are customer service and technical support?
Our experience with technical support has been very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used SAN products and we've recently decided that we're going to move to Nutanix.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward with deployment taking two weeks. We had an independent integrator who was responsible for this and they did a good job.
What other advice do I have?
This is a very good product for small business or community organizations.
I would rate this solution an eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Network and Systems Administrator at Ishango-it
Good for virtualization, stable, and offers visibility into local hardware and workloads
Pros and Cons
- "VMware is good for virtualization."
- "The licensing costs are expensive and most of the important features require a license."
What is most valuable?
VMware is good for virtualization.
What needs improvement?
The licensing costs are expensive and most of the important features require a license.
For example, we would like to use DRS but there is an additional license for that. If it were free then it would be very helpful.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with VMware vSphere for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This product is very stable. It gives you good visibility of your hardware and the loads on it.
How are customer service and technical support?
Up to now, I haven't had a problem that caused me to contact the technical support team.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have experience with using Proxmox on a single host for about two months, with Hyper-V. This setup is only in a lab and not for production.
How was the initial setup?
For my initial setup, I am not using the entire functionality. We are using vMotion, storage, and clustering.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Director Global Security at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
Flexible, good scalability, and it brings stability to our workloads
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are stability and support."
- "I would like to see support for endpoint virtualization."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case is server virtualization and it brings stability to our workloads.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are stability and support. The stability of this product is very good, and I have not seen an issue for many years. It is very stable for all of the features that are available today.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see support for endpoint virtualization.
Another thing that I would like to see are improvements with respect to performance.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware vSphere for at least seven or eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good and should be a top priority for choosing this product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is definitely a scalable product and it is used in a virtualized environment.
How are customer service and technical support?
The support is very good and we have had no issues with them.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Compared to other products, vSphere is number one in terms of flexibility and scalability.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is a little bit on the higher side, compared to other products.
What other advice do I have?
Basically, this is a good solution and most of the features are already there. I can recommend it to others. That said, I would like to see better performance.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
System Administrator at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Straightforward to install and allows us to cut down on hardware costs
Pros and Cons
- "It cuts down on hardware costs by being able to virtualize multiple hardware and multiple machines on a single piece of hardware."
- "The user interface could use some improvement."
What is our primary use case?
It's virtualization software. We are using it to virtualize virtual machines.
How has it helped my organization?
It cuts down on hardware costs by being able to virtualize multiple hardware and multiple machines on a single piece of hardware.
What is most valuable?
The primary use is the most valuable feature. Being able to virtualize virtual machines on one set of hardware is essentially what it does.
What needs improvement?
The user interface could use some improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware vSphere for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This product has been very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The version that I have is not very scalable, although overall, the product is. I bought a limited version. We do not plan to increase our usage within the next year. There may be, later on.
How are customer service and technical support?
I really haven't had much need for technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to using vSphere, I was working strictly with individual machines.
How was the initial setup?
I thought that the initial setup was very straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed with our in-house team.
I and another person are in charge of administration and maintenance. There is routine maintenance needed for virtual machines. This includes maintaining existing virtual machines, as well as creating new ones when required.
What was our ROI?
Considering that this solution has cut down on the number of real machines that I have, I would expect there to have been cost savings.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for anybody who is looking into using vSphere is that there are a lot more options out there now, but this product has worked well for me.
The biggest lesson that I have learned from using this product is that it's too easy to create new machines.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Information Technology Specialist at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
A resilient solution that is easy to scale
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are the resilience of the solution and vMotion."
- "Support for the product is not good enough."
What is our primary use case?
We are using vSphere to virtualize our workloads.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the resilience of the solution and vMotion.
What needs improvement?
I would like to have replication between sites available in the standard version.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using vSphere for more than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We use it on a daily basis and it seems stable most of the time.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
All of our servers and products run using vSphere. It is easy to scale.
How are customer service and technical support?
Support for the product is not good enough. It should be faster and more efficient.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This is the only solution of this type that we have used.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was simple, but you have to develop it before you begin to install it.
The deployment took us approximately one week.
What about the implementation team?
We shared the implementation with a partner.
We do the maintenance, although we did have a problem one time that we escalated to the vendor.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of this solution is mid-range. There are additional features that can be purchased for an extra charge. For example, if you want replication between sites then you have to pay more.
What other advice do I have?
In summary, this is a good product and I recommend it because it's resilient and you do not have many products to install.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior System Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Highly-available, feature-rich, priced-well, and easy to set up
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are the vMotion, the storage vMotion, the DRS, and the high availability function."
- "The way that vSphere manages the alerts on the data machine is not easy to configure."
What is our primary use case?
We are resellers and consultants who provide solutions for our clients.
They manage the virtual machines, such as CPU usage, or memory usage, or disk space.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the vMotion, the storage vMotion, the DRS, and the high availability function.
What needs improvement?
The way that vSphere manages the alerts on the data machine is not easy to configure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with vSphere for approximately 15 years.
We started with version 4.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VMware vSphere is scalable.
Our clients are medium size companies.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have not used technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In my opinion, the essential version is a good price.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good solution and I will recommend it. They are choosing a good product.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. reseller

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