Name: VMware vSphere
Brand: Broadcom
Rating: 4.4 (457 reviews)

it_user161850

Assistant Design Manager with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 12, 2014

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Works wonders. Very useful product for trying different software products. All the tools are very easy to use.

What is most valuable?

Scripted installation.
Host Profiles.
Web Client.
Windows Client

How has it helped my organization?

Previously we used one server per application, this product has increased our hardware utilization.

What needs improvement?

For managing many ESXi's at once vCenter is required. when the number of ESXi is smaller, it is not practical to have a vCenter server. This should at least be solved especially for a test/development environment. This may be solved using a Application installed on the end user system like a windows machine where the credentials of the ESXi servers are then pre-configured and a double click is sufficient to open the console. (I am talking of the use case where advanced features of vcenter is not used.)

For how long have I used the solution?

One Year, qe are not using it in our organization. It is being used in out Lab environment for R&D purposes.

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What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

I have not found a way to automatically do console redirection to the COM port after scripted installation.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Very stable system.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalable to any level.

What about the implementation team?

In house team using the official guides available.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Michael Perry

Vice President at a aerospace/defense firm with 51-200 employees

Oct 28, 2014

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Exponentially easier to manage servers, but plan for more storage than you think.

What is most valuable?

Robust, functional, reliable, ease of use, good value.

How has it helped my organization?

Exponentially easier to manage servers.

For how long have I used the solution?

Since 2009.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

None

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

None

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

None

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Excellent.

Technical Support:

Excellent.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No - prior was physical one up servers.

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

In-house plus one consultant.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Considered Hyper V.

What other advice do I have?

Plan for more storage than you think, use flash, use 10gbE SFP+ to SANs - well worth it.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Chris ChilderhoseEnterprise Architect at a tech company with 51-200 employees

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Jul 8, 2016

Also depending on protocol you will use can determine storage requirements also - like FC, iSCSI, FCoE, etc. Also using 10GB helps tremendously which we have in our environment for iSCSI and VMs.

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it_user154353

Asst. System Maintenance Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 8, 2014

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The best VM hypervisor

Valuable Features:

Memory overcommittment and deduplication, allowing higher consolidation ratios.

Improvements to My Organization:

With VMware ESXi 5.5 and vCenter, we have a high-performance and stable virtual platform for converting 10 plus physical machines into few virtual machines.

Room for Improvement:

Reduce operation cost on physical machines, increase availability and performance of virtual operation systems.

Use of Solution:

3 years.

Stability Issues:

We have a issue when setup ESXi. There is no response from host machine when connecting VMware ESXi to IBM SAN (v3700), resolved by installing ESXi new patches.

Cost and Licensing Advice:

The only setup cost is VMware license, no extra cost is needed as we have a IT team who familiar with VMware products.

Other Advice:

For small-to-medium business, I would recommend to install ESXi on USB stick or SD card. It provides more flexibility and lower cost to setup the virtual platform.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Chris ChilderhoseEnterprise Architect at a tech company with 51-200 employees

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Jul 8, 2016

As stated by others always update firmware and patch VMware prior to going in to Production. It will save on issues like you had.

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it_user127791

IT Representative at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees

Jul 28, 2014

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VMware pays for itself with the increase in efficiency. With ESXi make sure the hardware matches the compatibility list.

What is most valuable?

The ability to maximize the use of existing hardware resources and run multiple servers at the same time.

How has it helped my organization?

Without too much detail, we use the ESXi Server to host our SBS for DNS, DHCP, and Exchange in conjunction with another server the is used to run our file share. We have another ESXi we use in our test environment that has worked out in not only pretesting certain configurations, but also we use it to recover data from, say, an infected hard drive. We simply grab an image of the drive, restore it to the virtual machine while isolating the network connectivity and perform all solutions and testing that may be needed.

What needs improvement?

At this time and with the way we use it, none.

For how long have I used the solution?

The company has been using the solution for a couple of years now.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Yes. With ESXi one must make sure the hardware that is used matches the compatibility list provided by vmware. Once the host machine is configured appropriately, it's smooth sailing.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazingly, no. All is stable with the host, and the VM's whether Windows XP, 7 Pro x86/x64, 8, 8.1, and Linux.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I think the only limitations with scalability are related to the ESXi host machine itself. If it is not configured with enough horsepower, then it wont be very scalable. However a simple machine with an intel i7 processor, z87 chip-set, Intel nic cards, and 32 gigs of ram has the ability to run multiple servers with ease and speed.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service: I have not needed to contact their customer service.Technical Support: Support has been self driven via research and VMWare's web site. Being that ESXi is free, the support is great.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previous to the current environment. I was dabbling with virtualbox. Awesome software but the application for it is different because its small scale and does not optimize its usage of the hardware its running on. It can crash windows.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was fairly easy ONCE the correct/compatible hardware is set up for the host machine. I found the learning curve very minor, as well.

What about the implementation team?

The initial setup was performed by our IT consultant. The consultant then showed me how it works and configuration that one can do. I also dove deep into research on ESXi. I would say the level of expertise about 7 on a scale of one to ten because of the way we use it.

What was our ROI?

Well I am not in the accounting office, but I would "guestimate" that it pays for itself with the increase in efficiency, the ability to circumvent the need to have a ratio of 1 machine for every server, and it doesn't crash.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I built the machine for the test environment we have in-house. The machine ran about $700.00 over all. Day to day cost is only that of the electricity used to run it. The 4 other ESXi hosts were built before I arrived. I can estimate the cost about $400 each plus the OS's (SBS, Win2008r2, etc, etc) to build and to run daily is again only the cost of the electricity.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I came into the environment where it was already in place. Despite that fact, I have test drove Hyper-V and virtual box to compare and get a feel for which is best. I am a believer in VMWare.

What other advice do I have?

Plan, plan, plan. Always plan out your network changes, test those changes, implement, monitor, and note take along the way. Aside from that, do it.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user99459

Infra Director with 51-200 employees

Jul 28, 2014

Enables combining many physical servers but is pricey

Use of Solution:

I have been using the solution for 7 years.

Valuable Features:

Reliability, Flexibility, High Availability; Vmware enables virtual servers to instantly move from 1 physical server to another with no user downtime.

Improvements To Organization:

Enables combining many physical servers to a few or one.

Room For Improvement:

The price could be lower.

Deployment Issues:

No issues with deployment.

Stability Issues:

No issues with stability.

Scalability Issues:

No issues with scalability.

Customer Service:

Very good customer service.

Technical Support:

Very good technical support.

Previous Solutions:

Yes, we previously used Citrix Xenserver and Microsoft HyperV.

Initial Setup:

It was straightforward, but you need training first.

Implementation Team:

We implemented through an in-house vendor team.

ROI:

1-3 years depending on how many physical servers are eliminated.

Setup Cost:

Our setup costs/every day costs are several thousand dollars.

Other Advice:

Do a pilot / proof of concept first, and test -- take a non-ciritical server, convert it to a virtual server and let it run for a few weeks - then a 2nd, then a 3rd. If it all works, well, then do more

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user131937

Works at a non-tech company with 501-1,000 employees

Jul 9, 2014

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Improved our server consolidation and research work but lacks live migration features

What is most valuable?

Hypervisor, VM deployment, Migration, Dynamic frequency scaling.

How has it helped my organization?

Server consolidation and Research work.

What needs improvement?

SDK of vCenter server PowerCLI lacks live migration features.

For how long have I used the solution?

3 years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

vCenter server installation is really a headache.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Often the virtual disks are corrupted if servers are shut down due to power fluctuation.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

vCenter comes with strict licensing which is not only expensive but also not realistic.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service: Have not experienced yet.Technical Support: Not much support for vBenter SDK.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward till the installation of vCenter.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, Xen and Cloudera.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user71133

Senior Manager of Network at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Jun 23, 2014

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I have tried XenServer, Hyper V, & KVM...but ESXi has been doing it better for longer

What is most valuable?

You can get it downloaded and installed for free. It allows you to do more with less. It's easy to use and simple to configure. There are hardware vendor specific builds of the software, increasing visibility and manageability of the product.

How has it helped my organization?

We have less physical servers to monitor and put under warranty.

For how long have I used the solution?

10 plus years in various forms as GSX, ESX and now ESXi.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Deployment options are varied with ESXi, so depending on what you're trying to achieve within your business.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Due to the multitude of configuration options, you can occasionally experience compatibility issues with 3rd party storage vendors such as NetApp which recently had a known issue with NFS reporting all ports down.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Never encountered any scalability issues with this product. It is truly enterprise.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service: Good to excellent.Technical Support: Good to Excellent depending on what engineer is assigned to you.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have tried other hypervisor technologies including XenServer, Hyper V, KVM, Parallels and virtual box. They all do the same thing, but ESXi has been doing it better for longer.

How was the initial setup?

Exceedingly simple setup. You can make it more complex depending how truly enterprise your needs are, like stateless implementations of ESXi.

What was our ROI?

Reduced Electricity Bills, reduced hardware and warranty costs. Reduced server implementation time. Increased management and availability of corporate services.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Not on this occasion but I have assessed other hypervisors.

What other advice do I have?

Assess why you think virtualisation is the answer to your problem. Research hypervisor choices, perform Proof of Concept exercises with those products you choose to assess and most of all think about the legacy of what you're doing. i.e. what do you want to leave behind?

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user133545Works at a tech services company

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Aug 30, 2014

There will be no performance issues as long as you run the correct no of vm that is supported by the hardware.
Here is a simple calculation to find out the no of vm you can run on your hardware.
A Hard disk with
7,200 rpm - 100 iops
10,000 rpm-150 iops
15,000 rpm- 200 iops
For Example : You have 9 Hard disks configured in Raid ,Count the no of hard disks that contribute to the storage.
In this case all 9 hard disks contribute to the storage.And the hard disk has a 10,000 rpm speed so the no of iops is 150
Hard disk*no of iops=Total no of iops
9*150= 1350
if we would like to run 40 virtual machines
1350/40 = 33.75 each vm would get around 33 iops which would give you no performance issues.
Instead you chose to run 50 vm
1350/50 = 27 each vm would get around 27 iops which would cause performance issues.

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it_user128259

Engineer at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

Jun 17, 2014

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VMware ESXi is better than its predessor, ESX 3 & 4.

What is most valuable?

Its high availability, hot memory and CPU enabled features. Not forgetting the Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS), vMotion, Storage vMotion and Dynamic Power Management (DPM).

How has it helped my organization?

We are beginning to experience less downtimes and if there is going to be any downtime, it is extremely minimised. Continously consolidating servers and utilising resources to save power and water.

What needs improvement?

We have noticed the great need for more power and memory requirements especially when the vmware servers (guests) start to request for more processing and memory.

For how long have I used the solution?

Since 2011.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Our deployment of VMware went smoothly.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The Vmware environment was available and stable when we first deployed it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We had plenty of room to increase our environment so there is no problem with it.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service: We did it ourselves and did not include VMware.Technical Support: No support from VMware.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No, we went straight to VMware.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straight-forward.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented this solution with the support from IBM, and their support was pretty good.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No, we never evaluated any other options.

What other advice do I have?

Since I don't have experience with other solutions, except Vmware, I like it and recommend others who are looking for such a solution to consider talking to VMware.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.