vCenter Orchestrator Reviews

I use vCenter Orchestrator in my company, as it is one of the prime components for virtualization management, and it's pretty much used for most of our customers' landscape. Whoever is using VMware is bound to use the vCenter for sure.

The tool is quite simple on the management side and offers many features, like vMotion, that help our company's customers manage their VMs all across their landscape, including areas like DR and on-premises situations. Regarding vCenter Orchestrator, it can be quite a handy tool, and I think it's the core of the whole stack.

If you ask me, I believe vCenter Orchestrator should be part of VMware vSphere's basic bundle. As a product, vCenter Orchestrator should not be licensed at all because the world has progressed way beyond what it can offer. Although VMware has a lot of licensing models and benefits from the licensing part, I think vCenter Orchestrator should be the core component of VMware ESXi. If one looks at the hypervisors or other products compared to vCenter Orchestrator, like Hyper-V, then one can see how other products offer the virtualization manager for free. I am not talking about the overall situation an enterprise faces, but I feel it should be free for VMware ESXi users. VMware has its own stack to build on top of vCenter Orchestrator, and when it comes to BDC, having vRealize stack or suite in position is the area that provides VMware an edge over its competitors. Tanzu is also getting in the line for its use of components.

I have been using vCenter Orchestrator for seven to eight years. My company operates as an implementation partner of VMware.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

My company deals with enterprise-sized businesses that use vCenter Orchestrator. In general, my company deals with large-scale customers, like banks. My specific area is the UAE region, so I deal with mostly UAE customers who use the solution, like RTA, common customers, and DIB. There are a lot of customers that operate on a large scale and use the solution.

Though it is a scalable solution, there are certain limitations. If I consider the areas of the solution, which include the implementation phase and ease of use, then I would rate its scalability a seven out of ten.

If you have a good bundle and a good package from VMware, then obviously, the technical support would not be an issue, especially if you have premium support. If you have base-level support, then the tool definitely gets you on your knees.

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

The product's initial setup phase was easy. Even in a complex environment, the installation is quite well documented, making it pretty easy to install.

For a cloud deployment, there are a lot more complexities as you need to have the details as to which cloud it is and specifically what kind of protocols your company follows, so there are a lot of things that get considered, which I also include the details of the type of network you use.

I rate the product's initial setup phase an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

The solution can be deployed on an on-premises model.

The time taken to deploy the solution depends on the kind of complexity the customer wants. If you talk about the base installations and base configuration, those can be done in two or three hours. Suppose you talk about the full configuration or the full utilization of vCenter Orchestrator. In that case, it requires a whole planning and training session, after which one gains the ability to get it onboard.

VMware was initially the leader in the market when it came up with virtualization and vCenter, after which many realized that VMware was always on the leading side in the market. The other vendors in the market caught up very quickly with VMware and started to offer more than what VMware was offering. If you look at the suite offered by Microsoft, you will see that it comes with a lot of breadth in terms of offering on the virtualization side, and most of the things are free. Maybe Microsoft does charge some fees, but it is very easy to understand why they charge your particular amount from the users. VMware charges its customers on different factors, which actually brings the customers' expectations for the product pretty low.

I rate the product price a seven to eight out of ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price.

I rate the overall tool a seven out of ten.

We use the product as a main server for deploying mid-range applications, including critical national-wide residence services, onto a hyper-converged infrastructure. Our banking sector client has a system, typically comprising three or four servers in a block, where virtualization and storage pooling are utilized for recovery purposes.

The most valuable feature of vCenter is its capability to manage virtual machines and storage. Moreover, integrating storage management on top of vCenter enhances its utility. We can manage and relocate resources easily. Additionally, it provides a valuable fault-storage data center feature.

We encounter challenges related to the renewal of support subscriptions. Their technical support team reports the queries within an hour or two, according to SLA. However, they take six hours or even the next business day to resolve the issues.

We have been using vCenter Orchestrator for the last four years.

The platform needs to work more efficiently for critical applications within VMware platform. I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

Our organization caters to various sectors, including banks, corporate houses, and governance industries. From a global perspective, the product is scalable to meet the needs of SMBs. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten.

We used Microsoft Hyper-V before. VMware has its terminal to function independently without relying on additional operating systems to initiate or manage the server pool. The platform is more self-sufficient, allowing for easier server boot-up than compared to Microsoft's Hyper-V, which required a server-first approach and dealt with hypervisors separately.

vCenter Orchestrator is easy to deploy and maintain. It takes a day to complete the setup for one or two virtual machines. The number of deployment executives depends on the client's requirements. We have three designated engineers monitoring the project remotely and from the site. We require more than five executives to work on a larger site. The overall complexity depends on client requirements and the technical expertise of the vendors and resellers.

The product is expensive, and the pricing needs improvement. They provide licenses every year.

I rate vCenter Orchestrator an eight out of ten. I advise others to evaluate the solution depending on the client's ecosystem. For critical applications, it is advisable to opt for hypervisor products. However, less critical applications like email or ERP systems with HCI solutions with converged features could be suitable. Ensure it has a fault tolerance system and administrative servers to prevent downtime.

The solution is being used for its logs. 

The storage motion is a good feature. It is a very good tool. 

A feature to review and setup tasks should be added. 

I have been using vCenter Orchestrator since 2020. 

It is a stable Solution. I rate the solution eight out of ten. 

It is a scalable solution. There are less than ten users using the solution. I rate the scalability an eight out of ten. 

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment takes some few hours.  I rate the setup a nine out of ten.

I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten. 

vCenter Orchestrator is a user-friendly and straightforward product.

The product’s cost needs improvement. Not all organizations can spend huge amounts of money to orchestrate the operation. In comparison, KVM is less expensive and has similar functionality. It could be integrated with other products and technologies than VMware.

The product is stable.

It is a scalable product.

The technical support services are excellent.

Positive

I use Ansible to automate workload management for third-party products and heterogeneous environments. In comparison, vCenter Orchestrator can be used to manage only VMware infrastructure.

The initial setup process is easy if you follow the proper procedure with the correct steps and prerequisites.

I rate vCenter Orchestrator an eight out of ten. If you have only VMware cloud, then vCenter Orchestrator is the right fit for your business requirements. You should look for other compatible tools if you have a heterogeneous environment, including public clouds like OpenStack or OpenShift.

We operate two critical data centers, Data Center A and Data Center H, in an active-active setup. These centers serve 300 remote sites, with all our applications and local servers sending data to both. We prioritize data security using protections like IPS, IDS, and XDR. Data distribution is handled by load balancers through DNSX in our virtual cloud, connecting to application servers. We also have Backup Data Centers ready to take over if A and H encounter issues, ensuring uninterrupted data services.

The most valuable feature for us is the performance stability of vCenter Orchestrator, especially in complex situations, making it excellent for managing virtual machines. For smaller to medium-sized data centers, we also use Proxmox, a German software for server virtualization. Additionally, we prioritize data backup and recovery, with independent data centers located about 200 kilometers away from our main centers, Data Center A and Data Center H. These main centers operate in an active-active mode, while B and C serve as backups.

There are a few areas that could use improvement. Firstly, the pricing could be more competitive. Secondly, we would like more flexibility in sizing data storage and virtual machines, as the current options aren't very adaptable. The management of vCenter could be less automatic and more transparent for our experienced technicians. Lastly, our data stores could be better integrated with third-party options, as they don't fully meet our high-end requirements. vCenter has limited management capabilities, causing problems when you have plenty of space and memory but can't monitor their usage well. The main issues revolve around data storage and management, driven by an overly automatic and simplistic approach that is not ideal for complex or expanding setups.

I have been using vCenter Orchestrator for two years.

It is a scalable solution. We have approximately 4,000 users of the solution. We also have a team of five people who maintain the solution 24/7.

The technical support is customer-oriented but not excellent in terms of speed and knowledge. It is reasonably good but not outstanding. I would give it a six out of ten.

Neutral

We have previously used Proxmox but switched to vCenter because Proxmox is not suitable for larger applications. In addition to using vCenter, nowadays we also use OpenStack.

The initial setup was extremely easy because vCenter handled many things automatically. However, it is not ideal when you need specific configurations, as it may not give you the level of control you require. We obtain licenses through a digital locker or VMware purchase orders, and deploying them is easy. However, there are some issues with data store management. While the system is generally stable, it lacks flexibility for configuration and monitoring. This can be problematic when adding many VMware machines and increasing data store capacity, as it doesn't provide clear warnings or limits.

I have definitely seen ROI with vCentre.

VMware's licensing can be complex with many products, making it hard to find a cost-effective solution. Handling costs, support, and efficiency can be expensive and challenging, so it is an important aspect to think about. Sometimes it seems like VMware offers many products just to generate more revenue, even if some of them end up being unnecessary.

My recommendation for those starting with vCenter is that once the automatic installation is complete, the graphical user interface is user-friendly and easy to use. Overall, I would rate vCenter a seven out of ten.

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it offers a single dashboard, so you don't have to go to multiple places to do multiple things.

The snapshot technology of VMware is not good compared to other solutions in the market, like Nutanix. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement.

I have been using vCenter Orchestrator for a year or two. I recommend vCenter Orchestrator to my company's customers. I am unsure of the version I use.

Performance-wise, vCenter Orchestrator is a very good solution since it remains very stable.

In my company, we have one data center with two or three data servers that manage the solution. One administrator is required to look after the solution.

In my company, we haven't used the technical support provided by VMware. I believe our clients will need help from VMware's technical support.

I use products similar to vCenter Orchestrator from Nutanix.

With VMware, you need to purchase each of their solutions separately. When it comes to Nutanix, everything comes under a single bundle, making it a very good solution requiring very little licensing, even though the price may fall in the upper end of the spectrum. The aforementioned details of Nutanix make it easy for my company to propose it to our customers.

The problem with vCenter Orchestrator is that our company has to pay more since we have to buy it as a separate product from VMware. Our customers wonder why our company proposes to them to buy too many solutions when there are alternatives in the market, allowing them to buy or choose a single solution with everything they need. Though we end up proposing vCenter Orchestrator to our customers, they ultimately end up buying three or four products along with it, and it becomes difficult for our company to give an explanation.

The implementation phase for vCenter Orchestrator was easy.

The solution is deployed on-premises mostly since our customers use it in banks.

A trial version of the solution would be good since it can showcase those features that can be utilized and how everything can be made available on a single dashboard. Once a customer gets a hands-on experience with the solution, they will start feeling comfortable and may start liking the product.

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

I like the tool's DNS feature. 

The solution's price could be cheaper. 

I have been using the solution for two years. 

The product is stable. 

vCenter Orchestrator is scalable. The server is located in four to five locations. 

vCenter Orchestrator's setup is very straightforward. If the setup is small, it can be completed in two days. 

I would rate vCenter Orchestrator a nine out of ten. 

Since we have a data center, we use vCenter Orchestrator for process automation.

vCenter Orchestrator is very integrated with VMware. Because of the central management, the scripting engine and workflow engine are integrated with VMware without any burden to integrate different products.

The response time of vCenter Orchestrator's support could be improved. You're good when you get a knowledgeable person who knows things, but their response time is slow.

I have been working with vCenter Orchestrator for four or five years.

I rate vCenter Orchestrator a nine out of ten for stability.

I rate vCenter Orchestrator a nine out of ten for scalability. Around 10 people use the solution in our organization.

vCenter Orchestrator technical support is not bad, but they have to improve their response time.

Neutral

I rate vCenter Orchestrator an eight out of ten for the ease of its initial setup.

Since we have a big environment, vCenter Orchestrator's deployment took a few days. Three people were involved in the solution's deployment.

vCenter Orchestrator is an expensive solution. I rate vCenter Orchestrator an eight out of ten for pricing.

I use the latest version of vCenter Orchestrator.

I would recommend vCenter Orchestrator to other users. You have to understand beforehand what kind of processes you want to orchestrate and automate with it. If you think about what you'll do with it before you install it, you'll have a better view of how to implement it in the best way.

Overall, I rate vCenter Orchestrator an eight out of ten.