vCloud Director is a stable solution.
Technical Lead Engineer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
It is dead simple, but it still feels like duct taped solutions in a lot of aspects.
It's definitely beta and I'm not a big fan of some aspects of the implementation, specifically that I might find myself jumping between this and the provided vCloud director a lot. It's not all bad though. Click through if you'd like to read my overview/opinion of the service.
Main Page: To start, I could not get to the management using Chrome or Safari on my Mac. Only when I used Firefox was I finally able to get to the management page.
Once logged in I was provided w/ essentially two obvious options. Make a Virtual Private Cloud OnDemand or view My Subscriptions. Once clicking the "Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) OnDemand" option and choosing a geographic location, I was committed to paying 'a cost', just to make a VPC. Technically, I 'get' it, but to charge for what is essentially an imaginary boundary to start with is well, 'petty'. It wasn't really clear what that 'cost' was, but I'll just assume 'beta'.
Resource Usage Tab (aka billing): IP billing doesn't make sense to me. My VPC has 461.99 IP's reserved or is that a per hour cost? I don't get it.
I'm just going to assume this gets cleaned up and provides more explanation in GA code. This may be a Beta bug, but I wasn't able to see historically what was using storage that I was billed for after I deleted the VM's that were using it.
You'll also notice a dropdown for region. If you select a different region that you didn't select upon your original VPC deployment, you're prompted as to whether you want to create one.
Uhh, yes? How much is this going to cost me?
Doing so, you'll need to wait while it's created. It took about a good 30 minutes for me, but again 'beta'. Hoping GA spins things up much faster.
Virtual Machines Tab:
On this tab is where I can create virtual machines and view a list of my created virtual machines. Standard fare, and from here I can manage from within vCloud Director. It'll open another interface for me to do more things. Why? I don't really know. It would be nice to see an addition column where I can simply click to open the VM's console from this view. Even if it is one by one or even a simple screenshot of the current screen.
Creating a virtual machine is relatively easy, VMware provides a pretty standard catalog of virtual machines. It's also possible to build your own catalog, but that'll forward you to vCloud Director to do so. Not sure if I like that. I understand the 'modular' approach, but not a fan of it from a user usability perspective.
On this tab is where I can create virtual machines and view a list of my created virtual machines. Standard fare, and from here I can manage from within vCloud Director. It'll open another interface for me to do more things. Why? I don't really know. It would be nice to see an addition column where I can simply click to open the VM's console from this view. Even if it is one by one or even a simple screenshot of the current screen.
Creating a virtual machine is relatively easy, VMware provides a pretty standard catalog of virtual machines. It's also possible to build your own catalog, but that'll forward you to vCloud Director to do so. Not sure if I like that. I understand the 'modular' approach, but not a fan of it from a user usability perspective.
I assume there is a cost difference, again would be nice to see what that is as I'm building it. Would also like to see something to the effect of 'expected performance numbers' and show whether hot-add is enabled or not. Easier to sell the idea of smaller vm's to start w/ option to grow on the fly as needed.
Once done, you're simply presented w/ a spinning circle indicating that vCloud Air is deploying your VM.
Gateway Tab:
Nothing much you can do from this tab beyond seeing your created gateways.
To add additional gateways, you need to jump into the vCloud Director interface.
The good thing about the interface when you do need to jump into vCloud Director is that it is contextually aware. In other words, it will open vCloud Director to the page w/ the related settings.
Final Impressions:
I'm rather mixed. It is dead simple, but it still feels like duct taped solutions in a lot of aspects. I didn't even get into the API, which is REST-ful, simply due to time and the documentation site was giving me lots of java errors.
I didn't get the impression that when I create VPC's in multiple geo-graphical datacenters that I could get a universal view of all my VPC's. This would be especially important if I'm creating global service catalogs. As it is right now, I get the feeling that I would have to duplicate effort in two different geo locations. I can't even imagine more than that.
To be fair though, I think these are the same kind of problems I have w/ AWS. I also was not able to test the hybrid cloud connector in vCenter. There is also the matter of SSO, I didn't really see if there was a way to connect my onsite directory services to reduce login complexity.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Technical Team Leader - Microsoft at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Difficult to install, but provides good stability
Pros and Cons
- "vCloud Director is a stable solution."
- "The solution's installation is difficult, and you need somebody with the solution's knowledge to do the installation."
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
The solution's installation is difficult, and you need somebody with the solution's knowledge to do the installation.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using vCloud Director for three years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have around 20 to 25 customers for vCloud Director.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
vCloud Director is a very expensive solution. Before January, you had to pay for what you use. A single CPU call costs 200 euros, and we currently need to license 3,500 CPU calls, which is a lot of money.
What other advice do I have?
VMware took the decision one day to change all the usage types and gave us only three months to change, which is a really bad thing.
Overall, I rate the solution a five out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
VMware Cloud Director
March 2025

Learn what your peers think about VMware Cloud Director. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.
OS & Servers Manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Good platform for visualization and monitoring but not for redundancy and distribution
Pros and Cons
- "vCloud is a good platform for visualization. It is very handy for monitoring. VMware can integrate with all monitoring systems like vRealize, and the management monitoring is good. I'm very happy with VMware. VMware is good in management and monitoring systems."
- "This is very simple in OpenShift. We are happy with vCloud in terms of the virtualization but not for redundancy and distribution."
What is our primary use case?
For vCloud we use a private cloud. In a distributed system, CapEx and OpEx are better. In storage, when you use a stand-alone system you have to pay much more than with a distributed system.
What is most valuable?
For vCloud we use a private cloud. In a distributed system, CapEx and OpEx are better. In storage, when you use a stand-alone system you have to pay much more than with a distributed system. With a storage system rather than stand-alone systems you have to pay much more than a distributed system.
What needs improvement?
In the virtualization aspect, we are happy, but if we work on the public cloud, not the private cloud.OpenStack has a lot of features. In OpenShift when you configure it you can provide 100 web service in redundancy mode.
This is very simple in OpenShift. We are happy with vCloud in terms of the virtualization but not for redundancy and distribution.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using VMware for five to six years.
We've been using vCloud for two years. With vCloud, we have to pay more much for the license but OpenStack is almost an entirely free platform.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We don't have any issues with stability.
With our license, when we want to expand and connect vCloud with the billing systems you have to pay more.
It's your choice if you want to pay more for a license because the billing system is separate but you have to pay more. For example, if you have the Python team to develop the system, you can use OpenStack and you pay less than wit the vCloud system.
We don't have any issue but when we want to extend the system, we have the problem with the license and so we have to pay more. It's better to use the other solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have three staff members in the network and two people on the storage side. The whole team is around 10 people.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is good but the price and the license are very expensive.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is simple. The support for the deployment is very good. We were happy with the deployment, it is very simple and if you get team that is familiar with various solutions you can deploy very quickly.
In the older version, VMware supported NSX, but right now VMware provides NSX-T. NSX-T can connect your network, your VMware, your vCloud network to the SDN, and you can connect to other platforms. The initialization and the configuration in VMware is simple. We didn't have any issues.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate vCloud a seven out of ten.
In the next release, I would like to see better integration with VMware and the older cloud solutions like OpenStack. I think VMware is working on it.
OpenStack works better than VMware in a distribution system.
We have better performance in surface storage, we have better documentation.
vCloud is a good platform for visualization. It is very handy for monitoring. VMware can integrate with all monitoring systems like vRealize, and the management monitoring is good. I'm very happy with VMware. VMware is good in management and monitoring systems.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Ingeniero De Preventa De Cloud Y Servicios Profesionales at Licencias OnLine
Has an easy installation process and provides efficient security features
Pros and Cons
- "It helps ensure security across our cloud environments."
- "The product installation process could be easier for new users as well."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case for vCloud Director is deploying a cloud infrastructure in collaboration with partners to provide a data center environment for clients.
What is most valuable?
The platform's most valuable feature is security.
What needs improvement?
The product installation process could be easier for new users as well.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the platform's stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the platform's scalability a nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support team always responds with a resolution in case of queries.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Azure and AWS databases for cloud management. The main reason I switched to VMware, particularly vCloud Director, was the need for better flexibility and stability in managing my infrastructure.The product is inexpensive compared to AWS, Azure, and GCP.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy. However, it requires essential work experience and information to understand the platform.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is inexpensive compared to AWS, Azure, and GCP.
What other advice do I have?
VMware's vCloud Director solution has been instrumental in addressing multi-tenancy needs within my organization. By leveraging the product alongside VMware's vSphere BitLocker Center, my clients can securely utilize their dedicated data centers while benefiting from scalability. Additionally, it helps ensure security across our cloud environments.
It primarily caters to public cloud environments. I rate it a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Divisional Engineer at National Telecom Corporatio
Can be used for infrastructure provisioning without using a platform service
Pros and Cons
- "We use the infrastructure as a service cloud, that is, we use the features as infrastructure for this. We are not using any platform services."
- "There are new updates every quarter, so we need to purchase new support deployment services and some new products."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for infrastructure provisioning such as providing machines and monitoring with logging and so forth.
What is most valuable?
We use the infrastructure as a service cloud, that is, we use the features as infrastructure for this. We are not using any platform services.
The licenses themselves are not costly.
What needs improvement?
We are a service provider, and every day, new customers come to us needing advanced features like platform features. For example, some of them need a managed hosting setup like Beanstalk, or some of them need microservices, like container or Kubernetes, or serverless types of things. So we are in discussions with the concerned teams at VMware in order to incorporate the platform services for next year.
There are new updates every quarter, so we need to purchase new support deployment services and some new products. We are not happy with the frequent upgrades. Because we are a government department, we find it quite difficult to accommodate the frequent changes. What we would like is for the changes to be less frequent, at least twice a year or once a year, so that we can accommodate that in our budget plans. We make budgets annually, not quarterly. I think they need to have a better roadmap for future offerings and future technologies.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using vCloud Director for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Every quarter or after every quarter, they release new versions and new upgrades. If we don't do the new upgrades, it causes stability issues.
How was the initial setup?
We currently rely on VMware for deployment, and they portray it as a complex process that needs a lot of judges.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's a costly product. The licenses may not be costly, but with every new development in their product, we need to purchase deployment services, and the deployment services are quite costly.
What other advice do I have?
The public cloud and the hosted cloud solutions are going in parallel, and some countries have the requirement to host the data locally. Most of the organizations who don't have these compliance requirements go for the public cloud, but I would say that hiring and retaining skilled resources matters a lot. Because if you have skilled, experienced resources, then things will be easy for you, but if you can't retain the skilled resources and things are quite complex, then you will need to accept all of the company's conditions.
Overall, we are happy with the product, so I would rate it at eight on a scale from one to ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Head of R&D Department at GigaCloud
Helped our clients manage their infrastructure and has enabled us to provision our clients faster
Pros and Cons
- "This solution has helped us make money and provision our clients faster."
- "vRealize Orchestrator is an expensive tool."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is for our clients to manage their infrastructure.
How has it helped my organization?
This solution has helped us make money and provision our clients faster.
What is most valuable?
We have found the multi-tenants to be a valuable feature.
I think that the data protection, disaster recovery, and container features are the future. We work with the cloud Availability product. We want our clients to use it but we have had a lot of problems with it so we'll wait for the next version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is stable. I have the ability to scale horizontally.
How are customer service and technical support?
The GSS engineers are good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We analyzed the markets and our clients. We gathered some feedback from our clients and after that, we decided on this solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was complex.
What about the implementation team?
We integrated in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
vRealize Orchestrator is an expensive tool.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked at VMware and Open Source.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight. It has a lot of features in the roadmap, maybe in a few years, I can give it a ten.
I would advise someone looking into this solution to test your environment and to determine whether or not this solution is suitable for you. This solution was a good decision for our clients and we get good feedback from them.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
Engineer at T-Systems
VMs can be managed on their own but searching in the cloud is problematic
Pros and Cons
- "We like the basic operations that we can do with the VM such as restarting, rebooting, creating snapshots, and deleting snapshots."
- "If I just need to look for something quickly, it's quite difficult to find it with the way it's set up now. They should make the search button better."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case of this solution is to manage VMs on their own.
How has it helped my organization?
It has improved our organization by speeding up some basic scenarios. They can manage a simple operation on their own.
What is most valuable?
We like the basic operations that we can do with the VM such as restarting, rebooting, creating snapshots, and deleting snapshots.
What needs improvement?
I would like to be able to search in vCloud Director more easily. If I just need to look for something quickly, it's quite difficult to find it with the way it's set up now. They should make the search button better.
The option to build up vCloud Director on the flash is quite annoying because you need to have integrated the flash, which can be problematic with the processor. Finding the integration plugin which works with the processor and which works with the flash is hard. I think this is an important feature to redesign. Eliminating the integration plugin would make it much better.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Generally, it's quite stable. We don't have issues where the Director doesn't work. However, sometimes the vCloud Director cannot finish some operations for some reason. We'll need to try the operation twice or three times, redeploy, and do other steps. It could use some improvement. It would be better if it was a click and go.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is fine. If we need it, it works nice, but it's not our main focus.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their technical support is good. Their guys are well trained and answer quickly.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Most of our clients are using classic solutions from the vSphere, 6, 5.5, or even older. We give them vCloud Director as an option for their business.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This solution is cheaper than other alternatives.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked into other cloud solutions like Microsoft Cloud and ABS. Our clients chose NSX because they have us as a middleman for support.
What other advice do I have?
I rated this solution a seven because the search button really bothers me. Also, because it isn't always able to finish an operation.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
Senior Solution Specialist with 1,001-5,000 employees
Our customers can take care of their virtual data centers with the self-service portal. It could be more stable.
Pros and Cons
- "The self-service portal is the most valuable. We are acting as a service provider, so our customers can take care of their virtual data centers with the self-service portal. Therefore, we don't need staff for it."
- "We consider it intuitive and user-friendly. It offers a variety of functions for the customer to control the networking, virtual workloads, disk snapshots, and all of vSphere's core features."
- "It could be more stable. We have had issues with multiple different versions."
- "vCloud Director could use the vCenter database to store information. This way, we don't end up in a situation where we have things going out of sync."
What is our primary use case?
We using it for the public cloud.
What is most valuable?
The self-service portal is the most valuable. We are acting as a service provider, so our customers can take care of their virtual data centers with the self-service portal. Therefore, we don't need staff for it.
We consider it intuitive and user-friendly. It offers a variety of functions for the customer to control the networking, virtual workloads, disk snapshots, and all of vSphere's core features.
What needs improvement?
vCloud Director could use the vCenter database to store information. This way, we don't end up in a situation where we have things going out of sync.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It could be more stable. We have had issues with multiple different versions. However, we are managing it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability works as it should.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support could be better. We managing with the current support though.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use a previous solution.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is complex as we have our own customized portals which we integrated with the product. It's quite a complex solution.
What about the implementation team?
We did the deployment in-house.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
The solution is costly, efficient, and robust versus alternative solutions.
What other advice do I have?
Do a proof a concept before making a decision.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.

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Updated: March 2025
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