VMware Cloud Director Reviews and Pricing

Lead Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Nov 2, 2015

System administrators can now develop organization specific virtual data center templates with pre-set resource and delegation rules.

Originally posted https://anthonyspiteri.net/vcloud-director-8-new-features-and-a-new-ui-addition/

Since June the vCloud Director SP Beta has been running with a lot of renewed interest in the IaaS Platform. The beta was well participated in and there was a lot of robust discussion around the future of vCD as well as questions around the lack of a decent UI for those without in house development skills to exploit the new API only features. The beta program was closed the weekend of VMworld San Francisco with v8.0 GA’ing a few weeks later.

With the v8.0 SP release the vCD team have started to incorporate enhancements from the vCloud Air vCD builds, though the original 6 month lag between VCA services coming to the SP builds seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Before diving into the new features of the 8.0 version I thought it would be a great time to highlight the release history of vCloud Director since v 1.0 was released back in August of 2010. There have been 6 major releases and 16 minor releases which backs up one of my biggest claims around platform maturity and as to why vCloud Director is the best Cloud Management Platform on the market when it comes to the abstraction of vSphere resources and presenting pools of compute, storage and networking via a true multi-tenant interface.

VMware vCloud Director 8.0 Features:

vSphere 6.0 Support:

This to me is the biggest reason to look at upgraded to the new build. Support for vSphere 6.0 is significant for Service Providers who are looking to upgrade to take advantage of all the new features and benefits and optimizations. Note that Hardware Version 11 is not supported and won’t be exposed via the Provider vDCs.

NSX 6.1.4 Support:

This is also a significant feature that allows Service Providers to have NSX-v 6.1.4 deployed and working in a supported fashion with vCloud Director. Deployment of the vShield Edges will be 5.5.4 builds and allow deployments, redeployments and manageability to be maintained.

Organizational virtual data center (vDC) templates:

System administrators can now develop organization specific virtual data center templates with pre-set resource and delegation rules. Organizations deploy these templates to quickly create new virtual data centers on a self-service basis – Without API capabilities this feature can’t be accessed…however I don’t see a great amount of value in this particular feature as in general SPs doing their own provisioning do so off workflows that take into consideration self service vDC profiles.

vApp enhancements:

System administrators can now reconfigure virtual machines within a vApp, as well as network connectivity and virtual machine capability during vApp instantiation – Again from what I’ve seen this features can’t be accessed unless you are deploying and modifying vApps/VMs from the API. I know that this perticular feature solves a problem with Zettagrid faced in creating our vCD UI where VMs needed to be created first and then only able to be modified after that was complete…this allow VM composition on the fly.

OAuth support for identity sources:

OAuth2 tokens are now supported – Probably a feature that isn’t going to be used by most Service Providers…unless I’m missing something?

Tenant throttling:

Prevents a few tenants from consuming a majority of the resources for a single instance of vCloud Director and ensures fairness of execution and scheduling among tenants – This sounds like an awesome features that gives the ability for workloads to be throttled to protect against noisy neighbors and sets more granular control of what a tenant can consume in terms of storage, compute and networking…however it’s only offering a new algorithm that ensures operations running or in queue from a “busy” tenant do not stop or slow down a request from a “sedentary” tenant. The tenant throttling feature only gives control over the number of simultaneous resource-intensive operations any tenant can run…ie this might be fairly useful in large (vCloud Air) vCD deployments, but isn’t a ground breaking feature that offers too much to the majority of SPs.

Preparation for Advanced Networking Services:

The answer to the question as to what’s Changed in the UI is…nothing…however interestingly I did spot a UI addition which had been introduced (apparently undocumented) in preparation for the still not yet in Beta Advanced Networking Service which will allow vCD to interact with a new appliance that acts as the gateway for vCD and NSX to talk advanced services.

Can’t say too much more on the Advanced Networking Service but it will be fed down to vCAN Service Providers on the back of it’s release in vCloud Air last month as part of VMware’s commitment to delayed feature parity for SPs deployments and vCloud Air…good to see some UI enhancement in any case!

Final Thoughts:

As I mentioned above for the majority as Service Providers that can’t make use of the new features the biggest feature enhancements in this release is the compatibility with vSphere 6.0 and NSX-v 6.1.4 and even for those that have the capability to develop against the API’s the vApp Enhancements around VM recomposition will allow for a more streamlined provisioning flow for VMs but the other features are a little less impressive…however I am certainly looking forward to the next release as it should deliver a lot more vCloud Air service features.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user320277

Virtual Systems Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 9, 2015

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Its flexibility allows me to adapt it to students' needs, although a better GUI for both students and administrators would be an improvement.

What is most valuable?

Flexibility – it allows me to adapt the product to all student needs.

How has it helped my organization?

Students using the environment vs. not using the environment. Students can find products that they want to use and if they’re using it, they’re happy with it.

What needs improvement?

Better GUI as they don’t hold with the programs that well. Better user interfaces in general. Both the administrative and user interfaces need to be better.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It’s fairly stable, no bugs no crashes.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales fine, it went from 1,000 to 2,000 machines without any issues at all.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support’s wonderful. Whenever we find an issue, we submit a ticket and they resolve it within an hour usually. Sometimes the complexity of the environment is high, and that’s fine, but usually it’s very quick.

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

We were using Lab Manager, and when VMware discontinued it, we needed to switch.

How was the initial setup?

Complicated – there was no upgrade path from Lab Manager to vCloud Director, so we basically had to design a new solution.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No, because of the time VMware has been in the market. I don’t like using people that are new, and VMware has been around for a long time. Also, we just thought it would be simpler to stay with the same vendor.

What other advice do I have?

I really don’t know of any products right now other than this. They’re pretty high – if someone has a peer review that’s low, I won’t consider the product.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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it_user210798

Consultor TI with 51-200 employees

Mar 29, 2015

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It has easy to deploy machines but is now difficult to implement because VMware no longer offers the product.

What is most valuable?

It has easy to deploy machines.

How has it helped my organization?

A department can deploy a machine easily without using the IT department.

For how long have I used the solution?

I only used it for four months.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

None in this version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Yes, a lot including, for example, with Chargeback Manager integration.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

8/10.

Technical Support:

5/10 as the VMware support seem very ignorant.

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

No, but in the future, we are planning to install Open Stack as it's simpler.

How was the initial setup?

It has an easy setup by following the documentation.

What about the implementation team?

We used a vendor team who I would rate as 7/10.

What was our ROI?

We couldn't calculate it.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, with other colleagues. No implementations being done by us at the moment.

What other advice do I have?

I think VMware has abandoned the product a with vSphere 5.5, vCloud Director is an obsolete solution. As VMware no longer offers the product, it is now difficult to implement.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are a VMware partner.

it_user209226System Administrator at a cloud solution provider with 51-200 employees

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Apr 3, 2015

Hi Eduardo
the focus of this product was realize a full cloud solution (private and public). Now vcloud director is focused only for public cloud (for service provide purpose), because vRealize substitute it in private scenario.
For this reason, in your private scenario you could choose vRealize and Openstack also... please let us know about your possible new experience with them.

it_user6696

Director of IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 27, 2013

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Great product, if you are already heavily invested with VMware

Valuable Features:

Simple, scalable, and comprehensive solution for large enterprises

Room for Improvement:

It is not targeted to smaller and midsize companies. Pricing can be beyond their budgets.

Other Advice:

There is a great amount of work to be done before considering deployment of this or any other cloud platform

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user2652Project Manager at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees

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Aug 17, 2013

Which version of VMware have you used? Which storage do you prefer with VMware? HP, EMC, Dell or other? Did you face any issues with deployment?

it_user297132

Presales Cloud Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Aug 25, 2015

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It helps us provide private cloud solutions to our clients, but it is too platform dependent.

Valuable Features

The orchestrator is the most valuable feature.

Improvements to My Organization

It helps us provide private cloud solutions to our clients.

Room for Improvement

Though the product is quite good, I feel it needs a more public view, where the server access studies to migrate organizations into cloud be clearer. Also, orchestrator should be API based, and have templates to use instead of having to create the Java scripting from scratch. It also needs to be more independent of the platform on which it is used on.

Use of Solution

I've used it for two years.

Customer Service and Technical Support

It's very good.

Initial Setup

It was complex as it does not include a good, extensive feasibility and compatibility guide.

Implementation Team

We used a vendor team who were very good.

ROI

It is quite good on ROI and year on year it is about 50%.

Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing

vCloud Director is a good solution, but it is costly when compared to other solutions like Nutanix.

Other Advice

Choosing VMware in general, is best in terms of functionality, but it is not necessarily cost effective, as their licensing and setuo cost are too hight. Maybe we will see more products for cloud and automation.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: VMware Partners

reviewer1623768

MSS Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 15, 2021

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Scalable, responsive support, but missing features

Pros and Cons

"I have found the solution scales well."

"This solution could improve by adding root cause analysis."

What is our primary use case?

We use vCloud Director as a multiple cloud management solution.

What needs improvement?

This solution could improve by adding root cause analysis.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using vCloud Director within 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable but could improve.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found the solution scales well.

How are customer service and technical support?

The support responsiveness has been satisfactory.

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

The license could be less expensive and we are on a perpetual license.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are evaluating Dynamics from Cisco to perhaps replace this solution.

What other advice do I have?

We are looking for another solution that meets our needs.

I rate vCloud Director a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner

ICTspe3287

ICT specialist

Dec 2, 2018

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It is fast at deploying environments. If you have a deployed environment and lose it, you can't easily deploy it back.

Pros and Cons

"It has helped us with user segmentation and QA."

"If you have a deployed environment and lose it, you can't easily deploy it back with vCloud Director. Because of this reason, we don't have the data protection, disaster recovery, and container features."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it as our QA environment.

How has it helped my organization?

It has helped us with user segmentation and QA.

What is most valuable?

It is fast at deploying environments and good for segmenting users.

What needs improvement?

If you have a deployed environment and lose it, you can't easily deploy it back with vCloud Director. Because of this reason, we don't have the data protection, disaster recovery, and container features.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is okay.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is great.

How is customer service and technical support?

I haven't used technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What was our ROI?

It enables us to provision new clients more quickly.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I haven't used any alternative solutions.

What other advice do I have?

Go for this solution, but you will need quite a big environment to utilize vCloud Director.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user334515

IT Infrastructure Engineer at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 31, 2015

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We’ve already deployed three-tiered applications with just a push of a button to deploy from dev to staging to production.

Valuable Features

Ability to give our developers a self-service environment, where they can go on particular portal and deploy their own systems.

Improvements to My Organization

Automation piece. If we can continue to develop automation for developers, that should seamlessly carry over into product environment as well without admin heavy lifting. In automation, there's still a lot of manual processes, but with vCloud, less so.

Room for Improvement

I don’t see any improvements that could be made based on the way we use it. Maybe some built-in third-party tools that we’re using now in terms of automation (i.e. Bamboo) would be an improvement.

Stability Issues

We’ve already deployed three-tiered applications with just a push of a button to deploy from dev to staging to production.

In regards to stability, this gives you more control yet takes out the human element. There’s consistency that’s set in the script and then we can make small changes as we grow.

Scalability Issues

They’re now moving more into vRealize and more integrated systems. It used to need more scripting, but VMware are now working more hand in hand with other solutions.

Customer Service and Technical Support

Customer Service:

Technical Support:

Great tech support. I love those guys. Every time I had a ticket, I could escalate, and they’d work in tandem with other vendors (i.e. NetApp) to find solution.

Initial Setup

I wasn't part of initial set-up, but I believe it’s complex based on the senior engineer’s experience.

For example, right now the metrics to upgrade is complex, requiring certain elements. It’s very simple to use and train end-users. In our shop, we try to make them more self-sufficient, so a lot of knowledge transfer.

Other Advice

Access the enormous amount of virtual apps they have to get practical performance instead of just the KB to deploy. They also need to get an understanding of audience as well. Understand pain points to understand how to approach solution.

It loses points because things are moving so quickly that it has yet to catch up.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.