VMware NSX Reviews

We use VMware NSX for application service deployments.

VMware NSX is a very good solution. It's also a scalable solution.

It could be more user-friendly, but it's manageable. When we add a specific node to this particular NSX and the configuration changes, it won't push through the errors where required, but it'll accept it. However, while using it, we will have issues. It can also be more stable. 

It could be more stable.

VMware NSX is a scalable solution. We have about 10,000 people using it at our company.

Technical support is good.

We are still in the process of completing the migration from the physical servers to NSX.

The initial setup is relatively straightforward, but it takes a long time to implement this solution. You need hundreds of people to deploy and maintain this solution.

VMware NSX isn't cheap. 

I would tell potential users that they need to do a high-level review of their entire data center architecture, and should not leave any specific configurations related to connectivity that would lead them to more challenges. 

On a scale from one to ten, I would give VMware NSX a seven.

We use the product for disaster recovery purposes. It helps us expand the network and security for workloads running inside the environment. In the cloud, specifically with Azure VMware Solution or AWS, VMware NSX provides protection-related capabilities.

Regarding network management, it enables the ease of creating a network configuration for any application.

The product has valuable features for security and network extension. We can secure customer environments by effectively managing and securing traffic and facilitating seamless network extension. We can address challenges related to workload migration, where we often need to relocate workloads between environments due to changes in licensing or applications. The DFW, i.e., Distributed Firewall, is the most beneficial feature for network security and micro-segmentation.

The network-extending capabilities for the physical environment need improvement. Instead of virtualization, the ability to add physical servers to the network could be enhanced.

We have been using VMware NSX since 2018. We have worked with different versions depending on the customer's requirements. We are working with the latest version as well.

It is a stable platform.

We have medium to enterprise-level customers for VMware NSX. Regarding scalability, we can add new nodes or servers to the cluster. It automatically extends in a horizontal scale-out approach when the nodes are added.

I rate the scalability a ten out of ten.

We open a case and await the engineer's reply on escalation. It is a process similar to that of other vendors.

Neutral

The initial setup is straightforward. The implementation time ranges from days to weeks, depending on the business use cases per customer requirements. It involves the assessment of design, deploying, and verifying the same. I rate the process an eight out of ten.

The product pricing ranges from medium to expensive. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.

VMware NSX has played a significant role in supporting your organization's efforts in automated network provisioning and creating multi-tenant networks, especially when integrated with vRealize Automation or other automation tools. We were able to create an automated orchestrated workload and manage IP assignments.

I rate the product a ten out of ten.

I was part of the NSX troubleshooting team from VMware, where we worked with different customers to troubleshoot their NSX operational issues. Also, I was part of the design and deployment team. We do PSO projects and migration for customers.

The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the DFW (distributed firewall). The distributed firewall is much better and more powerful than the physical firewall because it's applied at the beginning level.

The software-defined version of VMware NSX contains all the security features like IPS and IDS. In the physical space, you have to get separate IDS, security, or load balancer products. VMware NSX provides several features like VPN, load balancers, DFW, and gateway firewall.

Since most people are very much used to physical networking, they find it difficult to use VMware NSX in the initial stage.

I have been using VMware NSX for the past six years.

The solution's stability is very good compared to its older versions. It is advisable not to go in a production environment with the latest version because it might sometimes have new features that can break.

I rate VMware NSX a nine out of ten for stability.

We can easily scale the solution with the current product version if we have more users.

I rate VMware NSX a nine out of ten for scalability

The solution's implementation is easy.

The initial phase of deployment involves deploying three NSX Managers. Then, you have to plan to do a lot of things like configurations and routing. If you have everything ready for configuration, you should be able to complete the VMware NSX installation in a month.

In the case of daily deployment, it depends on how much we are deploying and how many configurations we are doing. Two weeks should be more than sufficient to complete the configurations if we do it daily.

VMware NSX is a cheaper product compared to its competitor, Cisco.

Since most people are very much used to physical networking, they find it difficult to use VMware NSX in the initial stage. However, once you start using it, you'll be very much fond of the particular product. VMware NSX is very easy to manage.

You can deploy the solution on the cloud or on-prem, depending on the customer's requirement.

When changing from the physical to the virtual space, you have to plan the routing part. You'll have a hardening of networks in the physical space. However, when you bring it to NSX, everything is at the hypervisor level in the virtual space. That's one thing you will have to plan because a few critical applications might require a VLAN-backed network.

They have a restriction that they can't move it to the overlay networks and must remain in the physical VLAN. We have to plan properly for migrations because improper planning can break the current network or operations.

It would be good if users use all the features in the solution to have everything in one place. Users can access the web UI to manage security, load balancer, and VPN protection.

Overall, I rate VMware NSX an eight out of ten.

We're moving towards hyper-converged solutions with VMware, including NSX and vSAN. This direction has promising prospects in the market.

One significant advantage of VMware NSX is the ability to provide advanced security at the micro-level, focusing on securing applications and workloads rather than just the network structure or virtualization-based network security.   

I believe we need to attain a certain level of maturity and work closely with multiple customers to make substantial improvements and achieve notable results. The feature it can improve is essentially application-based load balancing with intelligent load distribution for applications that require redundancy and high availability. This feature operates at a micro-level, specifically focusing on the payloads of applications.

To clarify further, I believe that if NSX offers this functionality along with robust security measures for application payloads, it would greatly benefit customers. Instead of investing in additional devices or appliances for load balancing and security, organizations would likely prefer to leverage NSX's integrated capabilities in this regard.

We have been using this solution for the past six months. 

As for stability, the customer I mentioned earlier is extremely satisfied with the product's stability.

VMware doesn't have a physical presence in Pakistan. They recently initiated their operations here. However, we do have interactions with their team based in Singapore, and I must say they are quite supportive. The customer hasn't raised any complaints regarding their support. The time required for deployment can vary based on the size of the infrastructure, but typically, it can be accomplished within a two-week timeframe.

Positive

One of our prominent clients is a major university in Pakistan, and they expressed dissatisfaction with their current solution, Sentra for SCI. They expressed a desire to transition to VMware, specifically NSX, as they are seeking hyper-converged integrations with both cloud and on-premises solutions.

Regarding the initial setup, VMware products, including NSX, are generally straightforward to set up and deploy, so complexity hasn't been an issue.

The implementation of VMware NSX can be cost-intensive, especially if an organization is looking for a comprehensive solution. The costs can vary based on factors like the level of conversation and discounts obtained during negotiations. Some government organizations, for instance, may find the prices relatively high, leading to concerns about budget hikes, especially when deploying the solution across the entire organization.

Regarding maintenance and support, they are typically included in the standard licensing costs for enterprise-level businesses. While these costs can be significant, many companies opt for standard licensing to ensure they have access to necessary support and maintenance services.

The deployment of NSX security can be somewhat challenging, and it requires a thorough understanding of the organization's specific needs and objectives. To effectively implement NSX security measures, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of the applications, payloads, and various components within the network environment.

The solution's most valuable feature is ease of use. Its filtering features work best for our business requirements.

It could be helpful if the solution's licensing model is based on the number of VMs rather than hypervisors.

We have been using the solution for seven years.

It is a stable solution. I rate its stability as an eight.

The solution's scalability depends on the licensing model.

The solution's customer service is good.

The solution is reasonable at the local level. But it is expensive to deploy it globally.

I advise others to understand their business requirements. They should know if they want the solution to block some protocols or to make accurate filtering. I rate the solution as an eight.

The solution is primarily used for micro-segmentation for the security of virtual machines.

VMware NSX offers some of the best features for security, such as micro-segmentation. This feature allows us to define policies on a per-virtual machine basis. For example, if we have four virtual machines, we can have four different firewalls attached to each of the VMs. This allows us to monitor the traffic between each VM, as they will have to go through two firewalls or two IPs. This added layer of security provides a great benefit to those utilizing the solution.

Despite being somewhat behind in the cybersecurity field, VMware should develop a cloud and a red team to continuously monitor for new malware and ransomware. They must maintain their own cloud to do their own research, and send the resulting hashes or values to all customers using VMware NSX. This will ensure that each customer is regularly updated with the latest malware and ransomware hashes to keep their systems secure.

Web filtering is a good feature that I would like to have added to the solution.

I would like the ability to limit the bandwidth per virtual machine to ensure that I understand the throughput requirements of any application that is running. This way, I can be protected from the risks of a DoS or DDoS attack, which may require a high level of throughput. This limitation would apply to Layer 4 or Layer 5 of the network.

I have been using the solution for three years.

VMware NSX is stable.

The great advantage of VMware is its scalability and hardware independence; The solution is compatible with a wide range of server brands, including Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Cisco.

My job was to offer consultancy, demonstrations, and conceptual approval to the VMware official team and their partners.

Positive

Of all the cybersecurity vendors we have, the installation of VMware products is the most straightforward. The time needed to deploy depends on the purpose of the use case. Complex tasks between two data centers could take up to four days, whereas micro-segmentation would usually take only two days.

I give the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is missing the red teams and R&D necessary to continuously receive updates from the cloud. Additionally, two other features are absent from VMware NSX which are bandwidth limitation and URL filtering.

We have two people using the solution. I'm the only architect, and the other person is mainly responsible for checking logs to determine if any resources are needed and then assigning those resources to the appropriate virtual machines. 

For someone who wants to secure their data center and three-tier application architecture (database, web application, etc.), they should use micro-segmentation with VMware NSX. This would enable them to set policies on a per-virtual machine basis. For example, if each VM has two virtual NICs assigned to it, each virtual NIC would have its own firewall, policy, and IP. This way, even when two virtual machines need to communicate with each other, their traffic will pass through two separate firewalls within the server. In addition to micro-segmentation, NSX also provides switching and routing services. The use of a data center firewall can be cost-effective for enterprise customers, SMBs, and medium-sized customers. By utilizing the routing, switching, and firewall capabilities provided by the data center firewall, the load on data center switches and routing can be reduced, making it a more cost-efficient option. The throughput required by the data center firewall, be it a Fortinet or Palo Alto Checkpoint, is directly proportional to the cost. With increased throughput, the cost of the firewall will also increase. VMware NSX offloads the workload from the data center firewall, taking on the task itself. This is possible without impacting performance because it is a software firewall, so it absorbs all the load from the data center firewall, providing the same security measures as the legacy firewall would.

I use VMware NSX for virtualizing networks for VMware virtual machines.

VMware NSX improved my organization because it's more flexible than network hardware and provides many solutions, such as firewalls and load balancers.

The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the high bandwidth.

A room for improvement in VMware NSX is that it has some security vulnerabilities, which means my company has to apply the patches every once in a while.

I have two years of experience with VMware NSX, and I've worked with the solution in the last twelve months.

VMware NSX is a stable solution.

VMware NSX is a scalable solution.

I have no experience contacting VMware NSX technical support.

I didn't use a previous solution before I used VMware NSX.

My company went with VMware NSX because the infrastructure within the company is VMware.

The initial setup for VMware NSX is not that complex. It's in the middle, so I'd rate it as five out of ten.

I'm trying to remember how long the deployment of the solution took, but it didn't take up a lot of time.

A third party helped my company with VMware NSX implementation.

I have experience with VMware NSX.

I'm using the latest version of the solution.

Sometimes, VMware NSX requires maintenance. The third-party was responsible for the first time, and then the vendor took over the subsequent maintenance activities.

VMware NSX has about three hundred users in the company.

I don't know if there's any plan to increase usage for the solution.

My rating for VMware NSX is nine out of ten.

NSX is under the platform. NSX is used on a cloud-only platform for clients.

The solution works well overall and we are happy with it.

We enjoy the micro-segmentation and the ability to extend the network on Layer Two.

It is stable. 

The solution can scale well. 

We have found the UI to be very good. The interface is intuitive enough.

It offers good documentation. 

I'm not sure where the solution can be improved. 

We did recently need a patch to deal with an outage on NSX.

The price is rather high.

We've been using the solution for two years. 

The solution is stable. We have just had an issue that caused an outage of some of our NSX. However, now it's okay. VMware gave us a patch to correct it.

It is a scalable product. It's not a problem.

There are about 3,000 VMs on our data center. There are a lot of customers.

When we had an issue recently, VMware asked to upgrade to a high level of support to correct the problem.

The initial setup offers an average level of complexity. It's neither too difficult or too hard. 

I'm a system engineer, so I don't know exactly what the price is. However, I am aware that it's high. It's better suited to larger enterprises.

We are service providers and partners.

I'd rate the product eight out of ten.