VMware NSX Reviews

The Environment was an active-active Tier-0 multi-site deployment (primary/secondary).

It contained compute and management clusters, and a small number of transport ESXi nodes (between five and six) v6.7u2, vCenter 6.7u2, AD.

The primary use case was to implement micro-segmentation and route production workloads through NSX-T via BGP. Our customer needed assurances that BGP routing within NSX-T would be efficient.

We implemented a very simple architecture and setup site with one NSX Manager as the primary source. This was a financial customer, thus security was the main item.

We had to explain to the customer that NSX-T deployment and micro-segmentation were two different projects explicitly.

NSX-T has allowed us to implement micro-segmentation in the customer's environment seamlessly (zero-trust). We have also looked at deploying Tufin or Gardicore, ReSTNSX as alternative tools. The Environment was an active-active Tier-0 multi-site deployment

The organization was able to begin scaling out its production workloads and clusters.

From a security standpoint, the customer was able to better secure critical workloads while routing L2/L3 worked normally, giving them more confidence that they would be ready for any potential security incident mitigation or outage (DR).

The most valuable features are:

• N-VDS Geneve encapsulation L2/L3
• Less need for the VM to hit the TOR switch to communicate with VMs on the same ESXi host/segment (logical switch)
• Micro-segmentation capabilities/tagging
• NSX-T dashboard/compute usage across the configuration allows a quick view
• The NSX-T configuration screens are fairly easy to navigate but they might need to simplify them a bit in future versions.
• Very extensive detailed configuration items can be set in Uplink profiles to better map pNICs
• Edge TEP and Host TEP tunnel config and troubleshooting is much more understandable and verifiable

Traffic flow introspection topology visibility is definitely needed because at the moment, NSX-T lacks in this area.

A hardware scan of the ESXi host for possible incompatibilities should be added to NSX-T/vSphere, as it would allow us to know in advance, for example, if a pNIC is not compatible with a version of vSphere before moving forward with an NSX-T deployment. 

It needs a better, integrated migration tool. Something like RestNSX with more elaborate capabilities from a troubleshooting perspective and pre-migration perspective would be an improvement.

I have used this solution version most recently, as it has not been out that long.

Many companies are moving to v3 and v3.01

N-VDS will be depreciated in newer versions and integrated within the standard VDS

From a recoverability standpoint, if designed correctly and perhaps if VMware SRM is integrated with NSX-T, it would help the stability of workload availability.

From a routing perspective, NSX-T must be designed for redundancy with cross/overlapping uplinks from the edge nodes to your L3 upstream devices. Routing will be more reliable with default routes in place. Hardware compute and compatibility with the solution is critical for good communication via the  nsx overlay network.  Overall this solution is very scalable

NSX-T is extremely scalable as a solution. Make sure that you plan your IP pools accordingly in advance if you plan to add many transport ESXi nodes in the future.

VMware Global support for NSX-T/V is exceptional.

We have never used any other solution. NSX is the premier product in this space.

The initial setup will go smoothly if the design of the solution was done correctly. 

NSX-T can be complex if the discovery phase was not granular enough.

We implemented it with an in-house team.

Customers will better be able to determine ROI once they have been running the solution for a year or so. How much they will have from the Capex perspective will have to be calculated.

My advice is to make sure that you properly scope the project from both hardware and network requirements. NSX-T can be complicated if it is not designed correctly.

Some customers are evaluating Gardicore vs NSX.

Gardicore is a great tool for micro-segmentation only. It can fill in many gaps that NSX-T misses with its native micro-seg capabilities.

An NSX-T solution requires a solid understanding of routing/switching, IP pools, local egress, and solution design to be successful. It takes a team of both VMware and Cisco folks to collaborate to get it done right the first time.

As a customer, make sure you are hiring the best resources.

We use this product for micro-segmentation and network function virtualization.

This is the most scalable product of its type.

It is very good for automation and software-defined networking.

I would like to see improvements made to the certification process. As it is now, you have to do the training with VMware itself, and you have to spend a lot of money doing it, which is very discouraging. 

If you compare other certifications especially from the cloud providers, you can get trained from your choice of training providers and not very expensive or learn on your own at your pace, prepare for exams and pass and your certificate will be issued. In contrast, you have to register under VMware to get training done at minimum of $3000 before your certificate is issued to you. The training costs a minimum of $3,000, which is expensive and should be reduced. 

I have been using this product for more than a year.

Outside of the cloud infrastructure, it is the most scalable network product that I have worked with. It is used in a server farm that contains about 2,000 servers.

We have not needed to contact technical support.

We did not use another network function virtualization product prior to this one.

The initial setup is very straightforward. Our deployment took three months, end to end.

We had a consultant to assist us with the deployment.

We have two or three in-house staff who manage and maintain the solution.

The licensing fees are expensive and we pay on a yearly basis. However, we were able to leverage some of the licenses that we had for an affiliated product, ESXi. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees.

We chose VMware NSX-T because it was the most scalable.

This is a good product and one that I recommend for anybody who does not want to change their existing infrastructure. The problem is that they have to compete with the likes of AWS and cloud providers.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We use the solution for the software-defined network. 

I am impressed with the tool's protection. 

The tool's setup is complex and we need support to implement it. 

I am working with the product for two months. 

The solution is stable. 

My company has three users for the tool. We plan to increase the usage of the solution in future. 

The solution is difficult to deploy due to network complexity. The deployment took three months to complete. We had around five to seven resources involved in the product's deployment. They were mainly from the roles of network security and infrastructure. We created a plan and deployed the solution following it. 

Our partner helped us with the solution's implementation. 

The tool's pricing is reasonable. 

We compared the solutions from Cisco and Nutanix. We chose VMware NSX due to its price. 

I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

We use VMware NSX for box integration. If box integration is still a code, we use this technology to understand it.

When we have problems in the Kubernetes cluster inside the XDN or problems in the Container Network Interface (a container integrated with the NSX), we can join the Kubernetes cluster data source. If there is a problem in CNI, we can see the connection with the NSX manager and create alerts.

The alert features are the most valuable.

The integration with other brands is not the best and could be better.

We have been using this solution for almost two years. We are using version 3.1.

It is a stable solution.

It is scalable, and we have 20 users using this solution.

I rate the technical support a ten out of ten. Their support is excellent.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We have had a very good return on investment.

I rate this solution a ten out of ten. I recommend VMware NSX because it's a powerful tool. We can see the flows inside the SDN, which has a lot of power.

We aren't a service-based company, so in terms of improvement, VMware NSX hasn't improved our company, but we need it for business purposes because we do have clients who give us all these products, and they tell us to evaluate these products in our environment and then give them reports on those products. VMware NSX is a good product, but for us, the solution doesn't add that much value to our organization.

Though I haven't been working a lot on VMware NSX, it's good to have. What I like the most about it is that its console is good, and it doesn't take a lot of effort in terms of doing my daily tasks on it or what it's meant for. VMware NSX is still a preferred product in the market.

An area for improvement in VMware NSX is that it uses up more resources and is heavy on the network.

What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is more automation.

I've been using VMware NSX for more than two years now.

VMware NSX is a stable solution. It's very reliable.

VMware NSX, In terms of scalability, particularly at the enterprise level, is hectic. It's a complex process if you want to scale it compared to its competitors. It still depends, for example, if you've been in VM all your life or if you have been a VM administrator for a long time, you'll take comfort in something new, so people tend to go for it. If it's a new customer, an upgrade, or if the entire organization is going through a revamp, the process is quite complex. On a scale of one to five, I'll rate the scalability of VMware NSX a four.

VMware NSX has great support, and I have no complaints about it. The support for this solution is reasonable.

The initial setup for VMware NSX was pretty straightforward. In terms of our implementation plan, mostly we have standard SOPs that we have laid down for our implementation teams and we stick to those. It would still depend on the environment where we're going to execute it, for example, it could be on-premises or on the cloud, and we'd also take into consideration which type of cloud they have and what other technologies they have in their environment, so based on all of those, the implementation plan and how we're going to approach the implementation changes.

How long the deployment of VMware NSX takes would depend on the client, the environment, and the requirements, but for the basic setup or initial setup where we would just get the box and the do configuration, the IP, etc., that doesn't take more than four to five days.

Our deployment model for VMware NSX used to be on-premises, but now the deployment is mostly on the public cloud.

We used consultants for the implementation of VMware NSX.

I'm unable to give information on the pricing or licensing cost of VMware NSX because I've never been someone who looks into the economic part of any security or virtualization solutions. That's handled by an entirely different team, and I don't even have the slightest idea about the costs associated with the solution, though I've heard pricing for VMware NSX is on the higher side.

We haven't evaluated other virtualization solutions apart from VMware NSX.

VMware NSX is a solution I use at the company very often. My company is a partner of VMware and I analyze products such as the VMware NSX, and I give a detailed report on how the features are, what are the differences between the solution and its competitors, etc.

Deploying VMware NSX requires a team of four, but it would still depend on the skillset. For example, two people can do the work where one is in charge of the networking and one would act as a backup. Currently, my team of five users works on VMware NSX.

My advice to others looking into implementing the solution is to first go through the POC and the documentation before purchasing VMware NSX. Get to know the features best and find out what works for your organization and what doesn't, then take a calculated decision on whether you need the solution because some VMware solutions would be quite heavy on your environment if you are a mid-level enterprise. Other than that, VMware is a trusted name, and it has been in the market for quite some time now, and it's reliable. Though you should also evaluate other solutions, especially in terms of pricing because what I've heard is that VMware NSX is on the higher end, so it depends on what type of fees you want to check off your list. After evaluating all these factors, only then should you make that decision whether you want to go for VMware NSX or not.

My rating for VMware NSX on a scale of one to ten is seven, particularly for virtualization. Technology-wise and implementation-wise, I'm giving the solution a seven.

I would rate the solution a ten out of ten if it was less complex and had more automation. Currently, it's on the heavier side, for example, even the basic agent or basic software takes up a lot of space at the end-user level. VMware NSX should utilize fewer resources when it sits in your environment, so all the other users or other solutions in the environment would have ample resources to use. The solution shouldn't be heavy on the network.

My company is a partner but not a reseller of VMware NSX.

VMware NSX can be used for micro-segmentation in the network space.

The solution is very good at micro-segmentation.

VMware NSX provides a lot of automation capabilities, but there is still room for improvement.

I have been using VMware NSX for approximately 14 years.

The stability of VMware NSX is good.

VMware has been the market leader for stability. If you look at the competitors,  I would rate that it's one of the top five solutions which I have worked on in this space.

VMware NSX provides excellent support.

If you are a new user and are looking for overall automation skills, then VMware vRealize Automation fits the purpose.

If the new user is looking for micro-segmentation in the network space, then  VMware NSX is the best solution. It has a very good capability in terms of micro-segmentation. Although, there are certain capabilities of the Layer 7 functionality, which other solutions have available, specifically from the Cisco stack. However, VMware NSX is an overall good solution when it comes to virtualization and Automation.

I rate VMware NSX a nine out of ten.

We are using VMware NSX for all our network needs.

I have found VMware NSX to be easy to use.

VMware NSX could improve by having more compatibility with other none Window-based operating systems.

I have been using VMware NSX for approximately six years.

VMware NSX is stable.

The solution is scalable.

We have approximately 200 employees using the solution.

We rarely face issues and we are quite knowledgeable about the solution. 

We have two engineers for the support of the solution.

We are using a perpetual license to use the solution and we have support.

I would recommend this solution but it depends on the nature of the business and how much variety of applications it is using. If you are using one, or two applications then you don't need to use virtualization at all.

I rate VMware NSX an eight out of ten.

Load balancing is achieved using VMware NSX. The load balancing feature provided with VMware vSphere is called NSX.

While using the virtual server with your on-premises trusted internal network, you can set up rules to prevent them from doing specific activities.

VMware NSX is a very good product.

It's a beneficial tool.

VMware NSX needs improvement.

We have been using VMware NSX for a couple of years.

We are using the most recent version.

I have no issues with the stability of  VMware NSX.

VMware NSX is a scalable solution.

NSX is not a user, product. NSX is for securing your virtualization platform.

The support needs improvement.

The initial setup is straightforward.

I have not yet fully explored all that this solution provides. I am still analyzing it. From the knowledge and experience that I have today, I would recommend this solution.

I would rate VMware NSX a five out of ten.