VMware vCenter Reviews

At the starting phase of my career, I dealt with VMware vCenter for multiple solution propositions for clients. My present company has multiple vCenters deployed across several countries, including UK, Australia, Ashburn in the US and also in Pakistan.

I personally manage multiple vCenters and hosts, I deal with more than 200 hosts that need to be managed. Our company is a huge client of VMware vCenter. 

The DRS, high availability and manageable switches are the most valuable features of VMware vCenter. In our company all the features of VMware vCenter are utilized. The main function of the DRS feature is resource management. For instance, suppose one VM has operations in Node 1, in case of a disaster the DRS feature transfers the VM to another host or cluster. The DRS feature of the solution ensures high availability without any downtime across VMs. 

The vSAN feature can be used for storage management and the solution can be used for desktop and application virtualization. You can use multiple products in integration with VMware vCenter to improve the deployed environment and enhance security features. 

The solution's capability can be improved in different infrastructures depending upon segregated ports, multiple clusters and network segregation. For example, multiple network segregations can be implemented for network security and network bandwidth consumption. 

The licensing model of VMware vCenter can be improved. It's an expensive product, and the market demands a cost-effective solution. For almost every feature in VMware vCenter, a separate license needs to be purchased, including the DNS feature and node expansion. Customers will feel uncomfortable with the solution due to the cost structure. 

I have been using VMware vCenter for ten years. 

It's a highly stable product. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. 

If a strong extended cluster is required in the solution, VMware vCenter offers extendable features for a huge number of nodes in the existing environment, the sub-office, and other additional offices.

For example, if your country has an office and cluster in a specific country and you want to extend the solution to another country with high availability, you can achieve it. If VMware vCenter needs to be scaled across applications and other departments of your organization, it can achieved by adding more hosts, which can be called host scalability. 

There are more than 2000 VMware vCenter users in our company. I think my company might migrate to a different product for the hardware virtualization in a couple of years. 

Excellent technical support has been offered to me over the ten years of usage. There are commendable resources available with the tech support department of the solution. I would rate the tech support an eight out of ten. 

Positive

VMware vCenter offers an effortless setup process. I don't think the vendor has anything to improve in the product's setup process. 

Some resources need to be gathered for VMware vCenter deployment, including suggested RAM. The solution can be deployed in around 15 minutes, if you have hardware of high specifications. 

VMware vCenter allows the management of multiple hosts in one single node. For instance, suppose one of our company's customers uses 20 hosts to manage numerous applications, when I proposed VMware vCenter, the 20 hosts got concluded to 5 nodes which can be managed by the solution.

Thus, in the aforementioned scenario, VMware vCenter can save the cost of 15 nodes, this is how ROI can be achieved through cost savings in the first month of VMware vCenter's deployment.  

VMware vCenter is a user-friendly product. About 70% customers of virtualization in our country are using VMware products and the market is booming. I believe multiple sectors such as banking and FMCG in our country will gradually move towards more cost-effective solutions such as KVM. 

I would recommend VMware vCenter to others due to its high stability and excellent application availability. I would rate the solution as eight out of ten. 

We use the solution for security and authorization services. It also works as an antivirus backup for the data center.

The point of management is the best advantage.

We must create a VLAN on each node. You want to make the VLAN ten times if you have a thin host. We mostly create VMs, and the vCenter publishes the template on all hosts.

The process of creating VLANs or any similar tasks requires following a specific procedure, which must be executed accurately to ensure successful deployment. That's the main concern.

I have been using VMware vCenter for seven years.

The tool is stable.

Support is satisfactory.

Positive

The initial setup is easy. The field must have a clear meaning. One person can install the solution.

The focus is on the data center in business development. You must do so if you want to renew your license or purchase a new one for continuous business continuity. 

The product is expensive. Earlier it costs around 50K dollars. They changed the license policy from perpetual to subscription.

We have opted for Hypervisor from Microsoft AHV and Nutanix.

It is integrated with the Nutanix platform, Dell, and HP. I recommend the solution because it is easy to manage virtualization.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We use the product to manage the internal infrastructure. We use it in the cement division of a construction company.

VMware vCenter is a well-known tool. The tool is absolutely necessary. It helps manage our server. We have more than 200 servers. It would be very difficult for us if we did not have VMware vCenter. We extensively use automatic Distributed Resource Scheduler and migration tools to move workloads between different servers. The solution has defined virtual infrastructure management. It provides a single pane of glass to manage the infrastructure. We manage practically everything using the solution.

The monitoring features are limited. We need extra features from third-party products. We can do basic management with vCenter. The vendor needs to be more proactive. VMware sells other products to improve its capabilities. However, it would be good if the tool included proactive management to enable users to manage the virtual infrastructure better.

I have been using the solution for 15 years.

I rate the tool’s stability a nine out of ten.

The solution scales well. It is our central point of contact. We need only one vCenter to manage different servers. It’s a good solution. We have four users.

We use the support portal. Sometimes, finding what we need takes time. We can find it after some time, though.

Positive

I rate the ease of setup an eight out of ten. The deployment can be done quickly. The deployment process is very straightforward. The vendor publishes the versions, and they can be deployed without any special knowledge or effort. The deployment takes less than an hour.

The product is affordable for now. With the acquisition of VMware by Broadcom, the policies are changing. It seems like the product will become more expensive. The solution costs us EUR 2000 to EUR 3000 per year.

The main purpose of the tool is managing. Performance must be accomplished by correct sizing and analysis of vCenter hosts. I recommend the tool to others. It is not a luxury. It is a mandatory product. Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.

We use the product to manage all the VMware hosts.

The platform provides a single pane of glass to manage all the VMs. It allows us to consolidate multiple systems into one console.

The product’s most valuable feature is 100% availability of the systems and hardware. It proved to be a crucial feature while working in a healthcare environment for ensuring patient safety.

They could improve the product’s dashboard features in terms of providing more realistic information. It could display the status of the storage space in terabytes, the number of VMs, etc. Also, they should provide more alerting capabilities.

They could add NSX features from VSphere for the micro-segmentation of virtual networking in the licensing structure.

We are using the 7.0U3 version of VMware vCenter.

I rate the platform’s stability a ten out of ten.

We can deploy multiple vCenters and links to fault tolerance and high availability. In the scenario where a single vCenter is deployed, if it were to go down, there is a need for a rebuild. However, the rebuilding process is straightforward, especially when configurations are backed up. To enhance resilience, the option to scale out by deploying two or more vCenters and linking them is available.

I rate the platform’s scalability a ten out of ten.

We have used AHV and Hyper-V in the past. However, both of these solutions were inferior to VMware's offering.

The initial setup is straightforward even for complex environments with around 100 hosts. The process is easy for deployment with a smaller number of hosts as well. In case of any issues, the support team provides solutions within a few minutes rather than hours or days.

The product generates a return on investment. The elimination of the need for multiple administrators or engineers handling diverse consoles streamlines operations and significantly reduces labor costs. The consolidated management not only saves time but also eliminates the need for extensive training. VMware is widespread across 90% of the market ensuring the same portion of technical staff availability.

I have worked in two different industries. For the healthcare industry, the price is considerably higher than the education industry. They must even out the pricing across the board as no industry should pay less or more than the other.

We use the product to take snapshots before undertaking updates or upgrades, ensuring a failback mechanism in case of issues. Additionally, when performing maintenance on the physical equipment where VMs reside, vCenter facilitates system transfer to hardware unaffected by the update. It helps with the placement of hosts in maintenance mode, execution of update tasks, and reintegration into the environment. It provides fault tolerance capabilities. We can easily integrate it with Rubrik, a third-party tool.

It is an easy technology to learn. I rate it a ten out of ten.

There are multiple scenarios to consider. One important aspect is the use of snapshots, which are helpful for building anything on Azure. With snapshots, we can capture the state of a virtual machine and revert back to it, using VMware's features. Another valuable feature is vMotion, which allows us to manage and migrate virtual machines from one node to another. This capability is particularly useful for ensuring high availability; if there's an issue with a node, we can seamlessly migrate the virtual machines to another node.

It is easier to manage a larger number of nodes per cluster. Currently, if we are managing a minimum of 64 nodes in a single cluster, that capacity can be increased. Another notable feature is migration, facilitated by VMwareSync. There are minimum memory and CPU requirements, but these can be scaled up along with additional CPU resources for virtual machines, thereby enhancing the available features.

if VMware can introduce multiple other good features, it will further help us work.

I have been using VMware vCenter for ten years.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

Scalability is  impressive. I've worked with clusters comprising 15-16 nodes. VMware vCenter can manage up to 64 nodes in a single cluster, which is a substantial increase.

More than 5,000 users are using this solution.

I rate the solution’s scalability a ten out of ten.

The initial setup is easy and takes an hour to complete. It comes with ready-to-use templates for virtual machines. 

We will download the OEM template from the vCenter side, and then deploy it on the server wherever we need it.

I rate the initial setup a nine out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

The product is cheap. It is a one time purchase.

I rate the product’s pricing a out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

The GUI interface for the monitoring tool is good. We have VMware security features integrated, which is beneficial. Data encryption and robust infrastructure are additional advantages.

One feature is DRS which manages virtual machines. Thus, it migrates virtual machines, adjusting the resources in the background.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

You use vCenter in data center operations as the core of your investment infrastructure, coordinating products like NSX, HSL, HSAX, and Cyber Recovery Manager.

Some of the most valuable features of vCenter are LACP and vSphere Distributed Switches, as they simplify VLAN propagation between hosts and enable networking duplication and replication, particularly beneficial in hyper-converged network environments.

Areas for improvement with vCenter include changes in licensing models, such as the shift to a subscription model, which may increase costs and lead to conflicts.

I have been using VMware vCenter for ten years.

I would rate the stability of vCenter as almost a perfect ten out of ten.

I would rate the scalability of vCenter as a ten out of ten.

The main differences between Azure and VMware include the level of control and integration. VMware offers a comprehensive server and virtualization solution with extensive control, while Azure provides integration with other Microsoft services but may lack complete control over networking and troubleshooting processes.

The initial setup of vCenter is now straightforward, especially with the virtual appliance. Typically, one person can handle deployment and configuration, and maintenance is rarely required due to the product's stability.

With the subscription model, pricing for vCenter may be higher compared to the previous perpetual license model. The subscription model requires ongoing payments, and if you stop paying, you may lose access to updates and support.

vCenter has significantly simplified VM deployment and management processes, making tasks easier and more efficient. Its centralized features are highly valued, especially when compared to other solutions like Microsoft's System Center Virtual Machine Manager, which lacks certain functionalities.

The scalability feature of vCenter has supported our growth by providing flexibility and efficiency. As an expert, I have found it invaluable in resolving issues and managing growth, especially during transitions to cloud-based infrastructures like Azure, which have reduced the need for extensive on-premises resources.

Our experience with vCenter backup and recovery functionalities involved integration issues with our existing tool. Currently, we use Commvault for backup, which is straightforward to configure but lacks full integration capabilities.

I would recommend VMware vCenter to others because it is a stable and reliable product. However, new users should consider the costs associated with the subscription model.

Overall, I would rate VMware vCenter as a ten out of ten.

We don't use VMware vCenter daily. It's installed and runs our servers, which we use daily but don't actively interact with it.

VMware vCenter has significantly improved our infrastructure management by enabling virtualization. We can virtualize our infrastructure, eliminating the need to access servers physically. Everything can be managed remotely.

The tool's most valuable feature is virtualization. It has positively impacted our operational efficiency by offering remote management capabilities through a user-friendly web interface. Its ease of use, as it doesn't require qualified personnel to operate, was a factor in our decision to purchase it.

One area where VMware vCenter has room for improvement is its transition to Broadcom. The change in licensing structure and pricing, particularly the shift from perpetual licenses to subscription-only models, is a significant drawback.

I have been using the product since 2016.  

I would rate the VMware vCenter's stability as an eight out of ten. It's very stable, but after a long period, it started generating a lot of log files, which caused some server issues.

In our organization, only one administrator, myself, manages and uses VMware vCenter. No other users access the vCenter management console.

I haven't contacted technical support yet. 

The tool's deployment is very easy. Our deployment of VMware vCenter took approximately two to three weeks. Due to the software's large size, it couldn't be completed in just a few hours or days.

We deployed the product in-house. Two resources were needed to complete it. 

The tool used to be worth the money, but after Broadcom acquired it and changed the pricing structure to subscription-only, it became too expensive for us to continue using. Unfortunately, we haven't found any alternative solutions that meet our needs, so this is a significant drawback for us as we explore other options.

I wouldn't recommend VMware vCenter to others, especially since Broadcom acquired it. I rate the overall product an eight out of ten. 

Our primary use case for VMware is in our IT environment, specifically within our data center for our Enterprise Application Testing (EAT) server.

The product has improved our system's proactive support for in-built AI tools. It automatically identifies potential issues and helps customers with feedback.

The product's most valuable feature is the ability to clone and snapshot the process for POC.

vCenter's demo functionality needs enhancement. One notable area for enhancement revolves around cost considerations, as introducing features such as DDoS protection or data compression could reduce expenses. We have an infrastructure comprising around 200 VMs that require approximately 20 terabytes of storage for efficient data management. The deduplication and compression features help organizations manage large numbers of servers, streamline operations, reduce storage requirements, and navigate capacity upgrades more seamlessly.

Nowadays, all the products have cloud functionality. Thus, they could introduce a hybrid cloud system and a unified licensing model. We have to buy several SLM licenses for different components, including a demo. Instead, they could include all functionalities in one license.

We have been using VMware vCenter since 2010.

I rate the platform's stability an eight out of ten. Whenever we encounter any technical issues, the support team resolves them.

VMware vCenter is suitable for medium enterprises. We use the product for user acceptance testing and for providing cyber security for product and test environments. Thus, we are using a substantial number of 18 servers in our business infrastructure.

However, Nutanix is more scalable than VMware. We can host as many clusters as required using it.

The initial setup is simple. However, Nutanix has a simpler process.

The platform is highly-priced. It is suitable for medium enterprises. We use the product for user acceptance testing and for providing cyber security for product and test environments. Thus, we are using a substantial number of eighteen servers in our business infrastructure.

However, Nutanix is more scalable than VMware. We can host as many clusters as required using it.

We have evaluated Microsoft Hyper V, Nutanix, and other vendors along with VMware vCenter. Among them, Nutanix is more preferable.

VMware vCenter provides excellent flexibility in terms of managing virtual infrastructure. We can provision services anytime. We can easily create a distribution suite and manage networks. I rate the platform's efficiency for multicluster operations an eight out of ten.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.