VMware vSphere Reviews

• High Availability
• Distributed resource scheduling & vMotion
• Robust management toolset for automating routine tasks

vSphere provides the infrastructure framework to manage server and client systems in a multitude of user environments, from dedicated virtual workstations to short-term use systems. vSphere makes the provisioning and deployment of virtual servers and clients quick and predictable, centralizing the customization process while removing common hardware problems.

Fault Tolerance, which was introduced in version 5.5 and improved in 6.0, is a promising feature that has potential to ensure highly critical system availability in the enterprise environment. It presently has vCPU limitations which makes its deployment scenarios limited, but VMware has made great strides between the two versions, indicating that its usefulness will continue to improve.

I've used it for four years.

ESXi has some specific hardware requirements that administrators should make sure they are able to meet before deploying. While the platform can run on a considerable range of hardware, various features make use of specialized virtualization instruction sets in the hardware CPU that make the hypervisor suited to only a fraction of the common server hardware on the market. This is not a bad thing, as the benefits from these advanced features are well worth the cost of more advanced hardware. This is the only circumstance in which I have encountered obstacles to deployment.

No. The vSphere hypervisor is exceptionally stable, and the higher-level vSphere environment is quite adaptable to a fluctuating datacenter environment.

No. The ability to expand the capacity of the vSphere environment is one of the core capabilities of the product.

Efficient and knowledgeable.

Good value, particularly considering a support contract is required with the purchase of vSphere licenses.

No previous solution was used.

It's straightforward, as vSphere is a mature product with well-rounded documentation, and an easy-to-understand interface.

Our system was installed by a vendor team, but was configured in-house. Our vendor team provided a solid architecture solution, but it was insufficient for our requirements.

Licensing is not a major obstacle to adopting this product in an enterprise environment. VMware does offer some specialized vSphere editions for small business environments in which cost may be a considerable factor. There is a wide range of options provided by VMware with suitable price points for each license.

We did not evaluate other options.

Have a plan for system virtualization before pursuing vSphere. Often, the actual needs of an organization, particularly small and medium sized, are overestimated which leads to spending more for a product or product license than is necessary.

I'd say vMotion, High Availability, and Distributed Resource Scheduler, which have allowed us to administer hardware resources in a better way.

With High Availability, we have had only one incident where one of the hosts failed, and the VMs were moved immediately. It took about four minutes to complete migration, thus affecting operations minimally.

Reporting, and perhaps more DRS-friendly functions.

We've used it for almost three-and-a-half years, and previously we were using older versions, such as 2.0.

No, but that is relative. Sometimes issues are raised eventually.

No, but it does become difficult to have a standardized infrastructure.

No, but I guess cost is the main obstacle.

So far, good service, but it's managed by our corporate office.

It's good, but it is relative. I have been able to resolve many of our issues using the web.

I used to manage an IBM solution - SAN with VMware technology.

It was complex, as the setup and management was not too friendly.

We used a vendor team and the expertise was good, but it could have been better.

All I am able to say is that our SLAs have been achieved over the last two years.

This depends on the particular scenarios. Ours is a big one, and requires full stability (Enterprise license). We manage four geographic areas (Mexico, China, Czech Republic and Brazil).

Review the SLAs with customers and provide several options describing cost/benefits to them.

• The out-of-box application works well even without customization.
• vCenter web UI is great.

I work on it daily and it's easy to build VM's and take snapshots. I can also test the VM's as much as I want.

• vCenter web UI has the occasional bug.
• Sometimes it takes a while until the VM responds to a mouse click.

I've used it for six months.

None.

No.

Haven't yet needed to scale.

Haven't needed customer service.

Haven't needed technical support.

No previous solution used.

Straightforward.

In-house.

We did not evaluate other options.

The stability in general, and the manageability of features like high availability, storage vMotion, and vMotion configuration via distributed switches.

vSphere is a core product in our services. Building our services on top of this product provides us the ability to create stable, enterprise level services.

Currently none, as the development of new features is already going at high speed.

I've been using it for seven years, since v3.5.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

8/10.

7/10.

We previously used XenEnterprise and RedHat Enterprise Virtualization based on KVM. Due to the stability and lack of features, we switched.

It was straightforward.

We did it in-house by our infrastructure team who are VMware Certified Professionals.

Using the vCloud Air Network program, we are in a usage based program. So no upfront investments are made for licenses.

• Redundancy
• Speed
• Security

I had 300 physical servers, but now I need only six. It’s less noisy, much cheaper, and has less of a tendency to get hot.

I want to see a better hypervisor.

I've used it for five years, since.

Deployment requires a special proficiency.

The product has good stability.

The stability is perfect, as long as you can afford it.

We work with a company that provides this service.

We work with a company that provides this service.

It was complex as we have many sites. Therefore, we needed to decide if we should put them all together in a single data center, or to use one instance of vSphere for all our data centers.

It's the best product on the market. I have never had anything that saved me more money than vSphere. I had 300 servers, each one cost us 15 thousand dollars, but now it’s much cheaper. Moreover, thanks to dynamic distribution I am able to maximize the servers' CPU usage.

It requires one person to manage it on a full-time basis.

We tested Hyper-V, and it was awful.

It costs a lot. You should go to a VMware 6 course.

The ability to handle an entire virtual data center, keep costs under control, and move the workload without having a business impact.

Before virtualization, my company had 20-25 physical server, with one or more services each. These servers were placed in three to four racks.

Now we handle 500 servers (VM's) in half a rack, meaning only 16 physical servers. This solution improves cost, manageability, and growth.

The product is very mature and stable, but vCenter web interface response could be improved.

I've used it for 10 years.

Yes, but by support, we found the solution, a hardware driver for HBA component.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

I've only used them a few times, but they've always answered my queries very well.

It's very high.

We used Xen and KVM, and we switched for the lack of manageability, stability, scalability.

Setup is light work, but many components must be configured with vSphere documentation by hand.

I implemented it in-house.

For every Euro we sold in infrastructure, we gained five to seven Euros in services, because we have less operation costs, a good time to market, and more infrastructure agility.

The price can be very high, but in the case of a service provider with a VSPP program, you can offer the top class vSphere features for two to three sold VM. If you plan a little deployment I suggest bundle kits (Essential and Essential plus).

Yes, KVM and Xen (both opensource), and although they have no upfront costs, these are countered by very high operative costs.

First try this product, evaluate the infrastructure sustainability, and purchase the correct license that fits your needs.