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VMware vSphere Review

The ease of administration and flexibility are the most valuable features for us.

What is most valuable?

The ease of administration and flexibility are the most valuable features for us. Performance, stability, and functionality just keep getting better.

How has it helped my organization?

It enables us to move faster when we're going through the legacy systems. Before vSphere, someone had to wait between one and three months to get service which we can now implement in ten minutes.

What needs improvement?

There are a couple areas for improvement that I can see. First, I'd like to see better performance for vCenter. And, I'd also like to see NSF 4.1 fully supported. There are some NSF features lacking from version 3 to 4.1.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using it for more than ten years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We've had no issues deploying it.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability has been great. I have only experienced one point down and that was caused by our system.

There was also an issue with expiring licenses in 2008, but that was fixed pretty quickly and a new implementation was put in place to prevent that from happening again.

The product has been so stable that we keep using it. We also didn't want to change it too much because it would require management team training.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It has scaled for us and the workload that we have that runs on it.

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

We started using it because there weren't any competitors at the time. There was only VMware.

How was the initial setup?

Complexity depends on how you're implementing it because vSphere has a lot of products. If you're looking looking to install vCenter, it quite easy.

If you're using a lot of the other products, you have to be careful. Today, we use almost every product from VMware and we still have to be careful with the updates.

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

Start small in a development environment. For $200 per year, you can get access to files VMUGs.

You can get a 60-day free trial with a download from the VMware website, but I recommend using VMUGs and attending local VMUG meetings. They have a lot of really capable technicians who really love to share.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Of course we continue to look at the competitors to see what features are coming. In my opinion, it doesn't matter because VMware is still ahead of the competition.

**Disclosure: IT Central Station contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

Last updated: Feb 22 2016

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3 Comments

Chris Childerhose

You may want to look at the newer versions 5.5 and 6.0 to see if that contains the features you are looking for. 4.1 is fairly old and has been enhanced in later versions with V6 Update 2 being the latest.

23 March 16

IT - Server Administration at Vermont Mutual Insurance Group

I would agree with Chris about checking into the offerings available with 5.5 and 6.0. I would add that support for 4.1 ended May 21, 2014 and end of technical guidance is coming up May 21, 2016.

23 March 16

Server Manager at Herning Kommune

This review was from a Phone Interview whereabouts The interviewer unfortunately messed The review up. I was regering to The messing NSF features support between NSF 3 and NSF 4.1 supported in vSphere 6.

25 March 16