VMware vSphere Reviews

- Free - Easy to install and configure - Very low overhead - Great management features - Enterprise Ready

- Free version limits server memory to 32GB - No central management of other ESXi servers, each one needs to be logged-in individually if you have multiple servers.My experience with VMware EXSi is that it's the fastest Virtualization platform out there. This is basically because of the very good architectural design of the underlying hypervisor, which consumes a very small amount of resource overhead and provides a rich set of features that are enterprise grade. The free version really has a great feature set plus a management software that you can use to manage individual server instances.

The downside to the free version is that you can only use it on a server with a maximum of 32GB memory. Also, you cannot manage multiple ESXi instances with the management client. You have to log-in individually to each server running the free version of EXSi. These limitations are surely a setback considering other competing products do not have these limitations and even offer features which are only available in paid versions of VMware.

The two features we've found most valuable are vSphere's reliability and stability.

Primarily, we've been able to save on energy costs. It also gives us easier migrations when upgrading infrastructure.

We had some stability issues, though they were due to bad hardware and not software.

I've used it for four years.

We've encountered no issues with deployment.

The problems with stability were due to hardware problems, never software.

We haven't had any issues with scalability.

Customer Service:

8/10

Technical Support:

9/10

We started with VMware, so we never used a different virtualization solution.

The initial setup was nothing but easy. The system was running in just a few minutes.

We implemented it in-house.

We advise in general that the Essentials Plus pack is the best option for the majority of our customers.

No other options were looked at.

Nothing to be afraid of. Everything about vSphere is advantageous.

Greatly consolidated my server infrastructure; DR/BCP friendly

Hard to justify annual maintenance vs. HyperV

• High Availability
• vMotion
• Storage vMotion

One particular example is the ability to work less on weekends because of the possibility to patch during normal working hours.

The pricing.

I've used it since 2006.

We have not had any issue with deployment over the years.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

Customer Service:

8/10

Technical Support:

9/10

We didn't use a previous solution to prior to vSphere.

It was very straightforward, no problem occurred at the set up stage,

It was all done in-house.

No other products were considered.

It's a simple to use solution, and along with fast implementation, you can install it and run it, so have fun.

We use it in the data centers of our customers for server consolidation and new deployments.

The ease of movement of these machines is the most valuable. It is very easy to move these machines between physical hosts. The fast deployment of services is another valuable feature.

Its price can be better. It is very expensive.

I have been using this solution for ten years.

It is very scalable. It is great in terms of scalability. We have 50 to 60 users in our organization.

Their technical support is great. I would rate them a ten out of ten.

In general terms, it is easy to deploy, but it depends on the size of the project. The deployment duration varies. A basic deployment doesn't take more than one hour.

It is expensive.

I would advise others to go ahead with this solution. It is a very functional product. Only its price needs improvement.

I would rate VMware vSphere an eight out of ten. 

On-premises

We started using this just for virtualization, but now we have gone into creating private cloud features for our customers. 

Gathering all of the hosts together to create one single pool across the enterprise is a terrific feature.

It needs to integrate better between multiple modules. 

More than five years.

I would rate the scalabilty as an eight out of ten. 

The setup was easy. The deployment did not take much time, as long as it was properly planned. The planning must be from an experienced side and user-acceptance front. It should not take more than two months of time. 

We used system integrators. 

The pricing is a bit complex.

VMware alone cannot offer all the features that customers require. There are times when the differential cost of the customer is not feasible. In addition, there are times when the requirements, in terms of API, build up and the connectivity to the outside world is more important. People need to decide on their own whether this is a good solution or if an OpenStack solution is the better choice.