Eco4Cloud Workload Consolidation vs. FreeCAD

Eco4Cloud is well suited in VMware farms that have standard VM deployments, especially with small VMs, with nothing blocking vMotion and hardware fully compatible with IPMI 2.0 (minimum). It doesn't work well if many VMs are nodes in a Microsoft cluster because they would be unmovable and therefore their host would never be put in stand-by mode. If every host in the cluster has at least one guest VM that is a node of a Microsoft cluster, no host in the cluster will ever be put in stand-by mode.

I see FreeCad as the perfect solution for a startup with limited resources that want to save as much as possible and doesn't mind using non-standard 3D CAD software, i.e., it's not required by customers to use specific software for compatibility. It's perfect for hobbyist use and makers who don't care about brands and pay monthly fees. I see it as very well suited for small businesses that need FEA (finite element analysis) and can't/don't want to pay huge amounts of money for it, just like us. I see FreeCad as less appropriate for big corporations or well-established businesses that need standardized solutions, compatibility with clients or good version management. Don't get me wrong, it can get the job done, but it will be much slower than state-of-the-art CAD systems.

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

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• It consolidates workloads in VMware clusters using an algorithm that seems to work better than VMware DRS. It keeps headroom for workload peaks and to withstand the number of host failures set for the cluster in vCenter.
• If the workload is very variable, Eco4Cloud will not continuously turn a host on and off but it will settle to keep the host running. It sort of "rightsizes" the cluster keeping only the right number of hosts running. This is another main difference when comparing Eco4Cloud with VMware DRS/DPM which strictly follows the workload and sometimes isn't fast enough in turning on the hosts when the workload is ramping-up.
• To do a good job Eco4Cloud needs to analyze the hosts and the VMs. Therefore, the troubleshooting component of Eco4Cloud can figure out if there are problems in the configuration of the hosts (e.g. vMotion settings). It can also determine if a VM is stuck and can't vMotion (e.g. using the physical CD-ROM) or if it's oversized or undersized.
• Something Eco4Cloud has and others don't is a technology named Smart Ballooning. With Smart Ballooning Eco4Cloud recovers unused RAM from the VMs and gives it back to the host way before the host goes over the 94% RAM threshold. This allows us to reach higher levels of overbooking.

• Importing CAD formats
• Converting mesh formats to solid and surface objects geometry
• Fixing errors in geometry cad

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Independently Invited by TrustRadius

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

• It would be useful to have a version that works with OpenStack.
• It should be made compatible with VMware VSAN.
• It would be useful to have a version that works with hybrid clouds using the new "vMotion anywhere" or share nothing vMotion feature.

• Overall, the UI feels very old and non-polished.
• There are some quirky behaviors, like being unable to select a plane by having the cursor over it; it has to be over the edges of the plane.
• It's overwhelming having those many modules and options for doing things that appear to be similar.

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

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Usability is awkward. Perhaps if you learn it as your first CAD, it will feel OK. Still, it comes from commercial CAD products like mine (Onshape, Solid Works, Inventor, Solid Edge). You will feel it is less intuitive, with a less polished UI, difficult to customize and, this is a subjective one, less serious. I'd love to see it improve the usability and UI. I believe the engine behind it is powerful, but how you interact with the software is still lacking.

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

We compared the consolidation feature and we obtained exactly the same amount of servers in stand-by. The main difference was that Eco4Cloud turned off the unneeded hosts in 2 days while VMTurbo Operations Manager required one day per host. This behavior is caused by the different algorithms implemented by these two products. Compared to Eco4Cloud, VMware DRS/DPM was very aggressive (we tried it in vSphere 5.0). We haven't tested it with vSphere 6 yet.

Freecad is used often when receiving files from multiple sources and the need to work with cad in various forms from meshes to solid cad. Often when receiving scans of 3d objects the format is easy to work with and convert to traditional cad later on. There is no other cad that can bridge the gap between all the cad formats that we found yet.

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

• Eco4Cloud causes a reduction in power consumption both on old VMware clusters and especially on new ones.
• It also causes a delay in CapEx investments because you buy more hosts only when really needed.

• It has allowed us to do some cad work that no other systems has allowed us to do and is key to getting that done fast
• It has lots of online support through forums and blogs for trouble shooting
• It could have an updated interface to make the functionality more user friendly for first time users

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info