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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Oracle Solaris

    Score6.5 out of 10
    N/AOracle Solaris is a Linux operating system which was originally developed by Sun Microsystems and became an Oracle product after the acquisition of Sun in 2010.

    $1,000

    per year

    VMware ESXi

    Score7.4 out of 10
    N/AA bare-metal hypervisor that installs directly onto a physical server. With direct access to and control of underlying resources, VMware ESXi partitions hardware to consolidate applications and cut costs.N/A
    Pricing
    Oracle SolarisVMware ESXi
    Editions & Modules
    1 Year Subscription
    $1,000.00
    per year
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Oracle SolarisVMware ESXi
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Oracle SolarisVMware ESXi
    Considered Both Products
    Oracle
    No answer on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Would buy again
    93 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    86 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    94 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    82 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    91 Answers
    Features
    Oracle SolarisVMware ESXi
    Operating System
    Comparison of Operating System features of Oracle Solaris and VMware ESXi
    Feature
    Oracle Solaris
    9.0
    1 Ratings
    3% above category average
    VMware ESXi
    -
    Ratings
    File Management10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Software Application Management9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    System Update Frequency7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Operating System Security10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Oracle Solaris and VMware ESXi
    Feature
    Oracle Solaris
    -
    Ratings
    VMware ESXi
    8.2
    128 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Virtual machine automated provisioning00 Ratings8.0116 Ratings
    Management console00 Ratings9.0128 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup00 Ratings8.0112 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration00 Ratings8.0116 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security00 Ratings8.0117 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Oracle SolarisVMware ESXi
    Small Businesses
    CentOS Linux
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM AIX
    Score9.4 out of 10
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Score9.1 out of 10
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Oracle SolarisVMware ESXi
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (5 ratings)
    9.0
    (129 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (55 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.1
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Oracle SolarisVMware ESXi
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Oracle
    It's good for environments that need to operate 24/7 due to its stability, as I mentioned before. It's also very good for enterprise applications that can't afford unscheduled downtime, for truly high-priority environments. I don't think it would be recommended for small companies with people who have no prior knowledge of the tool, as the learning curve is quite steep.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    If you're looking for the industry standard in server virtualization, I would recommend ESXi. After decades of expertise in the field, VMware continues to provide a strong product, production-ready, with an easy-to-learn interface that allows for quick management along with less costly upfront onboarding and training. Grab the free personal-use license and install in your homelab to start!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Oracle
    • Preferred Operating System to run Oracle Databases
    • Performs well with Java and Oracle applications
    • Great for Virtualizations.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • Resource management. The automatic load balancing works very well to ensure no host is taxed disproportionately compared to the others.
    • Templates and cloning. It is very easy to set up a template and spin up new servers based on a specific setup. This makes server management very streamlined.
    • VM management. The vSphere interface is very easy to use and navigate. Everything is responsive and it works when you need it to. The options are also robust while also being arranged in a straightforward manner.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Oracle
    • It seems that Solaris is becoming an afterthought at Oracle.
    • Oracle should be more vocal in their commitment to Solaris
    • Support Costs
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • VMware ESXi can improve on the UI that is installed on the bare metal machine. The menus can be hard to navigate when looking for simple configuration items.
    • VMware ESXi can improve on the stability of their overall hypervisor. There have been a few times we had to reinstall due to corruption of VMware ESXi.
    • I would like to see VMware ESXi do better at adding more standard free features in their consumer version of VMware ESXi. For example, having the ability to back up virtual machines is good practice and something that would be very nice if offered in their free version.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Oracle
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    It is critical to our business, what started out as a way to do certain functions, it has now become core to ensuring our product is available to our customers and reducing our costs to operate and reduce our recovery time and provisioning servers. Their support is great and the costs to renew is reasonable.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Oracle
    You need to take the time to learn it. It is a massive product.
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    The interface is fairly intuitive for most things, and the areas that are a little less obvious usually have fantastic documentation in the online knowledgebase. In 3-4 years of managing our ESXi hosts, I think that I have only opened 4-5 support cases for things that I could not figure out myself or find answers to on the website.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Oracle
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    Without the need to patch the servers with bug fixes and enhancements we whave not experienced any downtime with VMware issues. Even the bug fixes and updates do not cause of downtime as we just migrate the servers to the opposite node and update the one and then move servers back. Very simple and painless.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Oracle
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    We do not notice any difference between a physical and virtual server running the same workload. In fact we can scale quicker with the virtual server than we can with the physical.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Oracle
    The support teams are well trained and responsive. Patches are rolled out regularly and are easy to deploy and backout.
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    I can't say enough good about VMware's support team. To an individual they take ownership of the case, provide thorough answers, and follow up regularly. On one occasion, a problem we experienced with NSX Endpoint was escalated to development for a permanent resolution after a workaround was found. In my experience, most companies would have tried to find a way to close a case like that instead of taking it all the way. Most importantly, when production is down and every second counts, they VMware teams understand that urgency and treat your issue as if it were the only one they had to deal with. You can't ask for better.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Oracle
    Stress testing and timing is key. You need test systems that mirror the live environments. User testing must be reflected in peak loads.
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Jsut read and follow anything your storage provider may require to allow the integration of VMware with storage operations, outside of that VMware jsut works.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Oracle
    We used Windows Server quite a bit because of the ease of use for the team, file sharing, Active Directory, and systems integrated with Windows; learning was easier, and the interface was more user-friendly. On the other hand, Oracle stood out for its stability because we provide services that keep environments up and running 24/7.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    As long as you're using Nutanix AOS on Nutanix hardware and are paying their software support fees, AOS is a valid competitor to VMware and can save money due to not needing a license and having their server management system built into the base host management system. If you aren't using Nutanix hardware, however, VMWare is in most cases the best way to go. I cannot comment on HyperV, but most IT people I know either use it because they have to (most) or they like it better (not many).
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Oracle
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    it has been fair and easy to understand. I know VMware is looking at wanting to change from CPU to core pricing so we will see what that looks like when it happens.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Oracle
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    We started out with a two-server cluster and adding a third or fourth is very straightforward and simple with no issues. You just need to be aware of the size of your Vcenter Server to handle the workload, but still the resources needed is very minimal
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Oracle
    • Possibility to migrate old servers protecting previous inversions
    • reduces implementation times and accelerates time to obtain value in the market.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • VMWare ESXi licensing is affordable for our business - and the licensing model is simplistic. Not like that of Microsoft with having to keep track of server licenses and CAL licenses for users.
    • VMWare ESXi also has hardware-monitoring built-in, so that further saves us money from having to be spent with another vendor.
    • As much as I hate the saying "a single pane of glass" does fit for this product. You can manage your servers, monitor hardware status, create and export backup snapshots, manage virtual NICs, connect to various storage devices. We're very happy with this product.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots