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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Plixer Scrutinizer

    Score6 out of 10
    N/APlixer is a developer of network management software with a focus on network traffic analysis, network security, threat detection and network optimization, headquartered in Kennebunk, Maine. Plixer Scrutinizer collects, analyzes, visualizes, and reports on data from every network conversation and digital transaction to deliver security and network intelligence.N/A

    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
    Plixer ScrutinizerVMware ESXi
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Plixer ScrutinizerVMware 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
    Plixer ScrutinizerVMware ESXi
    Considered Both Products
    Plixer International
    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
    Plixer ScrutinizerVMware ESXi
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Plixer Scrutinizer and VMware ESXi
    Feature
    Plixer Scrutinizer
    -
    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
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    Plixer ScrutinizerVMware ESXi
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    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    Score8.5 out of 10
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    Score8.5 out of 10
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Plixer ScrutinizerVMware ESXi
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (129 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (55 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 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
    Plixer ScrutinizerVMware ESXi
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Plixer International
    If you need a network security forensic tool, this is a great fit. Scrutinizer collects everything you have configured as a target without losing data. If you need an in-depth analysis of your network flows, as in who is doing what with what this is a good fit. Scrutinizer translates a massive about of data into readable tables and reports.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Pros
    Plixer International
    • Once configured, Scrutinizer gives an accurate overview of network activity.
    • Scrutinizer is able to collect flows from a variety of devices, you are not limited to Cisco.
    • DSCP based reporting, which is helpful when attempting to determine how good your wireless network is from a QoS perspective.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Cons
    Plixer International
    • The free version has some limitations that make an accurate evaluation difficult, every day at midnight the data is flushed and you start over.
    • If you are purchasing the appliance, you won't have admin access to it.
    • Reporting could use some polished graphics and advance filtering features.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Plixer International
    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
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    Usability
    Plixer International
    No answers on this topic
    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
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    Reliability and Availability
    Plixer International
    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
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    Performance
    Plixer International
    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
    Plixer International
    Support is support, they are either there or they are not. Scrutinizer support has been there every time I've needed them. They rely a bit too much on email correspondence, sometimes I want a voice to tell me what to do, and fast
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Implementation Rating
    Plixer International
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Plixer International
    Scrutinizer is a faster and simpler deployment while still delivering the tools and reports needed to gain accurate view traffic and network usage. Its cheaper than most alternatives and daily use is focused on understanding data, not making config changes so you can understand data. Risk reduction and elimination is the primary focus, Scrutinizer helps you do that.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Plixer International
    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
    Plixer International
    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
    Plixer International
    • Scrutinizer is a great tool, extremely easy to implement, it lets you see your NetFlow without a large outlay.
    • WAN traffic monitoring gives you the ability to accurately predict the necessary bandwidth volume, you can now stop over buying.
    Incentivized
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    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