VMware Salt vs. vRealize Configuration Manager (discontinued)

SaltStack is a very well architected toolset and framework for reliably managing distributed systems' complexity at varied scale. If the diversity of kind or number of assets is low, or the dependencies are bounded and simple, it might be overkill. Realization that you need SaltStack might come in the form of other tools, scripts, or jobs whose code has become difficult, unreliable, or unmaintainable. Rather than a native from-scratch SaltStack design, be aware that SaltStack can be added on to tools like Docker or Chef and optionally factor those tools out or other tools into the mix.

Incentivized

If you want the best compatibility with VMware products, this is it. There are other HyperVisor platforms out there, however, this software is native to VMWare. Reduces potential security threats through a unified approach to configuration management across the physical and virtual infrastructure.

Incentivized

• Targeting is easy and yet extremely granular - I can target machines by name, role, operating system, init system, distro, regex, or any combination of the above.
• Abstraction of OS, package manager and package details is far advanced beyond any other CRM I have seen. The ability to set one configuration for a package across multiple distros, and have it apply correctly no matter the distrospecific naming convention or package installation procedure, is amazing.
• Abstraction of environments is similarly valuable - I can set a firewall rule to allow ssh from "management", and have that be defined as a specific IP range per dev, test, and prod.

Incentivized

• Active monitoring of Syslog and notifications based upon the matching conditions.
• Change management- Changes can be pushed to several system from one place. It also keeps the record of what changes and who made the change even if the changes has not been made through VMware vCenter Configuration Manager.
• Robust reporting feature- Enhanced filters features and report generation in excel format presents the data in readable and to the point.
• Integration with ticketing tool further ensures that changes are approved before implementation.

Incentivized

• Managing network hardware should be more native and easy
• SaltStack should buffer jobs and, when a client returns, make sure it is executed proberly
• SaltStack should provide basic pillar and states structures to help get newbies started

Incentivized

• It a little cumbersome to get all features up and running.
• Takes a bit of knowledge to get to all configured and thievery setup.
• It would be great if it had a monitoring tool internally, a tool like Nagios for example.

Incentivized

We haven't had to spend a lot of time talking to support, and we've only had one issue, which, when dealing with other vendors is actually not that bad of an experience.

We moved to SaltStack from Puppet about 3 years ago. Puppet just has too much of a learning curve and we inherited it from an old IT regime. We wanted something we could start fresh with. Our team has never looked back. SaltStack is so much easier for us to use and maintain.

Incentivized

• BMC TrueSight Server Automation
• VMware vCenter Configuration Manager has good reporting feature.
• The interface is very user-friendly and is simple to use.
• Multiple Platform support i.e Windows, Linux, UNIX
• Patch management and templates are easy to configure and use.

Incentivized

• We manage two complex highly available self-healing (all infrastructure and systems) environments using SaltStack. Only one person is needed to run SaltStack. That is a HUGE return on investment.
• Building tooling on top of SaltStack has allowed us to share administrative abilities by role - e.g. employee X can deploy software Y. No need to call a sysadmin and etc.
• Recovery from problems, or time to stand-up new systems is now counted in minutes (usually under eight) rather than hours. This is a strategic advantage for rolling out new services.

Incentivized

• Really good ROI!!! Every penny paid with a smile on my face!!!
• Ease of use, simplified GUI, evenhanded features, strong support behind it, compatibility with other products.
• Cuts time for configuration drastically.

Incentivized