Formerly from 1E, acquired by TeamViewer, The TeamViewer Digital Employee Experience (DEX) platform finds and resolves IT issues before they affect users. This eliminates digital friction, avoids costly downtime and helps keep IT operations running smoothly.
N/A
vRealize Configuration Manager (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
VMware's vRealize Configuration Manager (formerly vCenter Configuration Manager) was a change and configuration management software solution. VMware announced the end of the product's availability in January, 2020.
When we are needing to patch workstations for zero-day vulnerabilities or security risks, Explorer is our go-to tool to push out those settings quickly. We have a TeamViewer DEX server stood up in our DMZ to communicate with the workstations outside of our VPN, so we can push those settings or patches to devices without needing them to attach to our network. It's really nice to be able to communicate with the computers that rarely connect to our corporate network and ensure that they are still protected. We do have the TeamViewer Client installed on all of our internal servers in order to get inventory and licensing information, but we don't typically utilize the TeamViewer software on the servers for much else. A different team handles those computers and often requires change management, so expedited changes don't happen often there. Standard deployment and patching tools do the job.
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.
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.
They currently don't have all of their products incorporated into the web interface, meaning that we need a separate administration console for using their Shopping product.
The TeamViewer DEX Exchange is an online repository for common or useful instructions, but it is still a bit lacking. New instructions aren't published very often.
Writing your own custom instructions for Explorer has a bit of a learning curve if you aren't already familiar with SQL queries or their SCALE language. There is published documentation for SCALE, but I'd like to see them add a basic functionality course to their online training portal.
TeamViewer DEX has plenty of features and functionality right out of the box. They offer an Exchange web portal where you can go to download new product packs as they become available through consulting engagements and customer requests. Sometimes you might need to do something more specific or customized than what is available to everyone, and that's when your own knowledge is put to the test. Being able to write your own SCALE code would be invaluable, but takes a while to learn if you aren't already familiar with SQL, PowerShell, or a few other popular languages. Making it your own can definitely take some work, but it's worth it in the end.
Microsoft has good intentions, but they are often late to the table. On more than one occasion, we have seen Microsoft incorporate a new feature into their own products, but it's something that TeamViewer had already been offering for a year or more. By the time Microsoft adds a new feature, it has already been in our toolbox and even then doesn't seem to have all of the additional functionality that we get from the TeamViewer software. Currently, we're starting to see Microsoft's push for endpoint performance analytics, which TeamViewer DEX has already done impressively for some time now.
Being able to deploy configuration changes while devices are off-network was a real-life-saver for us during the sudden work-from-home scenarios we faced during the pandemic.
Reclaiming unused software licenses has provided some additional budget to use towards other products, and helps us to justify the cost of what we already have.
Using Experience to proactively troubleshoot performance issues not only reduces the number of help desk tickets but also provides a better work environment for our employees.
