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VMware vCenter

VMware vCenter

Overview

What is VMware vCenter?

VMware vCenter is an advanced server management software that provides a centralized platform for controlling vSphere environments for visibility across hybrid clouds. VMware vCenter is no longer sold as a standalone product and is now available as a part of…

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Intuitive User Interface: Reviewers have consistently praised the intuitive and easy-to-navigate user interface of vCenter, with many …
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TrustRadius Insights
TrustRadius Insights

Improved VM Management

8 out of 10
November 15, 2021
Incentivized
It was used by a few departments across the organization for management, organization, and load balancing of VMs in our data center. Apart …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

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Pricing

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Basic

6,044

On Premise
per year

Production

6,244

On Premise
per year

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

VMWare vCenter Server 6.0 Installation & Configuration Step by Step

YouTube
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Product Details

What is VMware vCenter?

VMware vCenter is an advanced server management software that provides a centralized platform for controlling vSphere environments for visibility across hybrid clouds. It offers centralized visibility and simplified management at scale, and extensibility across the hybrid cloud, from a single console. VMware vCenter is advanced server management software that provides a centralized platform for controlling VMware vSphere environments, allowing users to automate and deliver a virtual infrastructure across the hybrid cloud with confidence.

VMware vCenter is no longer sold as a standalone product and is now available as a part of VMware Cloud Foundation.

VMware vCenter Integrations

VMware vCenter Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

VMware vCenter is an advanced server management software that provides a centralized platform for controlling vSphere environments for visibility across hybrid clouds. VMware vCenter is no longer sold as a standalone product and is now available as a part of VMware Cloud Foundation.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of VMware vCenter are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(337)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Intuitive User Interface: Reviewers have consistently praised the intuitive and easy-to-navigate user interface of vCenter, with many users stating that it made tasks easy and allowed for efficient management of complex infrastructure components. Centralized Management Capabilities: Numerous reviewers appreciated the centralized management capabilities of vCenter, which provided a single portal to handle hundreds of virtual machines efficiently. This feature allowed users to easily manage, allocate resources, and migrate VMs or workloads. Fast Server Provisioning and Cloning: Several users highlighted vCenter's ability to spin up, delete, and clone servers within minutes as a defining feature in modern data centers. This functionality was particularly helpful for provisioning and automation tasks.

High Price: Some organizations have found it difficult to justify the expense of VMware vCenter due to its high price. This sentiment is shared by several users who feel that the cost of vCenter is quite expensive.

Troubleshooting Challenges: Gaining insight into problems without a third-party application or VMware add-on can be challenging, making troubleshooting difficult for some users. This has been a common concern raised by reviewers who mention the need for additional tools to effectively troubleshoot issues in vCenter.

HTML5 Client Preference: Some users do not prefer the push towards using only the HTML5 vSphere client and express their desire for a cleaner and simpler integration with PowerCLI. The preference for the previous client version over HTML5 has been mentioned by multiple users as well.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 50)
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May 05, 2022

vCenter Makes It Easy to Manage vSphere.

Manfred B. Zysk | TrustRadius Reviewer
Manfred B. Zysk
Network and Systems Administrator
NRS - Northwest River Supplies, Inc. (Wholesale, 51-200 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
The VMware vCenter server is very useful in maintaining the CPU/RAM/datastore resources are balanced when there are multiple ESX/ESXi host servers. It is clear what resources are being used, and it is easy to migrate VMs to different ESX/ESXi hosts. Being able to remotely connect to the VM servers in vCenter when you cannot have other remote connections helps in maintenance and troubleshooting.
November 15, 2021

Improved VM Management

Verified User
Manager in Information Technology
Defense & Space Company, 201-500 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
If you use more than one vSphere deployment, vCenter is awesome for having everything in one console and not having to hop between web servers to manage different VMs that may be on different bare metal. If you work in a data center environment that runs VMWare, you very likely run this software.
June 18, 2021

VMware vCenter Server makes management a breeze

Verified User
Employee in Information Technology
Hospital & Health Care Company, 5001-10,000 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Anyone running esxi with multiple hosts and vm's needs to consider VMware vCenter Server. It makes management much easier, and delegation simpler as well. If you only have one or two hosts with a handful of vm's, it might not be worth the investment, although it would definitely be easier to manage.
June 10, 2021

vCenter will save your day... Every Day!

Verified User
Employee in Information Technology
E-Learning Company, 51-200 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Any Enterprise customer with a large amount of VMs (Servers) should utilize [VMware vCenter Server] for simplicity and true convenience.
Smaller deployments or Small Business clients with a few VMs (Single Host Scenario) might not benefit from this application.
May 25, 2021

VMware vCenter Server makes VM management easy

Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Consumer Goods Company, 51-200 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
VMware vCenter Server is suited for pretty much any environment using virtual servers. It allows a centralized management view of the virtual servers and the physical servers that the virtual servers run on. There are so many things that VMware vCenter Server can do, including large Enterprise options that are cost-prohibitive for most organizations.
May 19, 2021

vCenter is a one stop shop for all your virtual needs

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Banking Company, 201-500 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
If you have a virtual infrastructure with more than 2 or 3 virtual hosts, [VMware vCenter Server] is almost a necessity. Without [VMware vCenter Server] you will lose the [ability] to move virtual machines seamlessly to other hosts. vCenter will also cut down on the time needed to manage hosts and the infrastructure as a whole.
May 19, 2021

VMware powering OT

AR
Adam Radics
Production Data Systems Superintendent
Talison Lithium (Mining & Metals, 201-500 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
We are using VMware in a non-conventional manner, where the hosts are in different buildings on the same site, linked by a redundant network ring. It is performing very well in that scenario, so can only imagine it is just as good in a more conventional deployment. Our system is also in the OT space, not the IT space, and we are relying on it for critical systems, I don't see anywhere it would not be applicable.
May 13, 2021

VMware vCenter reviewed 4 U

Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Packaging and Containers Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
If you already have a VMware environment, then you must have a vCenter. I can only speak on behalf of smaller business environments; each facility has 2 hosts with 1 vCenter. A facility doesn't have more than 16 virtual servers running. You can certainly run more hosts with more servers. I can't say for sure how large a vCenter can handle how many hosts / VMs. I suppose it's up to how much you can afford with hardware.
I believe VMware has a bigger market share than Microsoft. Again, I can only speak on using VMware, I have no experience with Microsoft virtual environments.
May 13, 2021

Virtual Environment Management At A Glance

Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology
Entertainment Company, 201-500 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
vCenter Server is only needed if you need certain features like live migration or if you have a certain amount of VM's, appliances, etc. You can easily handle a lot of numbers of storage with it. For smaller companies, I assume it is too expensive. But with different level[s] of licenses you can gain a different set of features. But it is clearly more enterprise grad[e] than SMB.
May 12, 2021

Worth the extra cost

RM
Raj Mehta
President
DSS Toronto (Information Technology & Services, 51-200 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Any mid size deployment and larger of VMware can benefit from vCenter. If you have multiple hosts, multiple sites then you want vCenter. Single point of operation for all hosts and clusters across your data Center or remote sites. If you only have 1-2 hosts and don’t require VMotion, or some of the more enterprise features you can probably skip.
April 24, 2020

A Flexible Virtualization Platform That Fits the Needs of Small to Enterprise Businesses

Adam Friedli | TrustRadius Reviewer
Adam Friedli
Support Analyst Level 2
Springthrough Consulting (Information Technology & Services, 11-50 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I feel that vCenter Server is a great option no matter the size of the company. They have a wide range of license levels, and the ones with less features can work well for a smaller company. Not everyone needs all of the dynamic load balancing options, for example. But, it can't be overstated how useful it is to have multiple physical servers in a virtual environment instead. If someone only has one or two server, maybe virtualization in general is not a good fit. But if the savings on power and maintaining physical machines makes sense, going virtual should definitely be looked into. VMware has been a leader in the field for years, and the quality of their product shows why this is.
March 20, 2020

vCenter Server makes managing enterprise vSphere environments easy!

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Higher Education Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
vCenter is well suited to managing large enterprise deployments of ESX/vSphere. For smaller, less automated installations, it's probably overkill, but I can't imagine trying to manage an enterprise deployment of vSphere without it. More specifically - if you have large, integrated vSphere environments (multiple clusters or data centers, SAN storage, many hosts, etc.) it's a great tool. If you don't have those things, you can probably get along without it.
January 31, 2020

VMware vCenter Server - A must for any VMware shop

IS
Ivan Sytchev
Supervisor, Information Technology
Real Estate Council of Ontario (Non-Profit Organization Management, 51-200 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
VMware vCenter Server is a fantastic management tool for ESXi servers. If you have more than one server and need to manage them together, a VMware vCenter Server is virtually a must. Anyone with an Enterprise license should automatically get WMware vCenter Server to utilize all features of the license fully. WMware vCenter Server is required for these licenses, so it should be automatically included in the cost instead of being a separate license.
January 09, 2020

VMware vCenter is an infrastructure administrator's dream come true!

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Computer Networking Company, 10,001+ employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Powerful feature set with a simple deployment model. Administrators will be in heaven with the number of available monitoring and alerting points. Programmable API allows unlocks unlimited automation potential.
November 12, 2019

VMware vCenter Server Review

Verified User
Team Lead in Information Technology
Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
In my opinion, vCenter Server is well suited for mid-to-large sized environments where more than a just a few VMs are necessary. Any time that compute resources can utilize a base cluster of 2-3 physical hosts, vCenter Server can offer a great management platform to keep everything in order and enable a highly available infrastructure.

It is not necessary for a remote office, or very small environments where a single host, or where there is a lack of need for a shared storage platform. In these instances, either a single ESXi host is sufficient, or even cloud bases services and SaaS offerings where possible, will be all that is needed.
July 24, 2019

Virtualization Management at it's best

Rick Lupton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Rick Lupton
Systems Programmer Analyst
East Carolina University (Higher Education, 5001-10,000 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
vCenter is well suited to any enterprise environment needing to run enough VM guest servers to need more than one host or when needing fail over and disaster recovery capabilities. vCenter might be overkill in testing or education environments where the advanced features are not needed. Since vCenter requires either per host CPU licensing or VM subscription model pricing, this has to be a consideration as well. There are other free tools for managing VMware; however, they are no match for the great functionality of vCenter.
July 10, 2019

vCenter makes my life much easier.

Verified User
Team Lead in Information Technology
Oil & Energy Company, 201-500 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
If you are going to manage more than one vSphere host, I believe it to be a necessity. Yes, there is an associated cost. I believe it is about $500 for the basic license (or used to be about that much). vCenter Server enables you to get the most from your server investment. Depending upon your license, you gain features such as automated or manual distributed resources, moving VMs from one server to another to allow for maintenance, automated failover if a host goes down, distributed switching and storage vMotion.
March 22, 2019

Virtual World Indeed

Jewemars Christian Riano | TrustRadius Reviewer
Jewemars Christian Riano
System Administrator
UnionBank of the Philippines (Banking, 1001-5000 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I would recommend it to my colleagues if they are in need of a virtual infrastructure. It is very powerful product that can cater to business needs in terms of infrastructure needs and data center space. It is also great for harnessing full capabilities of server provisioning by it's technology inside which means no need to purchase other products for improvements.
January 14, 2019

VMware vCenter Server – The Best in Server Virtualization

Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Government Administration Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Larger environments/sites benefit greatly using VMware vCenter Server. You can consolidate many physical servers into the ESXi host environment and reduce your ongoing maintenance cost by reducing power consumption and cooling needs. If there are limited IT staff, VMware vCenter Server allows for easier management and monitoring of your servers. It speeds up the process of adding servers or resources to existing servers. Allows the best utilization of all the CPU, memory and storage resources. It is less appropriate to use in smaller environments, as cost usually exceeds the benefit.
November 13, 2018

VMware vCenter is the only Virtual Infrastructure You Need!

Verified User
Team Lead in Information Technology
Higher Education Company, 10,001+ employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
vCenter is a critical component when managing multiple hosts to initiate DRS and HA. In addition vCenter is the command center to also implement other helpful products for disaster recovery like SRM and vSphere Replication.
August 28, 2018

VMware vCenter Server, The Virtual Machine Epicenter

Joe Spradlin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Joe Spradlin
IT Manager
Fort Walton Machining, Inc (Aviation & Aerospace, 51-200 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I believe that for many companies that need to virtualize their server environment, VMware vCenter Server would be very well suited. There are still some instances where virtualization is not an option, however those are few and far between. In our case, we have 995 of all our servers virtualized, however one of our servers (physical) is a license server for a particular product, and the licensing does not allow for virtualization at this time. Not having to manage so many physical servers plus the associated hardware makes the ROI easy to re-coup.
August 07, 2018

The best way to manage your VMware vSphere Hosts/Environment

Ben Liebowitz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Ben Liebowitz
Server and Storage Engineer
Debevoise & Plimpton (Law Practice, 501-1000 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
As someone that's been using vCenter for about 10 years now, I find it very easy to use to manage my virtualization environment(s). I'm able to see everything from one interface as well as manage my virtual servers.
May 11, 2018

VMware vCenter Server- Great Virtual Server Solution!

Victor Arana | TrustRadius Reviewer
Victor Arana
IT Manager
Stoneleaf Construction LLC (Construction, 51-200 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
VMware VCenter Server is great for companies that will invest in a decent server to run as many services as they're willing to manage and do an a decent kick start deployment of Domain Services, File Server and also is great for virtual Data Base instances. I would strongly recommend this for Linux Server Base solutions it will give you 1000% and more from the very beginning for Windows Server solutions particularly I'll choose MS Hyper V vCenter but this is only my humble opinion.
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