SolarWinds Virtualization Manager helps buisness go forward
Updated September 02, 2020
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager helps buisness go forward
Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN)
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager is used by the enterprise IT [department] to manage the VMWare environment daily. It gives deep insight beyond what vSphere can and also ties back to storage and hardware giving me a single pane of glass view.
- Recommendations. Those are wonderful. You build out your environment based on a set of criteria from a vendor or others, only to find your resources are poorly used. The VMAN product allows you to make adjustments based on its recommendations and it automates the process for you.
- Pinpoints guests with problems. It provides a graphical and then drills down details to the virtual guests with issues you need to address immediately.
- Capacity planning and sprawl. VMAN gives you all the tools you need to prvent sprawl and plan for the future.
- Licensing. One of the most glaring elements to SolarWinds is the way they license. I feel they could improve this a bit. It a easy process just costly.
- They tell you about orphaned VMDK but don't tell you where it might be used. It says it might be, I feel it should check.
- This product will pay for itself. It's expensive to license but then pays for it self when you see it work every day.
VMAN saves time and man power. I can do the work of two or three with the product at my disposal. I fin it to be very helpful and an asset to the organization. VMAN has given insight, save time and money, as well as become a standard for skills required to have now going forward.
This is a very important tool as its helps in areas where expensive SAN storage is capitalized for the virtual environment. Its saves processor and ram over utilization and has helped us expand the life of the hardware between refresh. We will continue to leverage it as we plan our virtual roll-outs in the future.
this is something that really lets you dive in to the environment and look at how you are performing, where trouble exists, how you should plan for the future, and what is the real cause of issues. We were so excited to see this feature as it performs well and is a key part in our success.
This is very important. We have to be agile enough to adapt the changes quickly. Hybrid work environments are very common today and require technology to ensure they are working properly. VMAN does this. Its a great tool to and part of a single pane approach to monitoring which you need in the environments today.
We use a plethora of SolarWinds and other tools. Netwrix comes to mind, Splunk, etc. We do however use NTA, NPM, SAM, SEM, NCM, and others. SolarWinds is as close to a one stop shop as you can get. I am very impressed with the depth of the monitoring we are able to acheive with the SolarWinds environment.
SolarWinds is far superior to the base tools. Every manufacture has a management tool that often has really good benefits to using it, however with VMAN you get a single pane of glass for so much more than just Virtual Machines and or storage. You gain total control of your virtual environment and are able to be the virtual manager you need to be.
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) Premier Support
I have not had any experiences to speak of.
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) Smart Start
Step by step guide from installation through Setup - I have not yet used this service as it was never needed.
Please describe what additional benefits you have realized by using Smart Start Onboarding program? e.g. we were able to uncover new features/product functionalities, get to value faster than doing it ourselves, drive specific operational or financial business outcomes etc. N/A - I have not used the service.
Please quantify how much time Smart Start Onboarding saved you from deployment to production? - Again, I have not used the service.
SolarWinds Smart Start provides an Assisted Upgrade program to guide organizations through the process of moving to the latest version of the software. If you made use of this program, what was your overall upgrade experience compared to the last one? Upgrades are so simple with SolarWinds, you will not need much help.
ROI
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) collects data on resource utilization. Describe whether this capability has helped you with capacity planning in your organization, and give an example. - Yes being able to see the information assist me in planning for the future and budgeting for life cycle. I pull data each year from this to begin the budget process.
4-6 - I know there are several. There are still a few things SolarWinds can not do which would be nice, however for the most part its one the right track.
- Product Features
- Prior Experience with the Product
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
Integration with Orion. We are heavy Orion uses and we wanted something that was going to be fully integrated with it. VMAN was it, it handled everything we need it to do and many things we did not know we needed or wanted. Its been a great addition to the tool sets.
Has SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) identified wasted or under-utilized resources that resulted in a deferment of procuring additional resources or cost savings by eliminating unused resources? I can not say. We have a VM environment which hasn't changed much. We continue to utilize the resources we have.
Has SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) reduced your mean time to resolution? - Yes, with simple, intuitive views, and widgets, you are quickly able to identify issues and resolve them often before they become large issues.
Have you been able to reclaim CPU, Memory, and Storage resources by reducing your VM Sprawl? - Yes we use the tools in VMAN to auto tune our environment.
Have you been able to decrease the time you've spent planning future capacity needs through VMAN reports? - No, it still takes time, although the reports are helpful.
Using SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN)
2 - IT and systems administrators, they help manage admin and production sides of the enterprise.
1 - Experience with Virtual software, experience with Orion.
- Overview of Virtual Infrastructure
- Recommendations for changes to environment
- Planning and forecasting
- Sprawl, keeping it controlled
- Capacity planning for future proofing the network
- Budgeting for future years
- Hardware justification
- automation of recommendation processes
Evaluating SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) and Competitors
I don't know that o would change anything. I would still have chosen it since it is the best thing on the market.
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal
- Understanding how to configure the product
- becoming familiar with the interface
- ensuring all the items were configured to perform properly.
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) Training
- no training
I do not believe you will need any training.
Configuring SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN)
You should always keep it as simple as possible. Keep all the built in dashboards as they are and create your own if you want to make changes.
Some - we have done small customizations to the interface - We have built our own dashboards to custom views. We try not to change the default SolarWinds screens.
Some - we have added small pieces of custom code - We have very little. Mostly for display options.
No, we kept the system very vanilla.
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
No - I pay for maintenance and I get upgrades and support. I have never needed to pay more for support. They do a good job covering the required issues, and i have friends aka community that helps along the way. THWACK.com is an amazing resource for all things SolarWinds. I think they do their best.
Case in point, I could not see the recommendations and they were able to resolve it. The process took several days but they technicians never stopped working on it. Each day we would work together to resolve the issue. this sometimes meant that we found other things needing fixed too and they were.
Using SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN)
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Recommendations
- Sprawl
- Capacity Planning
- Reporting
- Storage
Relationship with SolarWinds
We have Net 45 and had a wonderful package which was valued over 14K for just over 7 in actual.
Buy later in the year. Co-Term everything.