Item: IBM Turbonomic
Rating: 8
Author: Feather, Joshua

Overall Satisfaction with VMTurbo Operations Manager

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are currently utilizing VMTurbo Operations Manager primarily in balancing our mission critical VMware clusters. It is able to evenly distribute the workload among our ESX hosts better than DRS.

Pros and Cons

Pros

VMTurbo is constantly watching the clusters and their hosts, therefore it is able to balance resources allowing our administrators to perform other tasks.
VMTurbo also allows us to make predictions on how many more virtual machines we can add to certain clusters based on available resources and trends.

Cons

Some of the prediction tools are quite complicated to configure. I think the process could be simplified however I'm sure some of the complexity is due to the thoroughness.

Return on Investment

Its our eyes on the important resources when we are busy working other projects. It has helped keep performance, especially our VDI environment, running well without much administrative intervention.

Likelihood to Recommend

Its best suited if you find yourself in a predicament where the environment resource requirements change quickly and DRS has difficulty keeping things in check.

Using VMTurbo Operations Manager

Users and Roles

System engineers that regulate and configure our Virtual environment

Support Headcount Required

2 - Experienced System Engineers with several years experience across the entire IT spectrum

Business Processes Supported

Balancing ESX Host resources
Projections based off of trends of how many more virtual machines can be added
When is it time to add a host or storage to your environment

Future Planned Uses

Allowing our customers to view their environment's resources

Likelihood to Renew

It is doing what we need at the current and with more experience, we will be able to leverage its full capacity.

Evaluating VMTurbo Operations Manager and Competitors

Key Differentiators

Product Features
Product Usability
Product Reputation

We tested the product in our environment and watched it boost performance and balance our environment very well.

I'm not sure I would change it. I know how much hum intervention we had prior to testing VMTurbo and this has reduced tremendously where it allows our administrators to do what they are suited for instead of balancing clusters.

VMTurbo Operations Manager Implementation

Implementation Rating

Unfortunately I do not.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Vendor implemented

Implementation Phases

VMTurbo Operations Manager Training

Training Types Used

In-person training

In-Person Training

The trainer was very experienced with the product and was able to articulate the sections easily.

VMTurbo Operations Manager Support

Support Rating

They have answered any questions we had or problems with the product very quickly.

IBM Turbonomic Customer Support Pros and Cons

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

Bug Resolution

Using VMTurbo Operations Manager

Usability

It is easy to initially configure and get it integrated. To fully utilize the tool, you need a better understanding of the system and how to configure.