Item: VMware ESXi
Rating: 10
Author: Giovanni Myles

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

VMware is used by the entire organization. We have two businesses and each uses VMware for a different need. The other company uses VMware for its VDI functionality for an offshore desktop deployment. I use VMware to support our server infrastructure. Our environment is 96% virtualized across the board. We use it for ease of management, consolidation of resources and for its ease of recovery from hardware failure. It allows us to maintain optimal uptime while also allowing the flexibility of management.

Pros and Cons

The ability to set DRS rules to isolate workloads. We run a clustered SQL environment. vMotion allows VMs to migrate across the servers seamlessly to load balancing across hypervisors. The rules we are able to put in place ensures that at no point with both nodes of the cluster reside on the same host in case of hardware failure.
The ability to increase memory on the fly should a VM need it. You don't always have the luxury of taking a production system offline to increase its resources.
Product Portfolio... From ESXi to VDI to SRM, there are a number of productions that can help you achieve your technology goals with regards to virtualization.

Sometimes error messages can be vague.
I'm versed up to ESXi 5.5 so some of my gripes may be resolved with 6.0.
I really enjoyed the client and I'm not a fan of the web client. Thats more so a preference than an issue.

Return on Investment

The ability to spool up servers without the added cost of a 1-to-1 hardware purchase makes virtualization a no brainer. Saves a lot of money.
The ability to run software networks in VMware saves on the cost of network devices as well.
In the event of hardware failure at the hypervisor level, VMware will reboot and relocate a VM to a known working system. This helps minimize downtime to minutes instead of hours should you not have the hardware to support the failure. Time savings are equal to cost savings.