Item: VMware ESXi
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use VMware ESXi in our local data center to run all the on-premise virtual machines with ease. We can deploy or clone machines in a second, manage them perfectly as well as maintain backups and all our hyper-converged infrastructure through the VMware plugin, hence it has become the heart of our data center.

Pros and Cons

Best on-premise data center hypervisor.
Stability of the platform.
Security in all the needed aspects.

Web interface is sometimes laggy.
Licenses are not very cheap.
Automation can be improved.

Return on Investment

It has decreased the manual job done by admins significantly.
It has fully met our targets on stability, security and many other areas.
Even though licenses are not cheap, the ROI is great for this product.

Alternatives Considered

Hyper-V

The only alternative I see is the Microsoft Hyper-V, however in our case we have used VMware products for years and have not thought of migration mainly because of the great stability level and ease of management they provide to us. Also it fully integrates with our hyper-converged infrastructure as no other products can do.

Support Rating

We have had not many cases with support but usually they get solved very quickly. Also the user community is very helpful in this case. The only problem we had was when 2 vendors had to be involved and it was pretty hard to figure out which side the problem was on.

Key Insights

Do you think VMware ESXi delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with VMware ESXi's feature set?

Yes

Did VMware ESXi live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of VMware ESXi go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy VMware ESXi again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Fortinet Wireless LAN, Symantec Email Security.cloud, QlikView

Likelihood to Recommend

Great for "old fashioned" companies like us that mostly still use on-premise infrastructure. But on the good side once we decide to move to the cloud, it will also be great to manage cloud infra as well with the hybrid cloud and multi cloud focus nowadays. Really cannot think of data center scenario where VMware would not fit in.

The only server virtualization platform that you need

Overall Satisfaction with VMware ESXi