VMware ESXi - The Gold Standard in Hypervisors
March 24, 2022

VMware ESXi - The Gold Standard in Hypervisors

M. Randy Harris, Jr. | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with VMware ESXi

VMware ESXi was used to provide virtual machines to support work-from-home for faculty, staff, and students. Virtual machines provided remote access to internal systems which would otherwise require the user to be onsite. Virtual machines were also provided to students and instructors to provide computer configurations that would otherwise not be available.
  • An extremely reliable platform with greater than 99% of uptime.
  • Very secure platform.
  • Number of tools that enable management of the platform.
  • Very stable VMware product.
  • The upgrade/patch process is in need of a complete overhaul.
  • VMware ESXi platform was the technology that allowed our organization to pivot from onsite to work-from-home in a matter of days during the pandemic. The college was physically closed with short notice, but operations and classes continued due to the VMware ESXi infrastructure and configuration already in place.

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

VMware vCenter Server, VMware Horizon, VMware Dynamic Environment Manager (formerly User Environment Manager)
VMware ESXi is well suited for environments that need a variety of computer configurations that can be made available onsite and remotely. It is also an excellent choice where security and isolation is needed among computing devices.

VMware ESXi Feature Ratings

Virtual machine automated provisioning
10
Management console
10
Live virtual machine backup
10
Live virtual machine migration
10
Hypervisor-level security
10

Using VMware ESXi

1 - Virtualization Engineer
1 - Virtualization Engineer
  • Remote access to internal systems.
  • Ability to offer any computer configuration for any class without having to purchase new hardware.
Stability, scalability, security, and flexibility.

Evaluating VMware ESXi and Competitors

  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
The products reliability/stability was the defining factor.

VMware ESXi Support

VMware ESXi support technicians are very knowledgeable and highly skilled. They work with the end-user to resolve any issues until the user is satisfied that the issue has been resolved. They are excellent at following up until resolution.
ProsCons
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Support cares about my success
Difficult to get immediate help
No. It was not budgeted for my group.

Using VMware ESXi

The VMware ESXi platform and the entire VMware virtualization eco-system is rather complicated and requires training (self-directed can work as well as formalized).
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Convenient
Feel confident using
Difficult to use
Slow to learn
Lots to learn
  • Spinning up new VMs.
  • Backing up VMs.
  • Shutting down/Restarting VMs.
  • Moving VMs between host.
  • Upgrades/Patching