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VMware powering OT
May 19, 2021

VMware powering OT

Adam Radics | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with VMware vCenter Server

I work with vCenter Server as part of the operational technology team, our critical operational systems are hosted on a dedicated operational VMware cluster separate from the IT infrastructure. vCenter server manages our cluster, resources, and VSAN storage, it also manages the redundancy, providing vmotion and failover allowing us to relocate both virtual machine compute and storage resources within the cluster.
  • VSAN storage management and redundancy - high performance IO with built in fault tolerance across the cluster, not reliant on a single hardware item
  • VM fault tolerance. The ability to relocate a running VM and restart VMs from failed or isolated nodes
  • Resource management and alerting. Tracking load across physical systems and allowing us to rebalance for better utilisation
  • The location and layout of some configuration options are difficult to find/change. It does make tuning the system and resolving small issues hard sometimes, especially for less common options.
  • Alerting and thresholds, some built in alerts are not as configurable as other systems, and alerts can be hard to manage. It is probably a good idea to disable some alerts and rely on a third party management system.
  • The virtual switch is quite powerful, however inter-host switch comms are still via trunk links out to switchgear, it would be great if VMware could trunk the traffic between hosts a little more seamlessly
  • Fault Tolerance
  • Storage Redundancy
  • Hardware Utilisation
  • Significantly reduced the number of standalone control system servers on site
  • Allowed scaling up of existing systems and migrating other systems onto new infrastructure without additional hardware outlay
  • The initial licensing and hardware purchase cost was high, however will pay off by the reduction in hardware costs required for planned systems
There was not much competition, VMware has been in the market the longest and other systems are still catching up. VMware is proven, trusted, and has a good support base, the other main differentiator is VSAN for storage, reducing the need for physical SAN(s) which can become a single point of failure.

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

Yes

Are you happy with VMware vCenter's feature set?

Yes

Did VMware vCenter live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of VMware vCenter go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy VMware vCenter again?

Yes

We are using VMware in a non-conventional manner, where the hosts are in different buildings on the same site, linked by a redundant network ring. It is performing very well in that scenario, so can only imagine it is just as good in a more conventional deployment. Our system is also in the OT space, not the IT space, and we are relying on it for critical systems, I don't see anywhere it would not be applicable.