Item: VMware vSphere
Rating: 7
Author: Virender Kundu

Overall Satisfaction with VMware vSphere

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using VMware vSphere for virtualization purposes as we are having limited hardware servers as putting more servers requires extra space and extra power requirements which are very difficult to get in modern era and every organization is looking to save in these two parameters so to solve these issues we opted for VMware vSphere licenses along with vcenter for management of deployed virtual machines in these VMware vSphere.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Virtualization
Operating system compatibility
Backup options
VM security

Cons

Auto provisioning features
Alerts for space or memory usage
Extra price of any add on features
Updates are time consuming
Gen AI features need to added

Return on Investment

Saved lot of energy bills
Saved lot of space requirements
Less staff is required for monitoring and management of VMs
VM migration is very easy so time savings

Usability

Very useful for environments where space and energy consumption are issues and management is not very keen on upfront spending on hardware every time whenever requirement comes from any dept for provisioning a machine for their occasional use, easily can be done in case of VMware vSphere in few clicks. Backup, security, monitoring and management everything is covered but at additional cost.

Alternatives Considered

Nutanix AHV

VMware vSphere is leader in virtualization segment and ease of use and manageability is very easy and integrated with more vendors in ecosystem like Redhat openshift, VMware vSphere is directly integrated whereas for Nutanix you require third party tools. VMware vSphere is more tested virtulization platform but cost is higher as compared to Nutanix implementations.

Key Insights

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

Yes

Are you happy with VMware vSphere's feature set?

Yes

Did VMware vSphere live up to sales and marketing promises?

Did implementation of VMware vSphere go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy VMware vSphere again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows, IFS Applications, HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Likelihood to Recommend

VMware vSphere is best suited for environments that run a huge number of virtual machines that need to monitored centrally which is possible with the help of Vcenter. It is best suited for VDI, Server virtualization and workstation virtualization would be less suitable for environments with a small number of virtual machines those can be monitored manually.

VMware vSphere Feature Ratings

Using VMware vSphere

Users and Roles

40 - Marketing and material management and finance people apart from IT team

Support Headcount Required

5 - VMware vSphere knowledge (ESXI knowledge)
V center knowledge for monitoring
Basic hardware and networking knowledge

Business Processes Supported

Virtualization
vlan segregation
Provisioning of VM for occasional requirements

Innovative Uses

For Backup of physical machines
Hot standby for servers
For storage

Future Planned Uses

For graphics vitalization
Machine learning purpose
AI use cases

Likelihood to Renew

It depends on the overall cost of ownership as we have to compare cost to competitors' prices with respect to features set offered

Evaluating VMware vSphere and Competitors

Products Replaced

Key Differentiators

Scalability
Ease of Use

Ease of use is the most important factor to select any virtualization platform as to get rid from managing multiple servers we are considering a virtualization software and it should be able to scale whenever required as we need to create new VMs based on requirements of different departments so these factors are primary for us.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

We will look for Gen AI features like automation of repetitive tasks and chatbots and knowledge base for resolution of user problems and costing we will consider for every components so that for additional features it should not be a surprise along with support for hardware for longer duration and regular updates.

VMware vSphere Support

Support Rating

Good support as their partner ecosystem is knowledgeable and certified on their ecosystem and in case of issues nor getting resolved VMware team comes on board for the resolution of issues faced by users so it was good experience for support from VMware.

VMware vSphere Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Premium Support

No we have not purchased premium support from VMware as our environment does not require 24 by 7 support, we require support during our working time which was covered in normal support and budget was also a constraint for purchasing premium support and we have not felt the need for premium support as integrator was responsible for providing support during our working hours.

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of VMware vSphere Support

Once we faced some license issues, because of which our system stopped working, the VMware team supported their channel partner, and the issues were resolved on priority.

Using VMware vSphere

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Well integrated Consistent Convenient Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

VM migration
VM backup
Snapshot
Provisioning
Startup and shutdown of VM