Item: VMware Workstation Pro
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

VMware Workstation is being used by a few departments to do a variety of things. It is being used by some to access VMs on our host clusters, it is being used by others to create and run local sandbox VMs, and we have used it to copy deprecated VMs to an end-users desktop giving them the opportunity to start that VM and do data recovery on into the future. Workstation provides a good alternative to a remote desktop for managing your servers if they are all virtual. It also provides a great way to do testing and one-off application usage on your desktop in a sandbox.

Pros and Cons

It provides a great remote access tool for accessing and managing servers in virtual environment. With the security risks surround remote desktop this provides a good alternative to do the same functions.
The app itself is very lightweight and easy to install/maintain.
Sandbox testing can be a time consuming thing to setup and do. Workstation makes this easy to create, use, and put away. This make you more willing to put new things in the sandbox and test them before production usage.
The cost of workstation is very affordable for the functionality that you get and you can try it for free before you buy it.
We use it to run apps that can be difficult to setup or conflict with other apps. We just spin this app VM up run it, and then shut it back down. The startup and shutdown is very quick.

It's not free? With all the money spent on a VMware environment, they could easily give this product away as a tool to use with the overarching products.
Initial licensing can be a bit of a challenge as with any VMware product.
We have never needed support as the product is very easy to use, but VMware as a company doesn't provide the greatest support.
As you read the three things above, you will notice that we really don't have any ideas on how to improve the product as it works very well over all.

Return on Investment

The ROI on Workstation would be hard for us to compute. It makes things easier to do and to get access to, but there are other applications and methods to do much the same thing.
Where there has to be a some form of ROI is in the fact that you will actually do things that you might not otherwise do simply because Workstation makes them easier. Sandbox testing is a good example of this idea.

Alternatives Considered

We didn't compare Workstation to other alternatives and we haven't used any other products like it. I guess you could use Workstation in conjunction with ESX and without vCenter, but I'm not sure and we have always had vCenter. We chose Workstations because it was a known tool that works well in large VMware ecosystem that already had and because it was inexpensive and easy to use.

Support Rating

We have never called support for Workstation so this rating is actually based on an overall rating of VMware. The good thing about VMware products is they don't generally need much support, but like any other really large company the support they give has, in our experience, gone downhill. They take a while to get through to and then aren't generally quick to respond and resolve cases.

Key Insights

Do you think VMware Workstation Pro delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with VMware Workstation Pro's feature set?

Yes

Did VMware Workstation Pro live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of VMware Workstation Pro go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy VMware Workstation Pro again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

When you use the vSphere client to open a remote console you have what appears to be a slimmed-down version of Workstation. The full version can be used in that same role, but instead of going to vSphere first you can directly get to your VM tree through Workstation. This makes it quick to move from VM to VM. Sandboxing is where Workstation is especially well suited. You can run test apps, difficult apps, and deprecated apps/OSs in a sideways fashion that is not dangerous to your production environment. If you're not a VMware shop, this product could be used but would be less appropriate.

VMware Workstation is a great compliment to your VMware environment.

Overall Satisfaction with VMware Workstation