Item: VMware vSphere
Rating: 7
Author: Hans Huang

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

vSphere (6.0) is used by our entire org. The VMs that run on it cover not only production, but also test/dev op environments. vSphere helped us lower our total physical server count as well as allowing us the ability to run more server instances in our environment that we could not have achieved with physical servers filling up all of our rack space.

Pros and Cons

Well supported with at least one new update each year.
Features are robust compared with competitors.
Easy to setup and migrate virtual environments.
Good overview of server work loads and resources.
High redundancy of compute and storage for high availability.

Cost can be very high compared with competition.
Random bugs that do crop up on occasion (but no show-stoppers).

Return on Investment

Lowering costs on purchasing physical servers (Positive).
Increased licensing costs along with M&S (negative).
Much quicker spin ups of servers virtually (positive).

Alternatives Considered

Hyper-V

vSphere has a lot more feature sets than Hyper-V but at a much higher cost of entry versus MS Hyper-V. I have not been able to play with Hyper-V as much as I would have liked, but the setup and ongoing maintenance seems to be easier in vSphere than with Hyper-V

Other Software Used

Mimecast Secure Email Gateway, Unitrends Recovery Series Backup Appliance, Citrix NetScaler Access Gateway

Likelihood to Recommend

Good for an on-premise environment where you need control over your hardware and workloads. vSphere is suited for businesses of all sizes that require high-density workloads and want to minimize physical footprint if they can afford the cost of entry (licenses needed). Beware not to over-buy licensing needs for what is needed but when purchasing licensing, also be aware of what will be needed in 18-24 months in the future to size correctly.

vSphere offers a lot of features at a high cost of entry

Overall Satisfaction with vSphere