Item: VMware vSOM (discontinued)
Rating: 8
Author: Kurt Pritchett

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our department used Vsphere Operations Management as a solution for disaster recovery in our environment. It was only used by a few people here on our staff. This did solve our plans for server recovery in a way that is automated. It basically scripts the powering on of replicated virtual machines into a different network.

Pros and Cons

The best thing about VSOM is that it's built into VCenter so you only have one point of administration
VSOM does a great job of making applications intuitive
Re-IPing virtual machines are a must and VSOM does a great job of making this a simple process

The installation of VSOM is very tedious
It uses an MS SQL database
It should be able to adjust for hardware modifications in VCenter

Return on Investment

In the case of a disaster, the ROI would be substantial.
The license for VSOM is pretty expensive initially.
Support for VSOM is terrific.

Alternatives Considered

Veeam Backup & Replication and Cohesity

vSphere with Operations Management has a much better way of automating the re-IPing of servers so you can stand them up in a different environment or location. You do, however, need another way of replicating your servers to your DR site, VSOM will not do that. We used EMC Recover Point for replication.

Other Software Used

Cohesity, Reduxio, Cisco MDS 9100

Likelihood to Recommend

Vsphere Operation Management is suitable for automating the process of bringing up an alternate data center in case of a disaster. It also is a great way for testing your readiness of disaster. You have the ability to bring up a server in a "bubble" for testing. This way you can show your admins how the failover process will work.

VSOM is a great product for virtual machine migration to a disaster recovery site.

Overall Satisfaction with vSphere with Operations Management (VSOM)