Any IT folks on here?

[btkrausen]

I know there are some IT folks here, and was wondering if anybody has much experience with VMware. I've been working with it for 4-5 years now, but wanted some opinions on some VMware or third party management suites.

Thanks in advance.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Well I don't want to brag but......no. :D

 

[Cyber-Burn]

We use VMWare at work extensively, but we don't have a large enough environment that we have moved to anything other than vCenter for alerts and our normal NMS. I'll tag along, just because I'm interested :nerd:

How big is the environment?

 

[strange33w]

I have still learning VMware but you could use VMware vCenter. It would probably be pretty easu to use if you have a good understanding of VMware software already.

 

[btkrausen]

Thanks guys. I've been using vCenter for years now, but looking for more advanced management features that vCenter Operations can handle.

Environment isn't huge, but we have 7 different datacenters with ESXi servers, two of which have around 300 VMs each. I know another team just moved to vCenter Operations but I haven't heard much from them about it, so I'm looking for opinions on what people are using.

For what its worth, I'm VCP 3 & 4, and have to take the What's New class to take my VCP 5 test :)

 

[denrobare]

We use vCenter also. Not to sure of anything larger or more "enterprise" than that. Sure somethings out there, but we dont use it.

 

[cdness]

I have experience with VMWare but not at the level you are looking for... Tagging along though to see what good info is posted.

 

[btkrausen]

This is what I'm gearing for: VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite: Virtualization Management

 

[Cyber-Burn]

I was looking at Operations Manager yesterday. Here is the best review that I found. vCenter Operations Manager 5 Review My biggest issue with it is that it is licensed per VM so it is going to have a higher cost, and of course VMWares love of flavors. Most of the attractive options come in either the Enterprise or Enterprise Plus versions.
I tried Veam Monitor once, but we only have one DC and for me it was just as easy to go into vCenter and pull the same stats as opposed to going to the monitoring tool and then vCenter to deal with something. We have a virtualized SAN, so for the I/O reports I just look at our SAN.

 

[btkrausen]

Thanks, that's a pretty good review. I'm just curious on what the "other" big players are that have been around longer and can do more for less. We have a HUGE budget, so getting Advanced or Enterprise shouldn't be an issue, but it would be nice if we don't have to spend the money to achieve the same results.