I work with vCenter Server as part of the operational technology team, our critical operational systems are hosted on a dedicated operational VMware cluster separate from the IT infrastructure. vCenter server manages our cluster, resources, and VSAN storage, it also manages the redundancy, providing vmotion and failover allowing us to relocate both virtual machine compute and storage resources within the cluster.
Pros
VSAN storage management and redundancy - high performance IO with built in fault tolerance across the cluster, not reliant on a single hardware item
VM fault tolerance. The ability to relocate a running VM and restart VMs from failed or isolated nodes
Resource management and alerting. Tracking load across physical systems and allowing us to rebalance for better utilisation
Cons
The location and layout of some configuration options are difficult to find/change. It does make tuning the system and resolving small issues hard sometimes, especially for less common options.
Alerting and thresholds, some built in alerts are not as configurable as other systems, and alerts can be hard to manage. It is probably a good idea to disable some alerts and rely on a third party management system.
The virtual switch is quite powerful, however inter-host switch comms are still via trunk links out to switchgear, it would be great if VMware could trunk the traffic between hosts a little more seamlessly
Likelihood to Recommend
We are using VMware in a non-conventional manner, where the hosts are in different buildings on the same site, linked by a redundant network ring. It is performing very well in that scenario, so can only imagine it is just as good in a more conventional deployment. Our system is also in the OT space, not the IT space, and we are relying on it for critical systems, I don't see anywhere it would not be applicable.
We've used VMware vCenter for about eleven years. It is used by two IT departments at two different data centers across the company. While virtualization with vSphere is possible without vCenter, I would not want to be without its management and resiliency tools. In addition, there are many helpful vendor tools that you can take advantage of and add to your vCenter's capabilities.
Pros
DRS
HA/FT
vMotion for maintenance
Storage vMotion for expansion/portability
Cons
Until recently, the web client for management was horrible.
Discontinuation of the C# client.
VMWare support blames everything on underlying storage (sometimes it's true).
Likelihood to Recommend
If you are going to manage more than one vSphere host, I believe it to be a necessity. Yes, there is an associated cost. I believe it is about $500 for the basic license (or used to be about that much). vCenter Server enables you to get the most from your server investment. Depending upon your license, you gain features such as automated or manual distributed resources, moving VMs from one server to another to allow for maintenance, automated failover if a host goes down, distributed switching and storage vMotion.
VU
Verified User
Team Lead in Information Technology (Oil & Energy company, 201-500 employees)
