Before Your Next VMware Renewal, Review the Whole Platform

A VMware renewal is a commercial event. It is also a useful opportunity to check whether the virtualisation platform still fits the business.

A quotation alone cannot answer that question. The review needs to include the workloads, infrastructure and operating processes that depend on the platform.

This matters whether the eventual decision is to renew, optimise or evaluate an alternative.

Establish the current baseline

Inventory hosts, virtual machines, processor configuration, storage and the features actually in use. Compare allocated resources with measured demand.

Identify applications with vendor-specific support requirements. Document dependencies such as virtual networking, monitoring, backup integration and disaster recovery.

An accurate baseline makes the renewal discussion more productive. It also avoids comparing a functioning production platform with an alternative that has only been priced at its smallest configuration.

Compare complete environments

When evaluating VMware, Sangfor HCI, Nutanix or another platform, include the work needed to operate and protect it.

Consider hardware compatibility, application support, migration tools, administrator training and ongoing services. Check how the existing backup products protect the exact platform and versions being proposed.

Estimate migration effort and the period during which both environments may need to run. Include maintenance windows, testing and rollback arrangements. A lower licence quotation can be offset by project work or a capability gap.

Make the proof of concept representative

Choose workloads that expose the important requirements. A lightly used test virtual machine can demonstrate basic installation, but it provides limited evidence about storage performance, application behaviour or recoverability.

Test the things the business will rely on: a workload migration, an application restore, a host failure and the management tasks administrators perform regularly.

Agree acceptance criteria before beginning. That gives the team a defensible basis for its recommendation.

There is no single correct platform for every customer. Staying with the existing environment can be sensible when the operating model and application requirements justify it. A change can be equally sensible when a representative assessment supports it.

Virtech provides virtualisation and HCI assessments, implementation and migration services, including the backup and recovery work that accompanies a platform decision. Learn more about our infrastructure assessment services.

Before your next renewal, ask Virtech to compare the complete operating cost and technical fit of your options.

Email sales@virtech.ae or call +971 4 580 7555 to speak with our specialists.