Rod Gabriel’s tweet clued me in that my latest work for TechTarget, VMware vSwitch vs. Cisco Nexus 1000V, is up, wherein the inimitable David Davis and I take opposing stances on VMware virtual networking. In true sysadmin form we’re both right and both wrong, of course, because it always depends on the situation, but I like the article.
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Hi Bob,
One point of clarification which you might not be aware of. The Nexus 1000V is sold and serviced through both VMware and Cisco. In fact, VMW offers a couple of bundles of the Nexus 1000V with the vSphere Enterprise Plus licenses (both full license and upgrade license). When VMW sells the Nexus 1000V with the vSphere software, they also sell support (in conjunction with the vSphere support). Both the VMW and Cisco support teams are trained on the Nexus 1000V at the same time and both equally capable of handling support issues. And if things get really tricky, the Cisco TAC backs up VMW’s support organization with a direct line into our engineering department.
Oh, one other thing. The latest release of the Nexus 1000V software (1.2) includes a simple GUI to allow you to complete the initial config in about 7 minutes. There is a VOD posted here to show just how easy it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sxWiz7S-z0
For the record, I am the Direct of Product Management of the Nexus 1000V and a few other Nexus products.
Thanks, I appreciate your perspective and you have given us a few pointers for things to address in the next release (keep it simple, simple, simple).
“Usually, things that cost more are also better.”
wow. That’s a /great/ way to open an argument on qualitative superiority.
@Matt — that’s pretty much the one place I disagree with David. In the specific case of networking gear I know that you can get gear that just as reliable, and definitely more standards-compliant, for less money than big vendors. Personally I’m hoping for more virtual switch modules like the Nexus 1000V, except from other vendors, but given that VMware and Cisco are now in bed together I doubt that’ll happen.