VMware Communities: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger

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21 Replies Last post: Mar 5, 2007 4:33 PM by ronzo

Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger

Mar 5, 2007 8:04 AM

Gaprofitt 71 posts since
Sep 12, 2006

Can someone who has reviewed both products give me a pro's and con's of each. I'm looking for some opinions on which product to go with for backing up running VM's.

Thanks,

Greg

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 8:36 AM

mittell 3,095 posts since
Apr 25, 2006

Oh dear, I sense a flame war coming.

They're both good products in their own right and both work well, I believe both do evaluation version so I'd recommend trialing both and choosing the one that you like the best, rather than relying solely on the opinions of others.

As you'll probably see shortly, people tend to like one or the other - it's a bit like Mac OSX vs Windows vs Linux, I wouldn't say one is better than the other, they're just different approaches to the same problem.

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 8:46 AM

in response to: mittell

ilatimer 194 posts since
Dec 18, 2004

mittell,

I am going to have to disagree. Mac OS X is a far better operating system than Windows.

As for Esxpress and Ranger, I agree. I know that Ranger interfaces with VCB, but I am not sure about Esxpress (if you are looking for something like that).

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 8:52 AM

in response to: ilatimer

mittell 3,095 posts since
Apr 25, 2006

Lol, there's always one. Personally I can't stand Macs but each to his own.

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 8:55 AM

in response to: mittell

ANSA 605 posts since
May 16, 2005

Touche

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 9:11 AM

femialpha 109 posts since
Oct 25, 2005

I have evaluated both products and I am leaning towards esxranger unless my budget can not accommodate it. If i were the only one managing the virtual environment, esxpress would be a no brainer but for my windows centric shop, my team would be better off with esxranger. Secondly, you have to allocate resources to the virtual appliances esxpress uses and the numerous items it registered with virtual center made it look cluttered.

Esxpress is cheaper though and there is a free version, whereas vizioncore is yet to release a free version of esxranger for vi3.

Message was edited by:
femialpha

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 10:06 AM

in response to: mittell

kix1979 3,758 posts since
Oct 14, 2004 Moderator

No flaming war that I can see. As you said, both products are well respected and perform the functionality you want at the core. However, each has different bells and whistles that you really need to evaluate for yourself. Based on which features you like the most and gives you the reliability you are looking for will determine the product to go for.

Both are available for download to trial/use and are fully functional. Give them a download and if you run into issues at all contact the support for either. I know both give you support during testing.

Kix

PS. I do work for vizioncore

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 10:21 AM

in response to: femialpha

ronzo 325 posts since
Nov 11, 2003

Hi Femialpha-

Can you send me a list of your specific complaints, as we're always making esXpress better from peoples suggestions. (support @ p2v.net)

thanks
ron mckelvey
phd technologies

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 10:26 AM

in response to: ronzo

femialpha 109 posts since
Oct 25, 2005

I will definitely send you one but just to give you a clue, take a look at leostreams P2V virtual appliance. It is much more user friendly and doesn't look like an open source product for geeks. Don't get me wrong, i like your product but in a company where we use lean production principles in decision making, we would consider esxranger a better product.

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 10:33 AM

petedr 1,331 posts since
Mar 18, 2006

I can only speak about the esXpress product. We have been using it in production for about a year now. Think it is very easy to use plus it has lots of features. Backups run in VBAs ( Virtual Backup Appliances ). This offloads the backups to the virtual space. Configuration can be done in a text menu or a GUI helper. Support is excellent and very responsive.

Their free version does Full backups only. They also have an inexpensive Starter edition which enables their Delta Technology. They also have a Professional edition which adds additional features.

Definitely recommend it.

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 12:12 PM

jrhodes 15 posts since
Mar 23, 2005

I have used ESX Ranger for over 2 years.
Ranger does very well if you have a small shop. For us, we had to pull the plug on it because it just could not handle the amount of VMs we were throwing at it. We have around 500 VMs running on 20-24 ESX hosts. We asked vizioncore to come out and help us get it running. Their response was "We don't do consulting anymore".

We switched to EsXpress, and we having it working much better.
PHD consulting was execellent at providing us what we needed. They came out and set us up and helped us work through our problems.

Jim

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 2:05 PM

in response to: jrhodes

cheeko 628 posts since
Nov 30, 2005

Definitly a plus for esXpress, they're support is outstandig. Whenever you have an issue, you can be sure that you well have support immediately. And when i mean support, I am talking about in-depth technical support and problem solving.

Another plus is the backup speed. Maybe someone has the numbers, but I think esxRanger can't compete with the GB/h that esXpress delivers through it's (parallel-running) VBA-technology.

People like it because it's reliable - Set and forget.

Test both products, see what works better in your environment and make a decision.

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 3:04 PM

in response to: cheeko

kix1979 3,758 posts since
Oct 14, 2004 Moderator

Another plus is the backup speed. Maybe someone has
the numbers, but I think esxRanger can't compete with
the GB/h that esXpress delivers through it's
(parallel-running) VBA-technology.

I beg to differ on this point. When you compare GB/hr as well as Backup Impact vs. GB/hr you might be suprised.

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 3:21 PM

in response to: cheeko

jrhodes 15 posts since
Mar 23, 2005

Yes, I forgot to mention the VBA technology.
Vizioncore uses the console to do their backups.
esXpress uses VMs to do the backups (VBAs).

Jim

Reply Re: Pro's and Con's for Esxpress and ESX Ranger Mar 5, 2007 3:26 PM

in response to: jrhodes

gogogo5 342 posts since
Aug 14, 2006

esXpress installs a daemon into the SC, esxRanger does not install anything into the SC.

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