System Center Orchestrator vs VMware vRealize Orchestrator

Automation plays a vital role in managing your day to day tasks. In fact, it would be of much help in getting away from the hassles of day to day IT Services management. Automation will ensure a smoother and faster datacentre management. Whether you are a large enterprise or a small startup, automation will indeed play a significant role. We will focus on two different tools you may use for automating your tasks, i.e. System Center Orchestrator vs VMware vRealize Orchestrator.

What are Orchestrators?

Ideally speaking, Orchestration refers to the processes, platforms, and services that work towards automating and orchestrating the critical IT and business processes to help in the streamlining and simplifying options for an IT related enterprise. This sort of automation aids in configuring, managing and operating the different computer systems, applications, and services. Thus orchestration would be helpful in freeing the IT firm from performing repetitive tasks of having to control daily routine functions manually.

Automation or orchestration will be helpful in handling slightly different aspects. In essence, automation helps in automating the specified tasks, while Orchestration aids in the automation of processes and workflows. Simply put, Orchestration forms part of a broader type of automation or as we call it, “The superset.”

Why is Orchestration Needed?

Often the terms Automation and Orchestration could sometimes be quite confusing in the IT world and may be used interchangeably. Automation is targeted at a single course of action, while Orchestration involves a system of processes and workflows.

Orchestration has been considered to be the heart of a private cloud for obvious reasons. In fact, it is treated as the building block of the private cloud ecosystem. This helps in creating a framework with built-in credibility and accountability. The cloud services can run specific processes hundreds of times per day. Not implementing orchestration can result in the lack of scalability in a cloud service. The particular manual tasks will make the costs go beyond scalable limits, and the options of the business will no longer be viable. Opting for automation and orchestration helps in addressing these concerns.

There are several Orchestration services available. You may opt for the one that best meets your needs. Two prominent options when one thinks about orchestration are Microsoft System Center Orchestration and VMWare Orchestration that works explicitly with the VMWare clients and systems. Ideally, both of them come with almost similar functionalities and features, and as such, you may opt for either of them.

A comparison between the two may be a good idea for understanding the concept.

System Center Orchestrator – An Overview

System Center Orchestrator is the automation solution from Microsoft. Of course, you may be able to automate a host of tasks individually. But with System Center Orchestrator, it lets you combine the different tasks and procedures through the use of Runbook Designer. It is a graphical interface that helps you create a reliable and flexible end to end solutions.

Some of the tasks that System Center Orchestrator can accomplish include the ability to automate the functions without any limitation on account of hardware or platform and implementation of the best practices for improved efficiency in a secured way. Put in simple words; System Center Orchestrator can be defined as the workflow automation software. It lets the administrators automate the tasks involved in monitoring and deployment of data center resources.

VMware Orchestrator – A Little Info on it

VMWare Orchestrator is a vCenter option that helps you automate the VMWare utilities like VMWare vCloud Suite and vSphere. It also helps in the automation of other virtualization management systems.

It does work efficiently with the automation of the bulk operations and integrating the third party tools. It has several application areas, prominent among them being installed on the virtual machine, as a VCenter add-on or as a standalone option for a Windows Server option.

How Do They Compare With Each Other?
Let us compare both the competing automation tools based on a few specific functionalities. That would let us have a clear understanding of the differences or similarities in a better manner.

Automation Features

As long as enterprise automation is concerned, both the orchestrators offer the high degree of performance. Both of them provide efficient workflow management solution for your data center. You can use them for the creation and deployment of resources for your environment.

Both the System Center Orchestrator and VMWare Orchestrators let you extend the functionality beyond the basic automation needs. Microsoft calls these additional features Integration Packs, while they are referred to as plug-ins in VMWare.

PowerShell

This is yet another area that both VMWare and Microsoft tie with their performance and compatibility. PowerShell is an excellent tool that can help in automating.

That would essentially make both Microsoft System Center Orchestrator and VMWare Orchestrator useful options concerning PowerShell usage.

Pricing

Pricing may not be a constraint when discussing the usability and functionality of the competing tools. However, for the sake of information, it would be practical to understand that the Microsoft System Center Orchestrator comes with a price point of $3607. The VMWare is available at €2,427.79. However, pricing will vary and depends on the type of Licensing one is going for. Your licensing company might offer you a discount as well. So, do check with your vendor for the final cost.

However, there is a fundamental difference between the pricing structures. VMWare is available in an annual subscription model, whereas Microsoft offers you a one-time payment option.

Ease of Use

Both the VMWare Orchestrator and Microsoft System Center Orchestrator offer you the excellent functionality regarding ease of use. Both the orchestrators are based on the GUI. As we are aware, a GUI based tools are always easy to handle with.

The Comparison Chart – System Center Orchestrator vs VMware vRealize Orchestrator

Features/Particulars	VMWare Orchestrator	Microsoft System Center Orchestrator
Web Console Support	Yes, available	Yes, available
Third Party plugin support	Yes, Supported	Yes, Supported
Custom Plugin	Yes	Yes
Capable of managing vSphere	Yes, supported	Yes, supported
Managing System center	No	Yes
Runbook templates	No	Yes
Import and export of workflow	Yes supported	Yes, supported

The Concluding Thoughts

Automation is all about simplifying the task. From that perspective, we consider both the offerings – whether from Microsoft or VMWare to be equally competitive. As can be observed from the discussions above and the comparison thereof, you would have quickly concluded that both of them come with almost similar functionalities and as such can be used interchangeably in all respects.

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