Which VMware NSX editions are suited for your organization's needs?
There are four VMware NSX editions, each with its own feature set. Learn more about these features and whether they meet the needs of your infrastructure.
There are four general VMware NSX editions: Standard, Advanced, Enterprise and Remote Office/Branch Office. Each edition is designed for different contexts and companies with features that match their particular use cases. Explore these editions and evaluate which features are most important to your system.
For larger companies with larger budgets, NSX Enterprise's optimization for multisite operation might be enticing, whereas for small to midsize organizations, NSX Standard's smaller set of features might fit better. NSX Advanced offers a middle-ground feature set, and NSX Remote Office/Branch Office selects features from each edition that work best in those contexts.
NSX Standard
The base level of the four NSX editions is NSX Standard, which was designed for small to midsize organizations that can benefit from network automation.
Standard edition includes distributed switching, distributed and dynamic routing, network address translation, an edge firewall, API support, integration with vRealize and OpenStack, log management with vRealize Log Insight, and Layer 2 interoperability with the physical network.
NSX Advanced
NSX Advanced is designed for larger data centers that require greater levels of security.
NSX Advanced is designed for larger data centers that require greater levels of security.
The features included in Advanced build on those offered in Standard and provide stronger security -- using microsegmentation -- with security policy automation and server activity monitoring. NSX also includes features such as edge load balancing, distributed firewalls, integration with Active Directory, service inspection, integration with VMware AirWatch and support for Application Rule Manager.
NSX Enterprise
NSX Enterprise is better suited for large organizations than other NSX editions because it satisfies the need for networking and security across two or more domains.
Enterprise offers the same features included in the Standard and Advanced editions, and it also includes capabilities like support for IPsec and SSL VPNs, support for hardware VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint links, NSX optimizations for multisite operation, remote gateways, endpoint monitoring, and distributed Layer 7 firewalls.
NSX Remote Office/Branch Office
NSX Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO) provides a variety of features from the Standard, Advanced and Enterprise NSX editions that virtualize and secure workloads in off-site locations.
ROBO provides most of the Standard and Advanced features, except for distributed routing and Layer 2 interoperability with the physical network. ROBO only provides the IPsec and SSL VPN support found in the Enterprise edition.
