You may have searched for 'skyline vs runecast' to reach this page, so we want to clarify how Runecast is an entirely different solution. If you already use VMware Skyline™ Advisor, then you’ll appreciate the added depth of proactive, actionable insights that the Runecast platform provides your team to remediate issues without waiting for support SLAs – and no need to send any data outside your organization (essential for heavily regulated industries, e.g. banking/financial, healthcare/insurance, public/government/defense etc.).
Runecast began by providing patented, predictive and actionable analytics in the VMware realm for vSphere®, vSAN™, NSX-V™, NSX-T™, Horizon® and VMware Cloud Director.
Over time, Runecast expanded to support Security and Operations teams migrating to hybrid and multi coud, helping them optimize and secure AWS, Azure, GCP and Kubernetes environments along with VMware. Additionally, it provides OS-level insights for Windows and Linux.
In a single platform, Runecast delivers unparalleled visibility into misconfigurations, vulnerabilities (i.e. VMSAs, CVEs, KEVs), non-compliance with security standards and best practices and other critical issues, covering areas that would normally require disparate toolsets. Best of all, Runecast provides remediation scripts to enable even the most junior sysadmins to perform like seasoned pros.
Note: Tap on image to be able to view the full comparison table of Runecast Analyzer vs VMware Skyline™.
None
Automated Security Compliance
None
Validate your entire estate's server hardware, IO devices and vSAN against the relevant VMware HCLs. Includes full validation of BIOS, driver and firmware combinations.
None
Configuration Vault keeps history of all of your configuration and allows you to:
Takes over 4 Hours
There is no option to trigger analysis on-demand.It may take 24-48 hours for newly released rules to appear within Skyline Advisor.
Takes minutes
None
PowerCLI and Ansible scripts generated with a click of a button. The scripts can be executed without modification and remediate the specific issue and affected objects. Admins can run the scripts immediately or at a scheduled maintenance window.
Limited
Only a high level basic overview of historical trending. It is not possible to see exact changes or issues over time or customize historical views.
In-depth
In depth, flexible historical insights for all issues history and configuration snapshots. Elaborate filtering and customizations allow for unmatched insights on the health and configuration drift of the analyzed environment.
Manual
Skyline Log Assist helps with uploading log bundles and associates them with a problem ticket for further investigation by a Skyline Technical Support Engineer.
No automatic log analysis.
Automatic
Monthly
Monthly, based on GSS trending for popular trouble tickets.*
It may take 24-48 hours for newly released findings to appear within Skyline Advisor.
Weekly
All major VMware products
Supports vSphere, NSX, vSAN,vRealize Operations, VMware Cloud Foundation and Horizon.
AWS Config, AWS Health, AWS Inspector, Cloudfront, Cloudtrail, Cloudwatch, EC2, ECS, EFS, EKS, IAM, Kinesis, Lambda, RDS, Redshift, S3, VPC
AAKS, Azure AD, Azure App Services, Disks, Key Vault, MySQL Server, Network Security Group, Network Watcher, PostgreSQL Server, SQL Server, Storage Accounts, Subscription, Virtual Machines
Cloud Functions, Storage Buckets, DNS Policies, Firewall Rules, VPC Networks, SQL Instances, Compute Instances, Service Accounts, Metrics & Alerts, IAM Policies.
Amazon EKS, Microsoft AKS, Google GKE, VMware Tanzu, HPE Ezmeral Container Platform
Vulnerabilities for any Windows and Linux versions. CIS CSC security compliance for Windows Server 2016 & 2019 and RedHat 7 & 8.
vSphere, Horizon, vSAN, NSX-T, NSX-V, VMware Cloud Director, SAP HANA (on vSphere), PureStorage (on vSphere), vSphere on Nutanix
Available for integration with the vSphere Client and ServiceNow
Reporting available
Customizable reports
Skyline takes data privacy seriously, nevertheless data collected may include customer-identifiable information
(Examples include ESXi hostnames, IP addresses, license keys, customer IDs or entitlement account numbers. Data is transmitted to secure data centres within the United States, operated by VMware. **)
Zero data collection
As a cloud service, Skyline depends on the usage of CEIP
The user is required to participate in VMware's Enhanced Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). As part of the Enhanced CEIP, VMware collects certain technical data and product logs about your organization's use of VMware products and services on a regular basis. Data is accessible to VMware employees who perform customer support and engagement. Data can be shared across VMware teams to enable cross-product correlation and analysis. ***
Allows for full control over your privacy settings
Online functionality only
Full functionality available both online and offline
462 KB articles
KBs are added periodically based on GSS reporting. Covers only the VMware Knowledge Base.
1000+ KB articles
New KBs added on a minimum weekly basis. Coverage for critical security vulnerabilities within 24 hours. Runecast covers over 3000 rules in total, not only the VMware Knowledge Base
None
Automated Security Compliance
None
Validate your entire estate's server hardware, IO devices and vSAN against the relevant VMware HCLs. Includes full validation of BIOS, driver and firmware combinations.
None
Configuration Vault keeps history of all of your configuration and allows you to:
Takes over 4 Hours
There is no option to trigger analysis on-demand.It may take 24-48 hours for newly released rules to appear within Skyline Advisor.
Takes minutes
None
PowerCLI and Ansible scripts generated with a click of a button. The scripts can be executed without modification and remediate the specific issue and affected objects. Admins can run the scripts immediately or at a scheduled maintenance window.
Limited
Only a high level basic overview of historical trending. It is not possible to see exact changes or issues over time or customize historical views.
In-depth
In depth, flexible historical insights for all issues history and configuration snapshots. Elaborate filtering and customizations allow for unmatched insights on the health and configuration drift of the analyzed environment.
Manual
Skyline Log Assist helps with uploading log bundles and associates them with a problem ticket for further investigation by a Skyline Technical Support Engineer.
No automatic log analysis.
Automatic
Monthly
Monthly, based on GSS trending for popular trouble tickets.*
It may take 24-48 hours for newly released findings to appear within Skyline Advisor.
Weekly
All major VMware products
Supports vSphere, NSX, vSAN,vRealize Operations, VMware Cloud Foundation and Horizon.
AWS Config, AWS Health, AWS Inspector, Cloudfront, Cloudtrail, Cloudwatch, EC2, ECS, EFS, EKS, IAM, Kinesis, Lambda, RDS, Redshift, S3, VPC
AAKS, Azure AD, Azure App Services, Disks, Key Vault, MySQL Server, Network Security Group, Network Watcher, PostgreSQL Server, SQL Server, Storage Accounts, Subscription, Virtual Machines
Cloud Functions, Storage Buckets, DNS Policies, Firewall Rules, VPC Networks, SQL Instances, Compute Instances, Service Accounts, Metrics & Alerts, IAM Policies.
Amazon EKS, Microsoft AKS, Google GKE, VMware Tanzu, HPE Ezmeral Container Platform
Vulnerabilities for any Windows and Linux versions. CIS CSC security compliance for Windows Server 2016 & 2019 and RedHat 7 & 8.
vSphere, Horizon, vSAN, NSX-T, NSX-V, VMware Cloud Director, SAP HANA (on vSphere), PureStorage (on vSphere), vSphere on Nutanix
Available for integration with the vSphere Client and ServiceNow
Reporting available
Customizable reports
Skyline takes data privacy seriously, nevertheless data collected may include customer-identifiable information
(Examples include ESXi hostnames, IP addresses, license keys, customer IDs or entitlement account numbers. Data is transmitted to secure data centres within the United States, operated by VMware. **)
Zero data collection
As a cloud service, Skyline depends on the usage of CEIP
The user is required to participate in VMware's Enhanced Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). As part of the Enhanced CEIP, VMware collects certain technical data and product logs about your organization's use of VMware products and services on a regular basis. Data is accessible to VMware employees who perform customer support and engagement. Data can be shared across VMware teams to enable cross-product correlation and analysis. ***
Allows for full control over your privacy settings
Online functionality only
Full functionality available both online and offline
462 KB articles
KBs are added periodically based on GSS reporting. Covers only the VMware Knowledge Base.
1000+ KB articles
New KBs added on a minimum weekly basis. Coverage for critical security vulnerabilities within 24 hours. Runecast covers over 3000 rules in total, not only the VMware Knowledge Base
The above information was verified at the time of publication on 30 August 2022.
* Source: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Skyline-Advisor/services/rn/VMware-Skyline-Advisor-Release-Notes.html
** Source: VMware Skyline FAQ, page 2, https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/55928
*** Source: VMware Skyline FAQ, page 3, VMware Skyline Collector Terms and Conditions, https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Skyline-Collector/2.7/user-guide/GUID-74C573DE-FC7F-4B25-8173-75129E20DE6A.html
