Built by Admins for Admins, Runecast Analyzer provides patented, actionable, predictive analytics for VMware’s vSphere®, vSAN™, NSX-V™, NSX-T™, Horizon® and VMware Cloud Director environments – for companies of all sizes. It also helps you optimize and secure your Windows, Linux, AWS, Azure and Kubernetes environments. Runecast was named a Gartner Cool Vendor and won Computing Magazine awards for Best Place to Work in Digital and Cloud Security Product of the Year.
One of our frequently asked questions is how we differ from VMware Skyline™ Advisor Pro. If you are already a VMware Production Support or Premier Services subscription customer, then you have access to VMware Skyline™ Advisor, an online technical-support service from VMware.
You may have searched for 'skyline vs runecast' to reach this page, so we want to clarify that it's not like that – Runecast Analyzer provides enough beyond that to be entirely different. If you already use Skyline Advisor, then you’ll be amazed at the added depth of proactive, actionable insights that Runecast Analyzer adds for you and your team. You can remediate issues with no waiting for support SLAs, and no need to send any data outside your control.
Runecast Analyzer provides greater visibility into issues, covering more areas that would normally require disparate VMware tools, and delivers immediate remediation scripts, which enables 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.
Support for VMware vSphere, VMware vSAN, VMware Horizon, VMware NSX and VMware Cloud Director.
AWS Health, CloudFront, Redshift, RDS, AWS Config, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, EC2, IAM, S3, VPC.
Azure AD, Storage Accounts, SQL server, MySQL Server, PostgreSQL Server, Key Vault, Subscription, Network Security Groups, Disks, AKS, Virtual Machines, Azure App Services.
Amazon EKS, Microsoft AKS, Google GKE, VMware Tanzu, HPE Ezmeral Container Platform.
Server and Desktop
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.
Support for VMware vSphere, VMware vSAN, VMware Horizon, VMware NSX and VMware Cloud Director.
AWS Health, CloudFront, Redshift, RDS, AWS Config, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, EC2, IAM, S3, VPC.
Azure AD, Storage Accounts, SQL server, MySQL Server, PostgreSQL Server, Key Vault, Subscription, Network Security Groups, Disks, AKS, Virtual Machines, Azure App Services.
Amazon EKS, Microsoft AKS, Google GKE, VMware Tanzu, HPE Ezmeral Container Platform.
Server and Desktop
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 7 December 2021.
* 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