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The VMWorld 2012 Voting Post

I decided to wait a couple of days after the posturing/begging/campaigning died down. So that I could start it up again!

Shameless plugs are not usually my thing. I have been learning from @vTexan so here goes.

Make sure you sign in here to vote http://www.vmworld.com/www.vmworld.com/cfp.jspa

There are literally 9 Billion entries this year. So here are a few I like:

By the way I am stoked for a joint EMC / NetApp Session that doesn’t have Chad and Vaughn (no offense guys).

Finally, my title didn’t make the cut (View 5.1 and Storage so Awesome you’ll slap yo Mama OR Things only Ninjas know, behind the scenes with View 5.1 Storage Architectures) but here is my session on View 5.1 and Storage Deep Dive with EUC Ninja Mark Ewert.

Title:		View 5.1 Storage Features Deep Dive

Subtracks:		Desktop Virtualization
Tracks		End-User Computing
Technical Level		Advanced Technical
Area of Interest
Abstract:		Presented by VMware and EMC, this session will provide an in depth exploration of the new View 5.1 features related to storage optimization including the View Storage Accelerator (CBRC) and View Composer Array Integration (VCAI). The discussion will also provide detailed results of a joint VMware / EMC study quantifying the benefit of these new storage features and their resulting impact on virtual desktop density and the EMC VNX Storage Area Network used in the testing. To enable attendees to perform their own analysis, an overview of the LoginVSI virtual desktop benchmark system and test methodology used to obtain the results will also be provided.

So remember to Vote. Do it for the Children!

The Fun Stuff at VMworld 2010

Much of my planned activities for the blog didn’t work out this year. Not too much in the sessions or keynotes that was worth a blog post yet. Expect some View 4.5 and vCloud Directory posts once I can get it in the lab. Probably the most useful parts of VMworld were the discussions at the Thristy Bear, Bloggers Lounge, Chieftain, over breakfast or dinner among many other places. There was a great turn out for the In-n-out trip noting that it took around 30 minutes on public transportation to get there. This post is sharing some of the few experiences* I had and the couple of pictures I thought to make while in San Francisco. I met a lot more people than last year. I couldn’t even begin to name them all off but it was a great time hanging out with all of you enjoying a few drinks and talking Virtualization and Storage and other topics.

This is the hall in our hotel. I kept seeing these twin girls at the end of the hall. It was scary.

Here is proof of my In-n-Out take down. Double Double and Fries welldone. Several people showed up. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I do not think any In-n-Out vs Five Guys battles were decided though.

I hung off the of the Cable Car all the way back to Powell and Market. Jase McCarty @jasemccarty and Josh Leibster @vmsupergenius

The view from the top of the hill and the front of the Cable Car. The picture does not do justice to how steep the hill is.

Random shot at the Veeam party.

A couple of VMware R&D Managers I met at the CTO gathering before the VMware party. Steve Herrod hosted a party that included a great mix of vExperts and some of the thought leaders at VMware. Great chance to meet some people, @kendrickcoleman beat me down in wii bowling though. I will be practicing until next year.

Proof that I at least made it to the door of the CTO party, by Wednesday I had a pretty good collection of flare on my badge. TGI Fridays made me an offer but I didn’t want to move my family back to the West Coast.

A less fuzzy picture with Rich Brambley @rbrambley and Rick Vanover @rickvanover. I am honored to just hold the sign for these guys.

The Veeam party got bit crazy when 17 Princess Leia’s showed up.

The EMC vSpecialists roll up on VMworld 2010, there was at least 4000 more people at VMworld than last year. 3500 of them were from EMC. Actually found out they were real guys (and girls) and were really cool. Really good conversations about virtualization were had with many of these guys. If you haven’t seen it yet Nick Weaver @lynxbat and other vSpecialist put together a pretty good rap video. Check it out here

*in the event I did not have actual pictures of the event artistic liberties were taken.

VMworld Day One Quick Thoughts

Just some quick thoughts on day one. For me things are going pretty smooth. I did skip lunch so I could get into the Building the VMworld Labs session but I would say it was worth it. Very good and practical information on how you build a datacenter in 2 months. Stuff that. Most of the time the sessions have some good information but this one was all good.

I think this would be all for now.

Your mom goes to VMworld 2010

Am I allowed to say that?

ooops the video I used was removed from youtube

Wow, it is almost here. Today I am getting ready for my flight to SFO tomorrow morning. This is a short post to preview what is planned for the blog during VMworld.

A daily recap blog. Getting all of the detail of the days is going to be a big task. So much will be going on there is no way I will get it all but I will give my perspective on that is going on.
A video feature. I am teaming up with @kevin_miller and we will be getting some “unique” perspectives from people in and around VMworld. If no one will cooperate I will make something up. Need to find a mic.
Pictures from the In-n-Out meetup.

I do have some non-goofing around goals for the trip. There is a massive value to VMworld. I hope I get to all the sessions I want early enough to get in. I am looking for ways to improve what I do everyday which is design, implement and support VMware solutions. I am excited for cool new features as much as the next guy but too much focus on futures and you can miss the stuff that will help you right now.

VMworld 2010 – In-N-Out Burger Meetup

Last year we had a great time going to In-n-out. For someone like me that was born and raised in Southern California, In-n-out is one of those things I must have when coming back to California. Luckily there is a location within a short trolley ride of the Moscone Center / VMworld 2010. If there is a lesson from last year if you are not used to public transportation you may need some practice. 🙂

Leave a comment or hit me up on twitter @2vcps if you are think you will make it.

Meetup
Where: at the In-n-out in San Francsico
When: Tuesday 8/31 at 5:30 pm – Gives you enough to go eat and come back before any Vendor sponsored party/events. I won’t interfere with free food and beer. 🙂
What: Eat Double Double, Fries

UPDATE

@trey_anderson was cool enough to make this map with directions from Moscone to In-N-Out

VMworld Wednesday Morning – Keynote and Virtualizing Exchange Session

This morning’s keynote was more geared toward the engineer at least I felt more interested. Not to say yesterday was bad, today played more to my interest level.

The Wyse Pocket Cloud is one thing I will be sure to check out. Actually how usable it will be on AT&T shotty 3g network remains to be seen but if you are in range of a good wifi, you probably have your laptop around, but hey it is still freaking cool. Having tried RDP and Citrix via Mobile PC a couple years ago I am interested to see how far the usability has come. Before the usability was equal to zero so there was nowhere to go but up.

Springsource was on the stage again. I believe VMware is trying to show their relevance in the direction they are planning.

Attended a really good Exchange 2007 on vSphere session. Most of it I was familiar with having tried to keep up with the whitepapers on Exchange over the last year. It was good to see a customer success story. Technically the focused more on topology and server role layouts than any kind of “set this setting to x, to make it fast”. From what I can see you need a 3rd party snapshot (san level) software to protect the database from corruption. All other methods do not keep multiple copies of the data. It was good to see a baseline of 1500 users per mailbox server on a single vCPU VM when using the Intel 5500 series procs. That will be good ammo to build one vCPU box and scale out and use FT for hardware failure.

VMworld Day 2 – All your vCloud are belong to us

Note: I rarely do posts like this. I would rather explain an admin problem and solution. I hope this doesn’t scare too many away. I am in a rant mood.

Day 2 was a great day at VMworld. The key-note today combined with the announcement after the keynote sparked a couple thoughts. I would bet I am not the only one that noticed. VMware basically put Microsoft, Google and Amazon on notice. VMware now has the tools to make a challenge to these previously unchecked organizations.

Microsoft and Google
First the giant world domination bent company based in Redmond and its information hording rival from Nor Cal. The significance of the Springsource merger/purchase and vCloud API’s is telling everyone use your existing apps in the private/public cloud, also your custom developed applications will soon fly into the cloud. Nothing we didn’t already know but now they are all supplied by VMware. Virtualization in general can make Microsoft mortal, and who would use Google apps if the apps they actually know and like could be highly available in a per month charge model.

Amazon
The vCloud Express being made available means VMware can provide virtual services on demand to anyone with a credit card. All at the same time letting the hosting companies front the major expenses for datacenter buildout. The software gets sold no matter how successful everything is. How will Amazon be able to turn a profit when competing against the most proven Enterprise platform for providing virtual servers? Pretty hard to do in my opinion.

Now before being called a VMware fanboy. I think VMware is starting a game they better win. There may be a glimmer of hope that competition will benefit the consumer. The bullying by software vendors of their customers should turn into innovation to set themselves apart. The first company to become complacent will lose. At this point who would know what is going to happen.

VMworld 2009 – In-n-Out Burger Run

After you run the 10k on Monday evening what else do you have to do in the evening at VMworld? I know many of you will be shining your shoes and getting your top hats ready putting on your Ball Gowns for some big vendor party. Before that though, on Tuesday or Wednesday at 5:30 or 6 pm I will try to lead an expedition to a California classic, In-n-Out burger. For those of us exiled from California it is common to make In-n-Out a destination when we visit. Sound like you are a native Californian and order something not on the menu. Like a “4×4 Animal Style” – 4 beef patties, 4 pieces of cheese and all the onions and whatnot grilled to perfection.

So let me know if you are interested and while try to organize a meetup and trolley/train/cab/bus/walk over.