Tag Archives: VMware

VMware Names First vExpert Cloud Recipients

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On Friday, VMware announced the recipients of their first-ever vExpert Cloud designation. This will be called “vExpert Cloud 2017”.

This is the third specialization added to the long-running vExpert program, after vExpert VSAN and vExpert NSX. Already holding a current vExpert designation is a prerequisite for any of the specialty vExpert programs.

What is a vExpert? Well, in VMware’s own words, they are people who have:

demonstrated significant contributions to the community and a willingness to share their expertise with others. Contributing is not always blogging or Twitter as there are many public speakers, book authors, scriptwriters, VMUG leaders, VMTN community moderators and internal champions

I am very proud to have my name included on this first-ever list of vExpert Cloud recipients. I am humbled and a bit nervous to have my name included on this first-ever list of vExpert Cloud recipients… I feel like I’ve been given something that I now have to earn and live up to.

You can see the full list of 134 VMware vExpert Cloud 2017 designees here.

 

My Schedule at VMworld US 2017

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After having had to miss out on VMworld last year, I’m pleased to announce my triumphant return to the event. Or at least my return.

VMworld has always been, in my opinion, one of the best yearly events, not just in terms of the technical content and knowledge to be gained, but also because of the size and strength of the community that attends.

So, in that spirit, in the hopes of being able to reconnect with old friends, have in-person meetings with people I’ve only none online, and in making new friends and community connections, here are the places where you’ll most likely be able to find me during the event. Continue reading →

Cisco and Pure Announce FlashStack – a Joint CI Solution

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Last week, Cisco and Pure Storage announced FlashStack. FlashStack is a jointly-developed Converged Infrastructure (CI) solution bundle / reference architecture.

The FlashStack solution uses Cisco network and compute hardware, Pure Storage storage hardware, and VMware for the hypervisor and virtualization layer.

FlashStack CI is not a product, per se, but a Cisco Validated Design (CVD) or reference architecture (RA) that both companies will work together to support. This support includes both Pure Storage’s Flash Forward and Evergreen Storage programs. Continue reading →

VMware Announces vExperts for 2017

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Yesterday, VMware announced their list of 2017 vExperts. The vExpert program is VMware’s way of recognizing those people who have made valuable contributions to the overall VMware and virtualization community.

The program was started several years ago as a way of extending appreciation and recognition to those folks who were going above and beyond their job descriptions in finding ways to share knowledge and contribute to the community.

To quote VMware:

Each of these vExperts have demonstrated significant contributions to the community and a willingness to share their expertise with others. Contributing is not always blogging or Twitter as there are many public speakers, book authors, CloudCred task writing, script writers, VMUG leaders, VMTN community moderators and internal champions among this group.

…a “vExpert” is not a technical certification or even a general measure of VMware expertise. The judges selected people who were particularly engaged with their community and who had developed a substantial personal platform of influence in those communities.

I feel simultaneously pleased and honored to be included among those selected as a 2017 vExpert. This is my sixth year in a row receiving this designation. It’s been great to be part of this active community of knowledgeable people who are motivated by sharing that knowledge with others.

Congratulations and thanks to all the returning vExperts, and a special congratulations to the first-time vExperts out there. Keep up the good work.

You can see the full list of VMware’s 2017 vExperts in the official announcement.

What’s New in VMware vSphere 6.5

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The big virtualization news from the past week or so was definitely the release and General Availability of VMware vSphere version 6.5, available for download now.

New features include:

  • Improvements to vCenter Server 6.5
  • Transition to Web Client-only
  • Improved host management
  • Enhancements to VMware Tools
  • vRealize Operations Manager updated to 6.4
  • Enhancements to the API, specifically for developers and automation
  • Security enhancements (including VM-level encryption)
  • Improvements to VMware HA and DRS
  • Storage-related enhancements (including automated UNMAP)
  • Networking enhancements

I’ll review each of these areas and also go through some caveats — especially around compatibility with other VMware products. Continue reading →

SimpliVity Announces OmniStack 3.5 and OmniView

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SimpliVityToday, SimpliVity announced version 3.5 of their OmniStack Data Virtualization Platform and a new predictive analytics offering called OmniView.

Introduction to SimpliVity

Founded in 2009 with a mission to simplify IT infrastructure, SimpliVity is one of the “Names” in the hyperconverged infrastructure space. Their OmniStack Data Virtualization Platform can be purchased in one of two ways:

  • Pre-installed on a hardware appliance called an OmniCube
  • As software to run on approved supported server hardware like Cisco UCS and Lenovo

The key to the OmniStack Data Virtualization Platform (DVP) is the inline, global data deduplication. As Simplivity is fond of saying, the least expensive write is one you don’t need to write. Continue reading →

Cisco Enters Hyperconverged Market with HyperFlex

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HyperFlex HX240cToday Cisco announced their entry in the Hyperconverged Infrastructure marketplace, a solution called HyperFlex.

Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) can be thought of as “Virutalization in a Box”. An HCI solution is one that offers everything needed for server virtualization: compute, memory, network, storage, hypervisor, and management/orchestration for all of these.

Cisco’s HyperFlex solution uses:

  • Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) to provide the compute, memory, and storage hardware
  • Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects to provide the network hardware
  • Cisco UCS Manager for compute, memory, and network management
  • VMware ESXi for the hypervisor
  • SpringPath software, re-branded as the Cisco HX Data Platform, to provide the data services, and storage optimization and orchestration

The HyperFlex solution will initially be offered in three different ways: small footprint, capacity-heavy, and compute-heavy.

I’ll walk through the various components and the complete solution below. Continue reading →

VMware Announces vExperts for 2016

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VMW-LOGO-vEXPERT-2016-kToday, VMware announced the list of vExpert recipients for 2016.

The VMware vExpert program recognizes those who have gone above and beyond their normal job description in sharing the messaging, knowledge, and “how to” of virtualization in general and VMware in particular.

The vExpert program is open to VMware employees, partner, customers, and others.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really excited to have been named a VMware vExpert for my fifth year in a row. I’m also honored and thankful, but, yeah, excited too.

You can see the full list of 2016 VMware vExperts here.

PernixData Announces General Availability of FVP 3.0

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PernixDataYesterday, PernixData announced the General Availability of version 3.0 of FVP. FVP is a software solution that enables the use of host-installed Flash and RAM to accelerate storage performance in a VMware environment. The performance increases that FVP can provide are often quite significant. If you’re not familiar with FVP I wrote an overview of the product back in March when PernixData announced version 2.5.

Since I’ve written an FVP overview before, I’ll skip ahead to talking about what’s new in this version. Continue reading →

VMTurbo Releases Operations Manager version 5.3

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VMTurbo logoThis week, VMTurbo released version 5.3 of their Operations Manager monitoring / management / automation / Quality of Service (QoS) tool.

Yes, I’ll admit that previous sentence is a little confusing, but Operations Manager has so many features and capabilities packed into it that it defies easy classification.

For those who aren’t familiar with VMTurbo or their Operations Manager, I’ll do an overview of it, then I’ll walk through what’s new in version 5.3. If you’re already familiar with VMTurbo and just want to leap right in, you can download a free trial here. Continue reading →