Planet vSphere-land

I’m not promoting this on Twitter – Let’s see who actually reads my blog on a Monday morning or at least still employs RSS technology. A short while ago, I received on my doorstep a copy of Scott Lowe’s Mastering VMware vSphere 5.  I’ve already got my own copy and I’d like to make sure this book ends up in the hands of someoneone who: A) needs a copy B) wil...

Now also available via This is a new episode in the continuing StorageIO industry trends and perspectives pod cast series (you can view more episodes or shows along with other audio and video content here) as well as listening via iTunes or via your preferred means using this RSS feed (http://storageio.com/StorageIO_Podcast.xml) In this episode from [...]

Publication Date: March 25, 2013 | ISBN-10: 1118407911 | ISBN-13: 978-1118407912 | Edition: 2 The big splash was officially made yesterday but I’m following up with my announcement a day later to help spread the message to anyone who may have been heads down and missed it.  Forbes Guthrie ( ), Scott Lowe ( ), and Kendrick Coleman ( ) have teamed up to produce VMware vSphere Design 2nd Ed...

Publication Date: August 30, 2012 | ISBN-10: 0321832213 | ISBN-13: 978-0321832214 | Edition: 1 I’m long overdue on book reviews and I need to start off with an apology to the authors for getting this one out so late.  The title is VMware vSphere 5 Building a Virtual Datacenter by Eric Maillé and René-François Mennecier (Foreword by Chad Sakac and Technical Editor Tom Keegan).  This i...

I’m not sure how long this has been available, though I have just noticed that TrainSignal, who are well known for their quality video based tutor led IT learning material, now offer a monthly based subscription model for accessing their catalogue of online course material.  For US$49 per month (you can cancel after a month) this is pretty good value, as I have used TrainSignal training v...

Now also available via This is a new episode in the continuing StorageIO industry trends and perspectives pod cast series (you can view more episodes or shows along with other audio and video content here) as well as listening via iTunes or via your preferred means using this RSS feed (http://storageio.com/StorageIO_Podcast.xml) In this episode, we go virtual, both with the topic (virtualizati...

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to VMware Press, they made VMworld 2012 San Francisco a lot of fun by providing a bundle of their books for some giveaways. For those of you that don’t know, Pearson and VMware formed a publishing alliance in 2011 which makes VMware Press the official publisher of VMware books and training materials that provide guidance for the critical topics faci...

TrainSignal and well known VMware vSphere author and blogger, Scott Lowe, have released an informative free on-demand webinar entitled “VMware vSphere Design 101”.  In this recorded webinar Scott walks you through many of the considerations and basics when designing a VMware vSphere environment, he covers the following useful vSphere related topics; What is vSphere Design? Basics of v...

Last fall at the VMworld book store in Las Vegas, I picked up sample chapter 6 ALUA from Mostafa Khalil‘s (@MostafaVMW) upcoming book “Storage Design and Implementation in vSphere 5.0“.  The level of detail looked fantastic and I could hardly wait for the rest of the book to be released. Fast forward to a month ago, nearing completion I joked with Mostafa that perhaps VCDXs c...

Last February at VMware Partner Exchange (PEX), I sat the VCAP5-DCD BETA exam.  I detailed that experience here.  The exam consisted of 130 questions to be answered in 225 minutes.  I squandered a lot of time in deep thought on some questions and also spent time providing feedback on many of the questions.  I was fairly comfortable with the content but based on the time I spent on each quest...

VMware has released the VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 Datacenter Administrator Exam. I've participated in the beta of this exam and can assure you that you're up for a challenge. You will get access to a laboratory and have to fulfill around 26 assignments in 4 hours.The VDCA510 VMware Certified Advanced Professional on vSphere 5 – Datacenter Administration ...

Dell Storage Forum kicks off in Boston next week and Spousetivities will be there to ensure a good time is had by all.  If you’ve never been to Boston or if you haven’t had a chance to look around, you’re in for a treat.  Crystal has an array of activities queued up (see what I did there?) including  whale watching, a tour of MIT and/or Harvard via trolley or walking, a tro...

This course, for experienced VMware vSphere personnel, teaches skills for the use of VMware vCenter™ Operations as a forensic and predictive tool. The course is based on VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0, VMware vCenter Server 5.0, and vCenter Operations Manager 5.0. •  Understand major and minor badges and their underlying metrics. •  Use these badges to find root causes of common ...

If you’re interested in a really challenging training course that also prepares you for the upcoming VCAP5-DCA exam, then the VMware "vSphere 5 - Optimize and Scale" and is a great training course for you. I’m delivering this new training course at the 9th of July at Global Knowledge Amsterdam. This training course, for experienced VMware vSphere personnel, teaches advanced s...

VMware Certified Advanced Professional on vSphere 5 – Datacenter Design (VCAP5-DCD) VCAP5-DCD is designed for IT architects who design and integrate VMware solutions in multi-site, large enterprise, virtualized environments. Successful candidates possess a deep understanding of datacenter design principles and methodologies, as well as VMware core components and their relation to storage...

To be open I work for a partner and on a regular basis get introduced to new products. For this I spend a decent amount of time researching these products, playing with them in a lab and tacking training from the Vendors. There are a few vendors that do a good job with their training and there are a lot that don’t do a very good job. Yesterday one of my co-workers mentioned something to me...

VMware Press, the official publisher of VMware books and training materials, has launched a 60 day Facebook sweepstakes beginning May 1 and running through June 30th. Prize offerings include a $100 Amazon gift card and three VMware Press books of the winner’s choice; nine second prize winners will win an eBook of their choice. Good luck – enter now at the link below! http://ow.ly/aBkvE ...

My virtualization friend Bas Vinken pointed me to a real great vCenter Operations 5 presentation created by Iwan ‘e1’ Rahabok (virtual-red-dot.blogspot.com) who's working as a VMware staff SE, Strategic Accounts in Singapore. It's available for download in PowerPoint format and I really would like to advise you to read the slide notes (they're awesome). The presentation serves 2 purpose...

VMware is working on a new training course, it's still in early beta but it looks very promising. The training course is called VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [v5.0]. At the end of the course, you should be able to do the following: Configure and manage ESXi networking and storage for the large and sophisticated enterprise. Manage changes to the vSphere environment.
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Scripted installation is an efficient way to provision multiple ESXi host. This video explains how to use a kickstart file to install or upgrade ESXi. Both Shift-O invocation and PXE boot are supported.

VMware's Andy Cary who works as a Senior Technical Trainer in EMEA has  received a lot of e-mails recently about what the options are for people to secure their VCP5.0. The table in the diagram below shows the 4 different options for attaining your VCP 5.0 exam. Andy thinks there's confusion with the text in printed orange, this text is only valid until the 29th February...

This morning I sat the VCAP5-DCD BETA exam just as soon as the certification doors opened here at VMware Partner Exchange 2012 (follow the action using the Twitter hash tag #VMwarePEX).  As usual, I can’t cover exam content in detail but I’ll briefly cover the experience in explicitly vague detail so as not to violate any policies. Just like the VCAP4-DCD BETA I sat over a year ago,...

In the past couple of years the industry recognized that a single VMware certification–the VMware Certified Professional (VCP) –was not sufficient to encompass the wide range of competencies customers’ VMware teams require. The introduction of the VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) recognized the pinnacle of VMware design knowledge. But a wide chasm remained between VCP and ...

The goal of this 3 day course is to equip consulting professionals with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve competence in designing a VMware vSphere 5 virtual infrastructure. Given an organization’s constraints and requirements, the infrastructure should be available, scalable, manageable, and secure while meeting the organization’s business objectives. The course is based o...

With 2011 wrapped up and the holiday festivities over with, I decided to kick off 2012 by sitting a few new VMware certification exams.  Before I get into the details of the exam experience, I must extend my sincere appreciation to the new testing center I tried out – New Horizons Computer Learning Center in Eagan, MN.  It’s a new facility, friendly staff, state of the art equipmen...