VMware View 5 Essentials Training: Available Now

Learn how to centralize desktops as virtual machines with optimized PCoIP, persona management, and ThinApp with VMware View 5 Essentials. You’ll not only learn the new features of View 5, you will know basics like the components of View, all the way through topics on troubleshooting and monitoring.

Properly configuring and maintaining a VDI hinges on a solid understanding of the infrastrucutre and how to foresee issues while actually in the workplace. Here are some key lessons for admins up to the challenge:

• How to Manage User Profiles and Data
• Set Up Location-Based Printing
• How to Virtualize Apps with ThinApp
• Upgrading to View 5

Instruction by two leading virtualization experts, Lane Leverett and Brian Knudtson, allows students to walk away from the course knowing VDI, ThinApp and what’s new with View 5. If you have been tasked with implementing a virtual infrastructure and need help to get it up and running, this course is made for you. With some background managing desktop OS with Active Directory and any level of familiarity with vSphere, you can find youself moving from an intro to the core concepts of VDI, to a practical ability to manage desktop pools, user data, printing, and virtual applications.

VMware View 5 Essentials gets you started in virtualization and your View environment up and running.

The infographic shows that application virtualization actually improved the quality of service while reducing total cost of ownership. If you’re considering application virtualization for your organization, check out this infographic and our brand new training that will provide you with the essentials of desktop and application virtualization with VMware View 5.

Thank you so much for your support and your votes! Our virtualization instructors along with the entire TrainSignal team want to thank you for helping us develop the best virtualization training available on the market.

In this short video, David Davis, TrainSignal’s lead virtualization instructor talks about the award and what it means for us.

The tools presented in this webinar have all made David’s and Kendrick’s top 25 list and are all completely free. Whether you’re a seasoned VMware pro or someone just starting to learn about virtualization, you’ll benefit from learning about these tools as they’ll undoubtedly will make your work more productive and enjoyable.

If you weren’t able to attend the live event, take a look at this video which includes the complete webinar presentation, from start to finish. And if you have any questions for David or Kendrick, don’t hesitate to contact them on Twitter (@davidmdavis and @KendrickColeman) or through their blogs (vmwarevideos.com and kendrickcoleman.com).

But how do you know which tools to use?

Get the Best Free vSphere Tools, Road Tested and Approved

Date: Wednesday, January 11^th 2012
Time: 2 PM – 3 PM CST

Registration: Register today. Seats are limited.

In this free webinar you’ll learn about 25+ essential tools that no VMware admin should go without. vExperts David Davis and Kendrick Coleman will present you with only the best, road tested, reviewed and approved tools that you can get for free. Tools that will help you with vSphere management, performance, reporting, scripting and a whole lot more.

Whether you’re an experienced virtualization pro or an admin just starting with VMware, you’ll benefit from learning about these 25 completely free tools.

In this one hour webinar you’ll learn:

• Why every VMware admin should use free virtualization tools
• Where to download the best free VMware tools
• Which free tools will make your job as a VMware admin easier and more productive

Registration is filling up fast and seats are limited! Signup for this free webinar today!

Implementing Cisco Unified Computing System Training: Available Now

This course has benn authored by VCDX #49 and vExpert Jason Nash to train professionals that are already using Cisco and VMware in an emerging technology. Implementing Cisco UCS Training will expand cross platform skill sets to help experienced IT pros turn into sought-after, certified experts.

The course is aimed at preparing students for the Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist exam (642-994). Video lessons address Cisco UCS concepts in the context of GUI and command line, and Jason Nash even demonstrates in a live server room how to work with UCS server blades. Students ultimately learn the best practices of Cisco UCS implementation from start to finish. Here are some of the key lessons:

• UCS Architecture & Components
• Configuring Connectivity
• Routine & Advanced Management of UCS
• Pools and Service Profiles

Certified Instruction

Instructor Jason Nash holds over 15 years of experience in IT and also made our vSphere Security Design Training course. As a recognized leader in the virtualization field, Jason’s learning environment combines networking expertise with critical business awareness in order to emphasize the opportunities provided by knowledge in multiple fields. Watch a video where Jason Nash explains the future of IT specializations.

If you are looking to take your Cisco and VMware experience to the next level, this cross-platform Implementing Cisco UCS course will help distinguish you as a certified expert who is competitive in the job market.

So what’s the latest in VMware certification? Let’s find out!

VMware VCP5

Since I posted my update about the deadline to upgrade to the VCP5, the buzz about it has increased. Numerous VMware bloggers have posted their exam experiences (see VCP5 exam reviews from Scott Vessey and vPrimer) and free test preparation tools have become available (see Simon Long’s VCP5 practice exams). I will soon be posting my exam experience as well.

If you have a VCP4 you have until February 29, 2012 to upgrade to the VCP5 or you will have to, basically, start all over again, take a VMware Education class, and then take the VCP5 exam. By upgrading your certification before February, you could save thousands of dollars and a week out of work to take the required class.

What should you do? I recommend preparing for the exam now so you’ll be ready to go before February 29. The best VCP5 study resources include my vSphere 5 video training course, Scott Lowe’s book on Mastering vSphere 5, and the links listed here.

VMware VCP-Desktop (VCP-DT)

A great new certification, now out of beta, is the VCP-Desktop (VCP-DT). This certification covers your knowledge of VMware View and ThinApp. It doesn’t require any VMware education courses but it does require that you have a VMware VCP (which does require a VMware Ed course).

You would think that VMware would make the VCA-DT the sole requirement for the VCP-DT but they didn’t. Strangely enough, you don’t even have to take the VCA-DT to achieve the VCP-DT. Plus, the current versions of any of these desktop virtualization certs are based on vSphere 4 and View 4 with version 5 on the way. Oh well, no matter how it is structured, TrainSignal has great training for any of these options!

Currently in progress, we have an all new VMware View 5 Administration course. This course will replace our current VMware View 4 Administration course but we are starting from scratch and making this course “new and improved” instead of just updating the course. To start off with, we’ll have two VMware vExperts who have certs like triple VCP, VCAP, and even VCDX. The instructors are Lane Leverett and Brian Knudtson. Lane is the co-author of our vSphere Security course and Brian is the author of our View 4 Administration course. I am really looking forward to watching this one!

Upcoming VMware Beta Exams

With vSphere 5 and View 5 already being released, you may be wondering what about new exams and video training based around those versions. Of course, we already said that the VCP5 exam is available however, that is currently the only VMware certification based on vSphere 5 or View 5, to date. I am expecting that in the first quarter of 2012 there will be at least some beta news about VMware certs that cover vSphere 5 and View 5, but I don’t have any specific news. I encourage you to sign up for our Newsletter because as soon as new exams become available, I will post about them here and include info in our Newsletter.

Be on the lookout for certifications like VCAP-DCA 5, DCD 5, VCA-DT 5, and VCP-DT 5. As soon as the certifications are in beta, we will get to work on a correlating video training course and help you to prepare for the exams, as well as help you to prepare to be an admin in the real world. By the way, the View 5 training course that we will have out soon will be based around View 5 so it will already be up to date.

What Should You Do?

During the time that exams and courses change revisions, many people wonder what they should be studying and preparing for. My recommendation is:

1. Get your VCP5
2. If you already have your VCAP, begin learning vSphere 5 to be prepared to upgrade your VCAP (or get a new VCAP, based on vSphere 5)
3. Begin learning cloud computing by trying out the evaluation of vCloud Director 5 in your lab

Questions about VMware certification? Ask me here!

Course instructor Elias Khnaser shows you how to manipulate AutoDeploy to configure any number of ESXi servers using the host profiles. Knowing how to use this new feature of vSphere 5 essentially allows you to deploy & configure a large virtual infrastructure, potentially containing hundreds of servers, in only a matter of hours.

We caught up with David Davis at TechMentor 2011 to find out what new things he’s working on with virtualization. In this interview, he explains his “Filibuster of vSphere Training,” a marathon-like session he gave at TechMentor about how to solve a variety of problems with vSphere, from troubleshooting and free tools, to the VCP-5.

David also had some exciting news to share about VMware View 5, so keep track of his activity in the virtualization community at VMware Videos and on Twitter @davidmdavis.

For a list of the free tools in the video, visit Kendrick’s free vSphere tools list. For questions about free tools or VMware virtualization, contact me, David Davis, on my contact page or leave a comment below.

New vSphere 5 = New Learning Opportunities

The first opportunity (whether you are interested in the VCP certification or not) is to further your knowledge on the hottest new release in IT. While there are some 140+ new features in vSphere 5, there are a few unparalleled new features that every admin should be aware of and understand.

The 5 best new features of vSphere 5 are:

1. vCenter Appliance – a Linux-based virtual appliance that contains vCenter and a local database. This vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) can be imported into an ESXi server and you can have vCenter up and running FAST (without having to buy a Windows Server license, install the OS, and install vCenter). This is where VMware is going with vCenter and it’s likely at some point there won’t be a Windows version of vCenter.
2. vSphere Web Client – a web-based version of the vSphere client, used to administer a vSphere infrastructure. VMware has already announced that soon there won’t be a Windows version of the vSphere client and future administrative interfaces will be web-based. While today’s vSphere web client may only do 60% or so of what the Windows version does, it’s time to start learning it now.
3. Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (SDRS) – an amazing new feature in vSphere enterprise plus that performs load-balancing of storage. SDRS can move the virtual disk of a RUNNING virtual machine from one data store to another with no downtime. This way, if a SAN is experiencing latency or is running out of space, virtual machine disk files can be moved without intervention from the VMware or SAN Admin.
4. AutoDeploy - allows you to deploy hundreds of ESXi servers, automatically, and then configure them using host profiles. Need to get a large virtual infrastructure up and running in a few hours? AutoDeploy is the way you do it.
5. vSphere Host-Based Replication - with vSphere 5 and SRM 5, you can replicate virtual machines from one ESXi server to another, even over a wide-area network. This is done independent of what SAN they are on and doesn’t require hardware-based replication. High availability in the event of a disaster is now more affordable to medium and small businesses.

BONUS – Improved Scalability – vSphere 5 offers much higher configuration maximums for servers and VMs. For example, now you can create a “monster VM” with 32 virtual CPUs, 1TB of virtual RAM, and a 1TB virtual disk.

New vSphere 5 = New Career Opportunities

Along with the new version of vSphere comes new opportunities to upgrade (or achieve) your VMware Certified Professional (VCP) certification. VMware has announced a new version of the VCP — the VCP5 covers traditional VCP topics but is mapped to the new features and maximums of vSphere 5.

If you already have your VCP in vSphere 4 then HURRY because you just have a few months to upgrade your VCP4 without having to take a costly VMware education course.  In fact, the deadline for those who have a VCP4 to upgrade without a class is February 29, 2012.

There is no need to wait until you have vSphere 5 in production and no need to wait for more certification preparation material to come out. You can run vSphere 5 in a lab and the VCP5 prep material is already here — read on!

How to Prepare for the VMware VCP5 Exam in Under One Week

I don’t want to trivialize the VCP5 exam but if you are already a VCP4, preparation shouldn’t be so difficult that it couldn’t be completed in a week. In fact, if you are an experienced VMware Admin with a VCP4 then here’s what I recommend you do in one we week to prep for the VCP5:

1. Build a vSphere 5 virtual lab in VMware Workstation 8 or Fusion 4 (unless you have available servers lying around to use). Use this lab to gain hands-on experience with vSphere 5. This isn’t as hard as it used to be and you’ll find a video in my vSphere 5 video training course that walks you through the process.

   Estimated time to complete: 3 hours

2. Watch my vSphere 5 video training course to learn all the new features of vSphere 5 (including the ones I listed above) from vExperts with years of experience. You can watch this course from your computer, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, Android phone, or even listen to it in your car. I recommend recreating the hands-on portions of the video in your virtual lab so that you can see how they work, for yourself. My VMware vSphere 5 video training will give you all of the practical (and much of the theoretical) knowledge you need to prepare for the VCP5.

   Estimated time to complete: 16 hours

3. Use the practice tests and read the articles from the following links:
   Articles:
   • Comparing Exam Blueprints VCP4 vs VCP5 by Damian Karlson
   • How to Pass the VCP5 Exam by Greg Stuart at the Petri IT Knowledgebase
   Practice Tests:
   • Simon Long’s VCP5 configuration maximums exam and VCP5 practice exams
   • VMware Education’s VCP5 Mock Exam

   Estimated time to complete: 5 hours

So far, that only totals about three 8 hour work days. What do you do with the remaining 2 days? Well, if you are like me, you have to do your work and study too so perhaps you don’t really have any time left. On the other hand, if I really had 2 days left, I would spend my time reading a book likeMastering vSphere 5 by Scott Lowe as learning a topic works best if you get exposure to it in different ways — video, hands-on experience, reading and practice tests.

With your preparation complete, all you need to do is register for and take your VCP5 exam! You can register for your exam at the Pearson VUE VMware website.

Trust me, you aren’t alone taking the VCP5 – there are always at least 80,000 VCPs out there, just like you, who need to upgrade their VCP4 to a VCP5 (including your humble author — me). Post your exam questions or experience here (no NDA material please!).

For questions about virtual labs, my vSphere 5 training video, the VCP5 exam, or resources contact me via the contact page on my blog.

Good luck on the VCP 5 exam! ]]> http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/vcp4-to-vcp5/feed 0 http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/vmworld-2011-interview-kendrick-coleman http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/vmworld-2011-interview-kendrick-coleman#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:18:42 +0000 Chris Magiet http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/?post_type=free_video&p=27765 At VMworld 2011 in Las Vegas, we again had the opportunity to sit down with VCE’s Kendrick Coleman. This VCP, vExpert with a diverse background in Cisco networking is a dedicated IT blogger and a great presenter. This year he presented a collaborative session with David Davis on the top free VMware vSphere tools of 2011. In this video interview, Kendrick talks about the impact of the developments at VCE, such as “FastPath” and Vblock. He also goes on about virtual application development and vCloud Director.

VCE stands for the Virtual Computing Environment Company, a partnership between Cisco and EMC affiliated with VMware and Intel. With a goal of helping companies adopt cloud-based computing models, the success of VCE focuses on reducing costs and time for IT infrastructure in all industries, from education and healthcare, to retail and utilities. In particular, the Vblock infrastructures offered by VCE are preconfigured with the necessary platforms, allowing for quick and cost-minded deployments.

Kendrick’s blog boasts a plethora of how-to articles, product reviews and industry commentary. As an extension of his VMworld session co-presented with David Davis, Kendrick recently produced a lengthy breakdown of his Top 10 Free vSphere ESX Tolls & Utilities. Follow Kendrick’s thoughts and insights on Twitter @kendrickcoleman and his blog kendrickcoleman.com.

]]> http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/vmworld-2011-interview-kendrick-coleman/feed 0 http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/interview-jason-boche http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/interview-jason-boche#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:04:02 +0000 Chris Magiet http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/?post_type=free_video&p=27707 VCDX#34 Jason Boche is a VMware Virtualization Evangelist working as a virtualization product specialist & technical marketing senior advisor for Dell Compellent. Dell Compellent has him working on lab testing, writing best practices for integration with VMware, and enhancing the customer experience.

At VMworld 2011 in Las Vegas, Jason had some great advice for new users of vSphere 5. He also discusses the need for well-developed virtualization/cloud strategies in order to have successful integration with VMware or other platforms. You also don’t want to miss his bit about VDI.

Jason uses his top-10 rated VMware blog as a way of transmitting his 15 years as an IT veteran with news and commentary on virtualization. You can follow him on Twitter at @jasonboche.

]]> http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/interview-jason-boche/feed 0 http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/interview-vcdx-lane-leverett http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/interview-vcdx-lane-leverett#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:13:15 +0000 Chris Magiet http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/?post_type=free_video&p=27678 In this video interview VCDX Lane Leverett (@wolfbrthr) gives some great advice to VMware users aspiring to pass the VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) exam. Lane describes his experience & what to expect in each phase, from required exams, the application and the defense. He stresses the significance of proper documentation in the designs according to the extensive VCDX requirements. Lane also talks about an approach to the defense section for having a clear, thorough presentation that supports the integrity of your design.

If you’re someone new to virtualization check out the Intro to Virtualization Webinar, like a mini-lesson on the basics. Watch the video above to hear Lane’s prediction for the role of virtualization in datacenters, administration, and overall communication over the next ten years.

Learn Virtualization

Virtualization is transitioning into a standard of the industry by unifying storage, networking, and application processes. From a professional standpoint, knowledge of virtualization’s already impacts IT careers, and will increasingly do so in the future. For a more in-depth discussion on VCDX certification, watch these videos where David Davis interviews Jason Boche and John Arrasjid VCDX001. If you’re looking into the VCAP, Lane Leverett is a contributor to our VMware vSphere 4 VCAP Training Package.

]]> http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/interview-vcdx-lane-leverett/feed 0 http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/interview-jake-robinson-bluelock http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/interview-jake-robinson-bluelock#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:00:00 +0000 Chris Magiet http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/?post_type=free_video&p=27571 Bluelock is a provider of cloud hosting solutions for the enterprise. They maintain Bluelock virtual datacenters (VDCs) that meet the distinct challenges of business, and are currently one of only three VMware vCloud Datacenter providers in North America.

vExpert, VCP Jake Robinson is an engineer at BlueLock, so we interviewed him about some of the hot subjects at VMworld 2011. Jake raves about the cloud, datacenters, and automation, as well as Bluelock’s new developments to service VMware vCloud. In this video Jake sheds light on the new features from Bluelock:

• GlobalConnect to provide a global presence for vCloud datacenters to be used worldwide as one system
• PowerShell Snap-in for VMware
• Portfolio tool for decision support and cost management within the cloud.

Visit Bluelock.com to see how a Virtual Datacenter can help make cloud computing work for you. Jake’s blog is Geek After Five and you can follow @jakerobinson and @bluelock on Twitter.

]]> http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/videos/interview-jake-robinson-bluelock/feed 0 http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/it-book-giveaway http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/it-book-giveaway#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:55:37 +0000 Chris Magiet http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/?p=27508 Your chance to win autographed copies of the best IT books!

We like to give away free stuff to our readers on a regular basis, it’s what we do to show our thanks for your support! This month we are giving away over $1,000 worth of autographed copies of books by some of the most influential experts in the IT industry.

How to Enter

From Thursday, October 13^th through Friday, October 21^st we will be giving away signed copies of seven different titles — a different book will be given away each day.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Scroll down to the discussion section of this post
2. Briefly tell us about your favorite tech innovation of this year
3. Submit your comment on the days you want to be entered to win according to the list below

On the last day of the giveaway, we will be giving away a grand prize of all the books valued at over $400.

The Goods

At least one winner will be selected everyday during the contest. We will take the comments posted each day and randomly select a winner to receive the book of the day. Remember, on the last day of the contest we will give away a package of all the books being given away valued at over $400. Here’s what you can win on each day of the contest:

Thursday October 13

Zero Day by Mark Russinovich

CONGRATULATIONS to Thursday’s Winners, Duncan Pope & Jesus Lopez

Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Technical Fellow and leading authority on cyber security, composed this novel as a cautionary “what if” tale about the perils of poot security infrastructure. The thrilling novel provides a glimpse of the real threats of cyberterrorism.

Friday October 14

Windows Internals, 5th Edition by Mark Russinovich, David Solomon, Alex Ionescu

Congratulations to Friday’s Winners Kirk Battick and Mike Preston!

A team of internals experts break down advanced techniques in architecture for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. Learn from great perspectives on performance, debugging, system design, and more.

Saturday October 15

Windows 7 Secrets by Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera

Congratulations to Saturday’s Winners Greg Bryant and Ric Chapman!

This full-length guide is a great reference for users to become experts with Windows 7. All the features and functions that distinguish the operating system are covered by Microsoft Windows experts Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera.

Sunday October 16

Mastering Windows Server 2008 R2 by Mark Minasi

Congratulations to Sunday’s Winners Kent Nolan and Supun Kaushal!

World-renowned Windows expert Mark Minasi crafted one of the most in-depth Server 2008 R2 resources out there. His book teaches the core concepts crucial to the skills of a sys admin.

Monday October 17

Windows PowerShell 2.0 by Don Jones and Jeff Hicks

Congratulations to Monday’s Winners Albert Osekre and Josue Castillo!

Two Microsoft PowerShell MVPs, Don Jones and Jeff Hicks, put together an ultimate scripting resource for beginners to those with advanced skill sets. They cover all the features of PowerShell v2, and advanced functions, such as writing cmdlets and custom formatting views.

Tuesday October 18

Managing Active Directory with Windows PowerShell by Jeff Hicks

Congratulations to Tuesday’s Winners Camilo Campo and Jeffrey Smith!

PowerShell guru Jeff Hicks shows you how to make Active Directory and PowerShell work together in this second edition publication. Use this book to work with real-world script examples to help you save time and money.

Wednesday October 19

Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches by Don Jones

Congratulations to Wednesday’s Winners Ryan Breneman and Simon

PowerShell MVP Don Jones wil have you comfortable with effective PowerShell techniques in just an hour a day.

UPDATE: Thursday October 20

Mastering vSphere 5 by Scott Lowe

We’ve got some more autographed titles for an extra day of IT Book Giveaways! The new book from VCDX Scott Lowe covers the features of the popular virtualization platform from VMware. This book is a surefire guide for knowing how to install and configure vSphere 5, and use it’s features, like the Web Client, to ensure smooth operations after migration. Mastering vSphere 5 will also be added to Grand Prize Book Bundle.

Friday October 21: Grand Prize!

Win all the titles signed by the authors!

UPDATE: Congrats to the Grand Prize Winner Marty Pennartz! And thanks to everyone who participated, your support is greatly appreciated!

Official Contest Rules:

Please read through all of the official stuff below before entering:

No purchase necessary to enter or win. By entering you agree to our use of your name in any TrainSignal literature.

Binding Agreement

In order to enter TrainSignal’s 2011 Fall Book Giveaway (the “Contest”), you must agree to these Official Contest Rules (the “Rules”); please read this entire document prior to entry to ensure you understand and agree. You agree that submission of an entry in the Contest constitutes agreement to the Rules. The Rules form a binding legal agreement between you and TrainSignal, Inc with respect to the Contest.

Eligibility

The Contest is open to all individuals 18 years and older. Current TrainSignal employees are not eligible. Only one entry per person, per day. In order for your entry to be eligible it must meet all of the requirements as listed above. Entries that do not include all of the requirements are deemed ineligible.

How to Enter

To enter the contest you must submit a comment listing your favorite tech innovation of 2011. Any comments submitted that do not include a tech innovation will not be eligible to win. You must submit your comment according to the giveaway schedule listed above. Any entries received after the contest deadlines will be deemed invalid.

Prizes

All Prizes are not redeemable in cash and must be accepted as awarded. By claiming the prize, the winner authorizes the use, without additional compensation of his or her name and municipality of residence for promotion and advertising purposes as deemed appropriate by TrainSignal, Inc. Any potential winner who cannot be contacted by email within 14 days of the first attempted notification will forfeit his/her prize.

Privacy

Participants agree that personal data including name, mailing address, phone number and email address will be collected and used for purposes of administering the Contest. If a Participant does not provide the required data when requested, the Participant’s Entry will be ineligible for any prizes. All personal data collected will be maintained in accordance with Train Signal’s Privacy Policy which all Participants should read and understand.

Contest Sponsor

The Contest is sponsored by TrainSignal, Inc, 152 W. Center Court, Schaumburg, Illinois 60462.

And that’s how our second place winner, Ashraf from Jordan, was able to join us for the VMworld 2011 conference in Las Vegas Nevada. Ashraf has blogged about his experiences at VMworld, but we were also able to shoot a short video interview with him to find out what he liked most about the conference and what his advice is for other IT professionals attending VMworld for the first time.

Here’s a photo of Ashraf with the TrainSignal crew at the Palazzo in Las Vegas. I, of course, have my eyes closed

And here’s a photo of Brian Green, TrainSignal’s Product Development Specialist with Ashraf at the VMworld party.

We had a great time hanging out with Ashraf at VMworld 2011 and we hope that we’ll be able to see him at another tech conference in the future. Ashraf is very intelligent and extremely passionate about technology, particularly virtualization. Take a look at the video, which was shot in the conference hall in front of the TrainSignal booth, to see what Ashraf has to say about his experience at VMworld.

VMUG is not like any other technology user groups out there. It has over 56,000 individual members across 150 local chapters and regional events (such as the popular Carolina Summit). In addition to the in-person meetings, VMUG has a thriving online community where you can take advantage of even more learning and networking opportunities.

Interested in Virtualization? VMUG is for You!

While at VMworld 2011, I got a chance to talk to Rod Gabriel, the Director on the VMUG Boad and leader of the Wisconsin VMUG. In the video Rod outlines all of the member benefits that VMUG-ers can take advantage of (such as access to VMware engineers, special training events and webcasts). Rod also explains how the new VMUG Advantage program works and why you’d want to sign up for it.

If you’re interested in virtualization, then VMUG is for you! Check out myVMUG.org and @MyVMUG.

And if you’re in the Chicago area, make sure to come to the October 31st, 2011 event at the Schaumburg Renaissance Convention Center. Registration is open and free to all VMUG members, so signup today!.

When I sat down for an interview with Veeam’s Doug Hazelman at VMworld 2011, he shared the news of the company’s new education venture, the Backup Academy, a free training and certification resource for IT professionals who want to improve their knowledge and skills in data protection and backup, specifically when utilizing virtualization. Designed for IT professionals who are just getting started using backup technologies, the Backup Academy is a community project that is vendor neutral, so you’ll learn about all of the available backup products, not just Veeam.

The best part of the Backup Academy (besides, of course, that it’s a free resource) is the quality instruction. The virtualization experts who are involved in as of today include five vExperts: David Davis, Eric Siebert, Elias Khnaser, Greg Shields and Rick Vanover. Here’s a quick list of the current available training videos:

1. Why virtual machine backups are different presented by David Davis
2. Core technologies used for virtual machine backup presented by Eric Siebert
3. Disaster recovery of VMware workloads presented by David Davis
4. Backing up enterprise applications: Transaction consistency is key presented by Elias Khnaser
5. Restore capabilities of VMware backups presented by Eric Siebert
6. VMware backup integrity tools presented by Eric Siebert
7. Best practices for VMware backups presented by Rick Vanover
8. Best practices for Hyper-V backups presented by Greg Shields

Another great thing about the Backup Academy is the fact that you can test and validate your new knowledge with the Backup Academy Certification. You can become a certified Backup Academy Expert after successfully completing the 30+ question exam that focuses on backups in virtualized environments.

Learn More

Learn more about the new Backup Academy and what Veeam is up to in the video interview with Doug Hazelman and make sure to check out all of the videos available for free at the Backup Academy. And if you’re looking to stay connected with Veeam, take a look at the Veeam Communities page for more info.

In my last blog post about my VMworld 2011 journey, I will try to summarize some of the best and most important things I learned during the VMworld sessions I attended. This is not in any way an attempt to summarize each session, but a snapshot of what I felt was new and important info to share.

Off to a Good Start: New-V Session

I started my VMworld sessions with a “New-V session”, as it’s specifically intended for people attending VMworld for the first time, and contains useful info and tips that helped a lot during the rest of my stay. To my surprise there were only around a couple hundred attendees in the session; there is no way that the rest of 1900+ who registered for VMworld 2011 are all returning for a second time

Greg Shields on Configuration Mistakes of HA and DRS

One of the most interesting, useful and funny sessions was delivered by Greg Shields about the 16 big configuration mistakes of HA and DRS. I can’t really mention any specific notes from this session as it felt like a continuous fabric of information; the 16 mistakes were built in sequence and flowing both logically and smoothly off each other. I advise anybody that can to attend a recording of this session and if you are going to VMworld Europe, try not to miss it.

A fatal mistake (that was mentioned in another session) and I felt it is so important that I saved it as a note on my mobile is that: “Must” and “Should” affinity rules will stay active even after DRS is disabled. The administrator must remove those before disabling or will have all sorts of odd and unexplained behavior later on.

Scott Lowe on vSphere Design

Another very useful session was about vSphere Design presented by Scott Lowe. The underlying theme of the session is simple but very important; always design for functional requirements. A design should be linked to the needs of the business, we should try to not be total geeks and just do things because it is fun or because we can. I personally know it is a very hard thing to avoid, but Scott spent an hour giving detailed examples of how to apply this mindset in practice.

Another important session I attended was on Data Protection. A funny note that started the session is that many administrators care a lot about servers’ uptime and forget the fact that servers can do no good without the data.

Another interesting fact is that 80% of disasters are man-made. A scary fact is that almost all organizations perform regular backup, but many neglect performing a test restore to know if the backup they were taking is any good or even usable.

VMware’s Data Recovery (VDR) 2.0 finally has email reporting, and it was enhanced with Change Block Tracking to save backup space, together with de-duplication and compression it can achieve ratios as low as 2% of original size for typical VMs!

Linus Bourque on VCP Certification

For those preparing to be VCP certified there were VCP5 and VCAP quick-start sessions. Linus Bourque was an amazing speaker (I will try to book my next VMware course with him if possible). He breathes life into a very boring subject like exam requirements!!

A few of the most useful pieces of information he provided were:

• You do not need to buy any books for the exams; you can learn all what is needed by downloading the free documents on the exam blueprint.
• Keep in mind that VMware official classes do not prepare students for exams; it prepares admins for day to day tasks.

The most interesting info I got from this session is knowing the method VMware Education uses to check that a VCP exam taker has already gone through the official course and thus is eligible for the certificate. Each VMware official course attendee gets a MyLearn account, the email address used on the MyLearn site is compared with the email address used to register for the exam on Pearson Vue site, if the two match a certificate is issued. If the two do not initially match, you will go through a very hard time trying to make VMware education draw the links manually and award you your certificate. So make sure to use the same email when going through the process.

David Davis and Kendrick Coleman on Top Free Virtualization Tools

People like free stuff, and so it was natural that more than 1,000 attendee were present for the Top Ten Free Virtualization Tools session presented by David Davis and Kendrick Coleman. As they say “good administrators are lazy” and since I like to be an excellent administrator, I was thrilled to know that there are a lot of automation, performance reporting and monitoring tools available freely. My top three were VMTurbo, Veeam and Xangati.

However, the hottest thing at VMworld 2011 was the Appblast demo during the general sessions. Appblast has the potential to deliver any application to any HTML5 browser. It runs Microsoft Excel on iPad way better than Microsoft SharePoint Office Web Apps runs Excel on Internet Explorer! If you haven’t already, you should really go and check it out.

At the end of this lengthy blog post, I would like thank the TrainSignal team for the mesmerizing experience, wonderful company and great opportunity they have given me by awarding me the prize to attend VMworld 2011. I hope to be able to win again next year

Now, what was your favorite VMworld 2011 session?