Archive for February, 2009

Today I recieved an email from the manager of the VMTN Communities, to tell me I’ve been awared the exclusive vExpert. Can I say a big thank you to John and to all those folks who helped me when I first got started out in 2003/4. It’s a real pleasure to be recognised for my commitment to virtualization and VMware generally…

[Oh, and by the way - remember a vExpert is the same as an real-physical Expert - he's just one page ahead of you in the manual too!!! ]

Offical Announcment is here: http://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2009/02/vmware-vexpert-awards.html

Here’s what the email says:

Congratulations! On behalf of VMware, we would like to thank you for all the work you’ve done giving back to the virtualization community and sharing your expertise with others. We are pleased to present you with the VMware vExpert Award for 2009. VMware is giving this award to individuals who have contributed significantly to the community of VMware users over the past year. 

VMware vExpert award winners will receive:

* An award certificate and gift
* Access to a private vExpert community
* vExpert logo to display on website or email signature
* Free subscription to conference session materials on VMworld.com
* Access to exclusive online events and other opportunities to participate in activities
* Inclusion in public vExpert directory
* The vExpert award duration is one year (through February, 2010).

Check this out – its a hoot!

http://twitpic.com/1o9xy

(Oh, adult language on the card… forwarned is forarmed…)

This session was a good overview of all the new management features – I kinda zone’d out in place because it was presented by marketing person (no disrespect) BUT, it was useful as a top-level overview of what VMware are doing. Much of this stuff I heard about in the Private-NDA “Instructors” Only session on Monday – but it was useful to have quickly wrapped up – because it means I can zone-in (rather than zone-out) on what I think are going to be stuff people REALLY wanna use. There was tidy sum of stuff you should already have heard about – like SRM and LCM. But there was new stuff too. I kinda embarassed the lady by asking her about VM-free management – will VMware ever manage HyperV and Xen…

VMworld Europe - 2009: Episode6: Next Generation Management Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This was a great session in the new features of Convertor 4.0 from VMware. As you might know the new version came out recently – and this was a great session for catching up with what VMware doing. Here’s a top-level view. The video is mainly me asking questions at the end!

So the new version now supports:

• Linux P2V with a special helper-VM. This affectively runs very like using the cold-clone CD inside a VM. Something we do in the VMware courses to demo the on-line and offline methods
• P2V VMotion – Basically, a bit “live state” P2V which uses snapshots and works with Windows Services to get the P2V’d VM closer in state to the physical source
• Reduced Time – We shown stats that showed the old method against the new – how different in time it took to the conversion of an SQL Server – down from 3hrs to 13mins!

On the downside the cold-clone CD for 4.0 isn’t (yet available) BUT on the upside when it is – the whole thing will be free…

VMworld Europe - 2009: Episode5: VMware Convertor4 [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As reported earlier Paul M@VMware CEO of the company outlined VMware’s Cloud Computing strategy… Here’s a fun video that shows what it was to be there!

VMworld Europe - 2009: Episode4: CEO Keynote Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Yeah, at last we can use the word publically!

Well, I crashed back at the hotel for a short while – and via twitter managed to get myself an invite to the TripWire dinner. Tom Howarth, Steve Beaver and Jason Boche were in attendence… Oh, and so was Joep Piscaer…!!!

VMworld Europe - 2009: Episode3: 1st Night Out [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today I’m attending the VCI Day. This morning we looked at the “Next Generation” of VMware technologies – that’s the code word for the product-that-the-lawyers-won’t-allow-you-to-refer-to-because-your-constrained-by-the-NDA! 

Still I learnt quite a bit here and there – because although I have been writing about the next generation of techs since October – I’ve been busy making sure the Vi3 book fits with the NG… I’ve been holding of the very brand new features until VMworld Europe 2009 because I expect to learn a lot this week…

VMworld Europe - 2009: Episode2: VCI Day [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Over on Virtu-AL… (cute!) he has a Vi Toolkit Quick referrence guide… worth checkin’ out!

http://teckinfo.blogspot.com/2009/02/vi-toolkit-quick-reference-guide.html

Just posted  a new video, can’t test if it works – because the internet acces blows where I am…

Confirm or Deny?