"Begin juni staat iets leuks te gebeuren! Je kunt namelijk op 4 juni gratis het VMware Forum in Den Bosch bezoeken. Deze dag geeft je de gelegenheid om met leveranciers te praten en technische sessies bij te wonen, maar als klap op de vuurpijl is er dit jaar een zogenaamde Genius bar ingericht.

De term Genius bar is komen overwaaien uit Amerika waar op evenementen als VMworld een speciale stand aanwezig is met VMware-specialisten die klaar staan om je vragen te beantwoorden. Een ware primeur voor Nederland is dat we dit jaar op het VMware Forum in Den Bosch ook een echte Genius bar hebben. Deze bar wordt bemand door Bouke Groenescheij, Duco Jaspars, Gabrie van Zanten, Joep Piscaer, Viktor van den Berg en mijzelf, Eric Sloof.

Deze vooraanstaande geniën zijn afkomstig uit het bedrijfsleven en werken dagelijks met de oplossingen van VMware. Je kunt bij deze VMware-enthousiastelingen terecht met al je vragen. Ieder 'genie' heeft zijn eigen expertise en kennis, en kan je ongetwijfeld verder helpen met je VMware-vraagstukken.

Je bent op 4 juni dus van harte welkom in Den Bosch op VMware Forum 2013. Kom vooral even langs bij de Genius bar met eventuele technische vragen. Maar je mag natuurlijk ook gewoon even een praatje komen maken :-)."

Registreer u nu gratis voor het Forum via deze link. 

Many organizations are discovering the immense ROI available by virtualizing business critical applications. Microsoft has recently released new versions of many of its most popular and widely used enterprise applications, including Exchange, SQL Server, and Windows Server itself. Meanwhile, VMware has released a powerful new version of its enterprise virtualization platform, vSphere 5.1. Together, these technologies offer powerful new opportunities for cost-effective virtualization, and for migration towards cost-effective private cloud architectures. But successfully integrating them requires deep knowledge. Bridging the gap between Microsoft and VMware worlds, this guide brings together all the knowledge, best practices, and techniques you’ll need.

Two leading experts in virtualizing Microsoft business-critical applications on VMware demonstrate how to optimize performance and availability, and what you must do to ensure full support by both Microsoft and VMware. From sizing to architecture to monitoring metrics, they present start-to-finish coverage of virtualizing:

• Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Domain Controllers
• Windows Server 2012 Failover Clusters
• Exchange Server 2013
• SQL Server 2012
• SharePoint 2013

For each, example configurations are provided, along with explanations and descriptions of new application features and their relationship to virtualization, as well as tips, tricks, and insights from the authors’ own experience. Throughout, diagrams and figures illustrate key points and compare feature sets, and many references to relevant white papers and Knowledge Base articles are also provided.

Virtualizing Microsoft Business Critical Applications on VMware vSphere 5 - Rough Cuts by Matt Liebowitz

The Virtual Appliance offers the full functionality of hardware load balancers:

• High Availability
• Full Layer 4/7 Server Load Balancing
• Supports unlimited Virtual & Real Servers
• Web-based GUI
• HTTP Cookie Persistence
• RDP Cookie Persistence
• SSL Offloading
• 802.1q VLANs
• 802.3ad Bonding
• Feedback Agent
• Stateful Packet Inspection
• Full IPv6 Support
• SIP Support with Call-ID Persistence
• Full System root Access

Snapshot Explorer eliminates the time-consuming and tedious need to track snapshots manually. It detects all snapshots, including orphaned snapshots, and provides all of this information at a glance. Snapshot Explorer provides VM administrators with advanced filters and a detailed snapshot list.

Foglight for Virtualization, Free Edition, a single downloadable virtual appliance, now offers six free utilities:

• Snapshot Explorer - Detects all snapshots, including orphaned shapshots, to avoid problems with performance and capacity. 
• Environment Explorer - Provides at-a-glance information about performance, efficiency and capacity.
• Change Explorer - Lists all changes that occur in a virtual environment, and provides associated risk impact.
• Storage Explorer - Assesses storage performance and capacity across datastores and VMs.
• vScope Explorer - Offers immediate identification of VMs, hosts and datastores suffering performance, capacity and efficiency issues. 
• SearchMyVM Explorer - Delivers search capabilities, similar to Google, of the virtual environment.

Here's a link to the Download and the Community.

How To Troubleshoot vSphere 5.x Performance Issues Using vCenter Operations by Mark Achtemichuk and Hemant Gaidhani

This course consists of the following modules:

• vCloud Networking and Security Vision describes the challenges that vCloud Networking and Security addresses, its key concepts, and the customer benefits.
• vCloud Networking and Security Overview explains workload networking and security requirements, describes vCloud Networking and Security components, and explains vCloud Networking and Security purchasing options.
• vCloud Networking and Security Customer Use Cases examines how customers implemented vCloud Networking and Security into their environments.

> Hi Raymon, when you're were working at VMware, you started out as a senior consultant and later switched to Technical Account Management. What's the big difference between those roles?

PSO consulting is a pure technical position, hence the number of VCDX's coming out of VMware PSO, where Technical Account Management is more focussed on account management and customer relationships. My primary focus was to guide our enterprise customers on their journey to the cloud by introducing aspects like automation, orchestration, self-services, chargeback, configuration management and virtual infrastructure management. On top of this the TAM is the logical bridge between the customer and VMware for everything related to support, product features, engineering and account management.

> Once you were working as a Technical Account Manager, you've earned a reward for your outstanding work. Isn't it hard to quit a role that really fits you?

I got this award based on two of the enterprise customers that I was responsible for where we successfully introduced our cloud vision. Our vision, as you know, is based on increasing agility by introducing simplification through automation and orchestration and that was the link for me with Nutanix. At Nutanix we introduce a radically simple solution compared to traditional data centers that easily scales and at the same time will reduce cost and complexity by introducing a "pay as you grow" model.

> Your new job at Nutanix involves a lot of pioneering since you're the first SE in the Netherlands. Do you enjoy exploring new challenges and territories?

As you know I'm always in for a challenge. When I joined VMware almost 4 years ago I came from Oracle with an Identity and Access management background, within 6 months I was VCAP-DCA + VCAP-DCD certified. So jumping into something completely different is not new to me. That said, I strongly believe in the value that we as Nutanix can bring to the market by offering rapid deployment, highly scalable architecture, enterprise-class hyper converged storage and compute capabilities and a modular scale-out approach.

> If I want to capture the philosophy behind Nutanix in one sentence and say "As many virtual machine per cubic centimetre as possible" am I on the right track?

No, unfortunately not. Nutanix provides a datacenter infrastructure which is indeed 2 to 5 times smaller in space and power but Nutanix is not only about the number of VM's per host / node / block. It's much more than that. What you could say is the following:

Nutanix offers a linear infinite scale-out architecture that enables a cost-effective and seamless growth path for organizations that need to scale their compute and storage infrastructure. 

The Nutanix virtual computing platform converges all compute and storage resources into a single, integrated system. Multiple sever nodes and Nutanix blocks can be seamlessly clustered to achieve massive scale. Each Nutanix solution is delivered in easy-to-deploy 2U appliances, with virtualization software pre-installed and ready to run out of the box.

> What's, in your experience, the real wow factor when people are starting out with the solutions Nutanix is offering?

The real wow factor is a combination of how simple it is to set it up plus the ease of maintenance and at the same time delivering a next generation infrastructure for your virtual landscape. A Nutanix cluster can be setup within 30 minutes, we offer 1 intuitive user interface for management and we deliver Google-like datacenter capabilities. For more information see our video Nutanix in 2 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xORDdqOKOSA

> Last but not least, I've heard you're throwing a party in a cinema and everyone is invited, can you tell me more about it.

6th of june we are throwing a big party to introduce Nutanix to the Netherlands and everyone is invited. We are hosting the premiere of Star Trek into darkness. Star Trek is well known for it's influence on the world outside of science fiction, it was an inspiration for several technological inventions such as the cell phone. In other words it connected the future with today, the same as we are now doing at Nutanix.

Registration for this event is open: http://go.nutanix.com/Movie_Register.html and we are looking forward to seeing you there!

Now, for the first time, there’s a comprehensive guide to VCDX defense: VCDX Boot Camp. Based on the legendary standing-room-only boot camps led by VCDX co-creator John Arrasjid, this guide captures the unsurpassed personal experience of three pioneering VCDX certification holders, program developers, and defense panelists.

John Arrasjid, Ben Lin, and Mostafa Khalil cover everything you need to know to prepare for certification. They demystify the entire VCDX defense process, clearly explain its format and prerequisites, and offer indispensable tips for maximizing your likelihood of success.

Detailed chapters on both design and troubleshooting offer four complete scenarios explaining exactly what VCDX panelists will expect from your defense. Learn how to think like a VCDX, discovering powerful insights and best practices for designing your own world-class virtualized environment.

Coverage includes:

• Authoritative preparation guidance (including expert insights into scheduling your preparation and defense)
• Tips for conducting mock defenses, boot camps, and study sessions with your colleagues
• How to select, create, and document a superior, defensible design
• How to make design choices and incorporate design patterns that support the VCDX blueprint
• How to confidently defend your skills in architecture, designing new solutions, and troubleshooting design or implementation flaws
• Proven tips for responding to tough questions from panelists
• Detailed example defenses of designs incorporating VCDX-DCV, VCDX-Cloud, and  VCDX-DT

Horizon View™ 5.2 deployment.

Technical White Paper -  VMware Horizon View 5.2 and Hardware Accelerated 3D Graphics

• Resource aggregation
• Initial placement
• Load balancing
• Affinity rules
• Datastore maintenance mode
  
  

Technical White Paper - Understanding vSphere 5.1 Storage DRS by @Frankdenneman

• In the first module, Security in a Virtualized Datacenter, we will describe security principles and identify unique security considerations in virtualized datacenter environments.
• In the Platform Hardening module we will describe VMware vSphere® security and present some vSphere hardening examples.
• In the Security Compliance and Governance module we will describe compliance, common standards, common compliance controls, VMware compliance example with PCI, and examine VMware compliance solutions.
• In the Security Use Cases in Virtualized Datacenters module we will explain how to protect business-critical applications in virtualized environments and how to secure VMware View virtual desktop infrastructure deployments.
• In the Private Cloud Security module we will define cloud computing, examine private cloud architecture, and examine security considerations in private clouds.
• In the last module, the Ecosystem Enablement and APIs, we will describe the vCloud Ecosystem Framework, introduce the relevant APIs, along with the VMware Ready program that Technology Alliance Partners use to access the APIs. Finally, we will show some examples of partner integrations.

Register for the free Security Principles in Virtualized Datacenters training course

Before attending this course, you should have the following knowledge:

• Using VMware vSphere Client to view the state of virtual machines, datastores, and networks
• Opening a virtual machine console in VMware vCenter Server and accessing the guest operating system
• Navigating Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Microsoft SQL Server user interfaces

By the end of the course, you should understand the features and operation of Horizon Mirage and be able to do the following:

Storage is the foundation of any VMware View implementation. This document is intended for architects and systems administrators who are considering an implementation of View. It outlines the steps you should take to characterize your environment, from determining the type of users in your environment to choosing storage protocols and storage technology.

The paper covers the following topics:

• Windows Disk I/O Workloads

• Base Image Considerations

• Storage Protocol Choices

• Storage Technology Options

• Storage Array Decisions 
• Increasing Storage Performance

Technical White Paper - Storage Considerations  for VMware View 

Once you login to the voting site, you can select a Track, Area of Interest or do a Keyword Search (Session ID, title, sloof, etc.) to find specific sessions. You can vote on as many sessions as you’d like. You can only cast one vote per session. For sessions that you like and would like to see in the VMworld program, click on the “Thumbs Up”  symbol next to the Session ID. You will receive confirmation that your vote has been counted. 

To remove a vote, you will need to click on the on the “Thumbs Up” symbol again and this will remove the vote. Your votes will votes be saved and you will be able to view them each time you login to the voting site. I've submitted two sessions on my own and one with Duco Jaspars over at vConsult this year:

In this session you will learn how to create professional videos easily. You will get a walkthrough with some basic steps like setting-up you lab, using the right microphone and disabling other interfering software. Besides a lot of great tips for recording an instructional video, you will also learn how to edit the videos and use special effects to make the tutorials more attractive to watch. You will also learn how to import other content. Once the video is ready, you will get a heads up about all the different possibilities for sharing the video.

VMware High Availability offers several options to configure failover capacity for a cluster. This session will show you the different options and their pitfalls. You will learn how to configure vSphere HA to tolerate a specified number of host failures. With the Host Failures Cluster Tolerates admission control policy, vSphere HA ensures that a specified number of hosts can fail and sufficient resources remain in the cluster to fail over all the virtual machines from those hosts.

This session will teach you how to customize vCenter Operations to provide you the information you really need for your business. You will get an insight of very useful vCenter Operations Manager customizations.  We do this by giving you some real life examples from the field where we use Custom Dashboards, Super Metrics, Adapters and Alerts in order to give you the best possible view in to the well-being of your environment.