VMware Videos - Virtualization News and How-To

vChat – Episode 35 – Josh Atwell at SFLVMUG Talking vCO and Career Success

David Davis — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:01:25 +0000

In vChat #35, I sit down with vExpert, Blogger (at vtesseract.com), vBrownbag leader, VCE Guru, and virtualization evangelist to chat. We cover his presentation at the VMUG of “How to Become a vRockstar with vCenter Orchestrator” and my presentation “Secrets to a Successful Career in Tech“.

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

Secrets to a Successful Career in Tech by David Davis (@davidmdavis)

David Davis — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:33:22 +0000

In April 2013 I was invited to give the keynote address at the South Florida Regional VMware User Group (VMUG) in West Palm Beach, FL. Honored to do so, I spoke on a topic that I feel passionate about – The “Secrets to a Successful Career in Tech”. There were roughly 400 attendees at the S FL VMUG that say, which took place at the West Palm Beach Convention Center (a beautiful venue with beautiful weather). It was also great to speak along with fellow vExpert Josh Atwell of the N Carolina VMUG, who did a fantastic job on the noon-day keynote – “How to Become a vRockstar with vCenter Orchestrator”. After the VMUG, Josh and I recorded vChat #35 where we spoke about the VMUG and evangelizing virtualization (regarding my keynote topic).

The full recording of my keynote is below (thank Tony Gonzales for recording!) and you can find vChat #35 here.

VIDEO: How to Upgrade vCenter Operations Manager by VCDX Jason Nash

David Davis — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:00:27 +0000

In this free video from the TrainSignal VMware vCenter Operations Manager Training, VCDX Jason Nash demonstrates the steps necessary to perform a vCenter Ops Manager lab upgrade.

Veeam Announces vCloud Director Support in Backup v7

David Davis — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:35:23 +0000

In the latest announcement by Veeam, they announced that in the next version of their ever-popular Veeam Backup and Recovery, version 7, they will include support for VMware vCloud Director. For some time I have been wishing that backup vendors would support the backup of vCD and I believe that Veeam is the first. I look forward to testing (and maybe even creating video training) on this exciting new feature!

Here’s a video that talks about how it will work:

Additionally, a new video interview has been posted of Veeam evangelist, Doug Hazelman (or @VMDoug as many people know him on Twitter). In the interview, Doug talks about how Veeam makes virtual infrastructure backup easy and affordable. He also talks about why Veeam creates modern data protection for for vSphere and Hyper-V virtual infrastructures.

You can learn more about Veeam’s Modern Data Protection solutions in my whitepaper -

5 Fundamentals of Modern Data Protection by David Davis

Note: Veeam is a sponsor of this blog but I am not obligated to write about them. Instead, I write about them because I am impressed by their continued innovation.

Free Introduction to Virtualization Video Training by @DavidMDavis

David Davis — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:47:45 +0000

New to virtualization? Here is where you get started! Watch all 5 of my free introduction to virtualization videos to learn about hypervisors, virtualizing servers, testing and deploying, what VMware offers, how to build a virtualization lab in VMware Workstation, and the virtualization certifications offered by VMware and Microsoft.

Lesson 1 – Server Virtualization and Hypervisors

Testing and Deploying Server Virtualization

Understanding VMware Virtualization Solutions

Building a Virtualization Lab with VMware Workstation

Virtualization Certifications from VMware and Microsoft

vChat – Episode 34 – Top Virtualization Blogs 2013 with John Troyer

David Davis — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:48:21 +0000

In vChat #34, we announce the winners of the 2013 Top Virtualization Blogs Voting over at vSphere-Land.com. Along with Simon, Eric, and David our special guest is the esteemed Mr John Troyer of VMware. You’ll never guess who turned out on top! Don’t miss this one!

The full results of the top blog survey from vSphere-Land.com will be posted shortly, here.

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

Webinar – Ensuring Max QOS for Business-Critical Apps with VMware vCenter Operations

David Davis — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:13:32 +0000

Now that most enterprises have virtualized the majority of their server, they are now virtualizing their business critical applications more and more. The challenge is to ensure quality of service (QoS) for those business critical apps. Recently, I presented on this topic along with VMware’s David Jasso. In this video, David talks about the webinar and what we cover. For the full 1 hour webinar, click below to watch and learn how to:

Manage health, risk and efficiency of the virtual environment
Extend monitoring capabilities to the full application stack including OS and application components
Use dependency mapping to fully understand the service topology within the virtual layer
Integrate third-party monitoring solutions into vCenter Operations Manager™
Leverage VMware and other adapters to address monitoring of physical storage and network
Address configuration and compliance management across virtual and physical components

Click here to watch the full webinar!

Unlimited VMware Virtualization Training for $49 Per Month

David Davis — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:41:49 +0000

TrainSignal has done it! They’ve launched their all new unlimited video training solution where you can get every VMware video training course I’ve ever created, along with all the other excellent VMware, Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, and even Office video training that TrainSignal offers. With almost 200 courses for the flat monthly rate of $49 (with a free 3-day trial), it’s an amazing value. Also included is their all new offline player so that you can download courses and watch them while disconnected from the web – on a plane, train, or at the park. Additionally, their new training portal includes certification practice test for exams like the VCP5.

Some of the VMware-related courses that are included are:

vSphere 5 by David Davis and Elias Khnaser
vCenter Operations Manager by Jason Nash
Designing VMware Infrastructure by Scott Lowe
Advanced vSphere Networking
View 5
SRM 5
vSphere Troubleshooting, Performance, Security, and PowerCLI
vCloud Director Essentials
vCloud Director Organizations
and more! (yes even my Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V course and our Citrix XenServer course)

Plus, what is really cool to me is, as long as you have your subscription, any new course that any of the instructors created is automatically added to your training library. That means that you don’t have to pay roughly $300 for new courses and when we release the new courses we are working on now — like vSphere 5.1 New Features, vCloud Director 5.1, VCAP-DCA5 — all included.

Once inside the training portal, you’ll find that the user interface is simply beautiful (it’s been described as “sexy”). It shows you what lessons you have watched, remembers where you left off, allows you to bookmark lessons, and lesson indexes allow you to quickly skip to the topic in the lesson you want to see to learn how to do a particular task. (and yes, it’s iPad compatible!)

As I mentioned, not only do you get video training but also certification practice exams like the VCP5 exam screenshot you see below.

We are rapidly adding more and more subscribers and you can’t go wrong with the free 3 day trial. I hope you will check out the all new TrainSignal at–

www.TrainSignal.com

Fun Facts About VMware History Video

David Davis — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:51:14 +0000

Very interesting video about the history and growth of VMware, who started in February 1998 with just 5 employees and has growth to over 12,000 employees today… They are looking for more “ninja turtles” to work for them.. (it will make sense when you watch the video)

Getting Started with the New Free @HotLink SuperVISOR by @davidmdavis

David Davis — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:02:57 +0000

I’ve been using HotLink SuperVISOR in my lab environment for some time. It’s really amazing how it allows you to manage, using vCenter, virtual machine running in Windows Hyper-V 2012 just as if they were vSphere virtual machines. Previously I thought the idea of using multi-hypervisor was a bad one but with HotLink, I can see how creating “tiered hypervisors” (just like you might do with your storage) becomes a good idea – offering potential cost savings. Additionally, I have used HotLink’s Hybrid Express which connects your vSphere virtual infrastructure to the public cloud and allows you to manage VMs running in public clouds just as you do your vSphere VMs.

When I heard that HotLink was releasing a free version of their SuperVISOR – I was excited! As you know, I love free virtualization tools and I was glad to create a video showing what it can do and how to get started using it to manage your Windows Hyper-V VMs, just as you do your vSphere VMs.

You can find out more information about the FREE HotLink SuperVISOR at www.Hotlink.com — Enjoy the video and I welcome your comments below!

Join Us in a Google Hangout – Optimize your SMB IT Infrastructure with Windows Server 2012

David Davis — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 15:28:36 +0000

JOIN US! On Thursday, January 24, 2012 from 1-2pm eastern, I’ll be facilitating a LIVE Google Hangout (like a webinar with video). That’s right, I’ll be the “MC” and we’ll be talking about how Windows Server 2012 can help small and medium size business in the datacenter. My guests will be:

Scott Lowe – vExpert, Author, Blogger, and Founder of the 1610 Group

Andy Nichols – Enterprise Technologist at Dell

Stephen Sandifer of TrendMicro

And me! (David Davis)

Being in a Google Hangout is really cool because it feels like you are actually in the same room as the expert speakers! Here’s what the last hangout that I did looked like (graphic right).

Topics of discussion include:

The benefits and capabilities of using Microsoft Server 2012 for your IT infrastructure
How Microsoft Server 2012 can lower costs and improve productivity
The steps required to update and/or migrate to Microsoft Server 2012
Case studies of SMBs who have successfully migrated to Microsoft Server 2012

Tune into our live Google+ Hangout, ask our experts your hardest-hitting questions and get the info you need help your business succeed. Follow and use the #DellHangout hash tag on Twitter for updates on this event.

To register for this event and to get a calendar reminder, fill out the event form here: http://events.dellwebcastregistration.com/events/80/Jan17Hangout

vChat – Episode 33 – Christmas 2012 with Simon, Eric, and David

David Davis — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:06:14 +0000

In vChat #33, our special Christmas 2012 edition, Simon, Eric, and David discuss the latest in virtualization, cloud computing, home labs, iPads, storage, our predictions for 2013. and much much more. Join us!

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

Webinar: vSphere Lab and SMB Storage with @Drobo and @DavidMDavis + prizes

David Davis — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:16:15 +0000

Most analysis on technology and trends is Enterprise-focused. Fact is virtualization is used by shops of all sizes, and the biggest area of challenge has become storage. IT folks value practical advice and info, some of which applies to everyone, little of which applies to the smallest shops.

This live chat from 10:30-11AM EDT on Tuesday 10/30/2012 will be hosted by expert @DavidMDavis of @TrainSignal, VCP5, VCAP-DCA, CCIE, and author of the TrainSignal vSphere video training library, along with Mario Blandini, Chief Evangelist with Drobo. No PPT, several survey questions, lots of analysis and advice from David breaking-down the results of the live poll. Everyone is welcome, and if you are a smaller shop (fewer than 250 users), we especially want your input.

By participating in the live chat and survey, you will be entered to win one of two prizes: 1) a TrainSignal DVD course, & 2) Drobo B800i iSCSI SAN system, a $2,699 value that can store more than 30TB! Perfect for that virtualization lab at home and your personal data / media, or studying up on how to build the virtualization lab!

Register here!

VIDEO: Multi-Hypervisor and Hybrid Cloud from @Hotlink Interview at VMworld 2012

David Davis — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 20:47:55 +0000

At VMworld 2012 I participated in product judging for Virtualization Review and we ended up selecting Hotlink as the “Best Cloud Application” for their new Hybrid Express solution. Later, I went over to their booth with the TrainSignal video crew and we got to hear from their CEO, Lynn LeBlanc first-hand what they are up to as well as see a product demo of Hotlink Express, showing how easy it is to administer both your internal vSphere infrastructure and your Amazon public IaaS cloud. And how about that demo of using PowerCLI on Amazon EC2 at the end of the video? Very cool.

While the Hybrid Express solution is their latest offering, their best selling offering is their multi-hypervisor management tool — Hotlink SuperVisor — for your internal virtualization infrastructure – made up of multiple hypervisors like vSphere, Hyper-V, and Xen. What I like about this concept is the idea that you could have hypervisor tiers of service where, perhaps, your highest priority VMs are on vSphere and lower priority VMs are in Hyper-V. It’s all managed from vCenter and VMs can easily be moved back and forth. By having these hypervisor tiers, Hotlink says that you can buy Hotlink SuperVISOR and still save your company a lot of money. Very interesting ideas…

vChat – Episode 32 – VMworld San Fran 2012 Re-Cap

David Davis — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 17:13:43 +0000

In vChat Episode 32 Simon Seagrave, Eric Siebert, and David Davis cover our experience at VMworld 2012 in San Francisco. This includes the VMworld parties, vExpert community events, launch of vSphere 5.1 and the vCloud Suite 5.1, and much much more. Join us!

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

The Best New Hyper-V 3 Features

David Davis — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:14:47 +0000

This summer revealed some really great features in Microsoft’s new hypervisor iteration, Hyper-V 3. New scalability and security features that really help with support, and even a free vSphere to Hyper-V converter make this useful hypervisor that’s taking a step towards cross-compatibility.

After you watch my run down of the new features, check some more details on Hyper-V and photos from TechEd 2012.

vChat – Episode 31 – VMworld 2012 Plans and Special Guest Mike Laverick

David Davis — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:40:21 +0000

In vChat Episode 31 Simon Seagrave, Eric Siebert, and David Davis are joined by special guest Mike Laverick. We talk with Mike about how he is joining VMware and is having to leave RTFM behind. We also talk with Mike about his new VMware View book with Barry Coombs entitled Building End-User Computing Solutions with VMware View (and available at EUCBook.com). Additionally, we discuss our upcoming plans at VMworld 2012 in San Francisco including parties, vExpert community events, and more. Join us!

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

vChat – Episode 30 – Olympics XXX Edition, VMworld 2012 Prep, and more!

David Davis — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:52:09 +0000

In vChat Episode 30 Simon Seagrave, Eric Siebert, and David Davis discuss the London 2012 Olympics XXX, home lab upgrades, new TrainSignal courses, new free virtualization apps, and their plans for VMworld. Join Us !

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

VIDEO: What is Cloud Computing?

David Davis — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 23:39:10 +0000

In this video from my new CompTIA Cloud Essentials course, I provide a break down of what cloud computing is, how it works and what it does by taking a closer look at a number of definitions of cloud computing.

I recently completed my CompTIA Cloud Essentials video training course which was designed for IT professionals interested in getting a practical understanding of cloud computing. This quickly emerging field has a growing demand for professionals that know how to implement the benefits of the public, private and hybrid clouds. CompTIA’s new vendor neutral Cloud Essentials certification is a good way to get started with the cloud concepts.

3 Free Virtualization & Cloud Computing Webinars

David Davis — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 00:21:46 +0000

TrainSignal has 3 free webinars coming up in the next few weeks that are focused on virtualization and cloud computing:

Scott Lowe is presenting a session for those interested in learning about the VMware vSphere design process
Jake Robinson is showcasing the 5 most useful features in your vCloud Director Organization
And finally, I’ll be presenting an introductory session to Cloud Computing for those interested in pursuing the CompTIA Cloud Essentials Certification

Here are more details about each session.

August 7^th: VMware vSphere Design 101 with VCDX Scott Lowe

In this live webinar Scott will provide you with an overview of the VMware vSphere design process and the complex decisions it involves. Scott will also help you get started with mastering design concepts by presenting a list of design resources for virtualization professionals. This free webinar will cover:

What is design and why you need it
VMware vSphere design basics
Common design misconceptions
Is the VCAP-DCD certification right for you

BONUS: Webinar attendees will get a chance to win Scott Lowe’s
Designing VMware Infrastructure Video Training

Learn More and Register Today

August 15^th: Top 5 Most Useful Features in Your vCloud Director Organization with vExpert Jake Robinson

In this live webinar, vExpert Jake Robinson will show you real, running applications in his vCloud Director Organization, how he got it up and running, and the struggles encountered along the way. This free webinar will cover:

Getting your application running in vCloud Director
The 5 most useful features, including the vCloud API
Pitfalls and lessons learned
Demo of a real application running in vCloud Director

BONUS: Webinar attendees will get a chance to win Jake Robinson’s soon to be released
VMware vCloud Director Organizations Video Training!

Learn More and Register Today

September 13^th: Cloud Computing 101 with vExpert David Davis

In this live webinar, vExpert David Davis will explain the Cloud Computing concept by breaking it down to what the cloud really is and what it does and whether a career in the cloud is right for you. This free webinar will cover:

Why you need Cloud Computing
Understanding Software as a Service (SaaS)
Understanding Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Why you need the CompTIA Cloud Essentials Certification

BONUS: Webinar attendees will get a chance to win my new
CompTIA Cloud Essentials Video Training

Learn More and Register Today

vChat – Episode 29 – EMC World, HP Discover, and TechEd 2012

David Davis — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 22:49:18 +0000

In vChat Episode 29 Simon Seagrave, Eric Siebert, and David Davis cover the conferences they attended over the last few weeks – EMC World, HP Discover, and Microsoft TechEd 2012. Find out the good, the bad, and the ugly along with their personal experiences and opinions. David specifically talks about how Microsoft is taking on VMware vSphere, head-on, with Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V.

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

VIDEO: Top 3 VMware Certifications and How to Pass by @davidmdavis

David Davis — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:00:15 +0000

In this recorded webinar replay, you’ll learn the top VMware certifications – VCA, VCP, VCAP – and how to pass the first time with most of the energy spent on preparing for the VMware VCP5 certification. Join David Davis, VCP, VCAP-DCA, CCIE, and vExpert in the exciting and motivational 1 hour webinar brought to you by @TrainSignal.

Comments or questions? Please post them below!

vChat #28-vCenter Operations Contest and Overview – Interview with Ben Sheerer

David Davis — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:32:49 +0000

In this interview, taken live from the Central Ohio VMware Regional User Group meeting, VMware’s Senior Product Manager for vCenter Operations covers what vCenter Ops is, how it can help you, what makes it unique, AND a cool new contest called “Tell Your Story” where you could win a trip to VMworld 2012, a session, AND dinner with people like Ben and I.

I am honored that I will be a judge! (along with a number of expert judges, listed below).

Contest details are below…

The are two first prizes and each of those gets a free ticket to VMworld and gets to speak at the eventduring a session! (One will be for Barcelona and the other for San Francisco) Second price is “$500 Amex Gift Card / Bag of VMware Swag”.

Expert Judging Panel:

David Davis @davidmdavis
Train Signal, vExpert, VMware Evangelist
www.vmwarevideos.com

Tommy Trogden @vTexan
EMC vSpecialist, VMware vExpert, Blogger
www.vTexan.com

Eric Sloof @esloof
Master VMware Instructor & Consultant @ NTPRO.NL, vExpert & Blogger
www.ntpro.nl

Duncan Epping @DuncaYB
VMware Principal Architect, Blogger: YellowBricks
www.yellow-bricks.com

Martin Klaus @mklausvm
Group Manager Product Marketing VMware (vC Ops)
www.vmware.com

Ben Scheerer @BenScheerer & @vCenterOps
VMware Product Marketing (vC Ops Suite)
www.vmware.com

To submit your story and get the official contest details, visit vCenter Operations – Tell Your Story!

vChat – Episode 27 – Live from the Charlotte VMware User Group

David Davis — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:30:28 +0000

In vChat Episode 27 David Davis and Eric Siebert record LIVE from the Charlotte, NC regional VMware user group meeting (VMUG). This was no ordinary VMUG with 700+ attendees, live labs, and expert speakers like Scott Lowe, Chris Colotti, Eric Siebert, Alan Renouf, Jason Nash, and Cody Bunch. Find out what we learned at the NC Regional VMUG in this short and fun vChat! (yes, Eric did buy that hot new video game that just came out! What was it called? Diabo-something?)

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

VIDEO: New Xangati Management Dashboard (XMD) Version 9 (@XangatiPress)

David Davis — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:17:36 +0000

I’m a big fan of free tools and, being a network guy originally, I have always been impressed with Xangati’s management dashboard (XMD) – a vSphere performance management tool – because it has the ability to collect Netflow data from the virtual network and intergrate that with more traditional performance stats. Additionally, it deploys as a virtual appliance and it can scroll performance stats of the virtual infrastructure back in time, like a DVR (you have to see it).

This week, Xangati released an all new & updated version of XMD, now at revision 9, and it offers a long list of new features. One of the most important features is that Xangati now offers massive scale, dubbed “cloud scale”, with the ability to analyze performance on some of the largest cloud infrastructures. Of course these new features have also been added into the free version. I could attempt to list out all the new features here but the best way to learn about them is to see them for yourself in this video by Xangati’s Nathaniel Iverson.

I encourage you to try out the new XMD functionality for yourself in the Xangati VI Dashboard and VDI Dashboard trial software or in the Xangati for vSphere—Free single host tool.

And here is how to upgrade from XMD 8 to XMD 9:

VMware CTO Steve @Herrod Interviewed by @ericsiebert @hpstorageguy

David Davis — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:15:58 +0000

In this video taken before the Silicon Valley VMUG, VMware CTO Steve Herrod is interviewed by HP’s Eric Siebert (@ericsiebert) and Calvin Zito (@hpstorageguy). Watch to find out what Steve has been up to and the latest happenings at VMware, from the perspective of the CTO. Herrod even says that he has already been preparing for the VMworld keynote and has big news planned…

vChat – Episode 26 – Big Fat Geeky vChat

David Davis — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:02:35 +0000

In vChat Episode 26 David Davis, Simon Seagrave, and Eric Siebert cover the latest news and happenings in the world of virtualization including EMC World prep, HP Discover, regional VMUGs, and much more (don’t forget home labs and iPads) – don’t miss it!

In this vChat we covered:

EMC World Labs
HP Discover
TrainSignal New Courses – vCloud Director, Advanced vSphere Networking and Scott Lowe’s Designing vSphere Infrastructures
Varrow Madness 2012
Upcoming Charlotte Regional – May 2012 – Scott Lowe, Alan Renouf, William Lam, and Eric Siebert & Other regional VMUGs
UK Regional VMUG
HP Microserver for vSphere lab
Mention of Drobo, Synology NAS,
iPad as laptop replacement with Zagg Keyboard with CloudON
vScience LLC Workshop
vExpert 2012 announcement & vTexan vExpert Post
Dropbox, Google Drive, VMware Octopus

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

@Drobo Announces Automated Data-aware Tiering Video

David Davis — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:30:20 +0000

This week I got an announcement that Drobo, producer of SMB to mid-size shared storage arrays, was now offering Automated Data-Aware Tiering in their product line. This new data tiering option uses both SSD and traditional hard drives in the same unit and intelligently stores the most accessed data on the higher performing drives, allowing SMBs to “immediately and dynamically optimize application performance”. Certainly, I had heard of storage tiering before but it was always a “high end” storage feature – not something I thought I would see in an SMB-to-mid-size array.

I inquired with Drobo about obtaining an evaluation unit for my home lab and ended up having a conversation with Drobo’s Jim Sherhart about the new tiering as well as what makes Drobo different from the other arrays that I already have in my lab (a Synology DS211+ and an Iomega IX4-200D). If course I had heard good things about Drobo before from TechField Day but it was interesting to hear the latest news from Drobo. I was specifically interested in whether or not Drobo could offer be better performance, easier data management what makes Drobo a good fit for SMBs and vSphere home labs (two things that are near and dear to my heart).

I’ll soon be posting my Q&A with Jim as well as my personal experiences with Drobo in my home lab (so stay tuned). In the mean time, I hope you will checkout the following two chalk talk videos on automated data-aware tiering from Drobo and the technology that make BeyondRAID possible from the recent Storage Tech Field Day. I welcome your comments on Drobo and vSphere home lab storage!

Live Webinar- Desktop Virtualization for SMB with @DellSMBus @DavidMDavis

David Davis — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:18:49 +0000

Yesterday I recorded this LIVE webinar with experts from Dell and TrendMicro where we discuss the benefits, sizing, ROI, and security issues related to desktop virtualization. I hope you enjoy it and I welcome your feedback!

You can register for the Dell Vostro 3550 laptop mentioned in the webcast between now and May 2, 2012 by going to Dell Webcast Giveaway.

For more webinars from Dell, follow @DellSMBus and visit the Dell Ustream.TV webpage.

TweetChat- How SMBs Can Lower Costs & Improve Efficiency with Virtualization with Dell, Intel, and David Davis of TrainSignal – Win A Laptop!

David Davis — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:42:10 +0000

Server virtualization is in use by most large enterprises today. In fact, VMware says that 98% of the Fortune 500 use vSphere to virtualize their datacenter. What about the small and medium size businesses? Too many of them have yet to begin their “journey” to virtualize their datacenter. If you are one of those SMBs, what’s stopping you?

Get all your questions answered in an upcoming, FREE and LIVE, TweetChat. On April 5 at 1pm CDT (2pm Eastern), we’ll be talking about:

To Virtualize or not to Virtualize – Have you virtualized your business 100%? If not, what’s holding you back? Have you implemented server virtualization to your business? If not, why not?
Features of Virtualization that can Help You – What virtualization features have you found to be most useful for your business? How are these features important as solutions to your business?
Types of Virtualization Platforms - What virtualization features have you found to be most useful for your business? How are these features important as solutions to your business?
Virtualization Capabilities vs Cost – Capabilities vs. Cost: Sacrifices? Necessities? Based on the capabilities that you need for your business, what are the cost options?

This will be an interactive discussion – we want to hear from you!

This Tweet Chat will be hosted by David Davis of TrainSignal (that’s me), and we’ll have experts from both Dell and Intel on the “line” to share their knowledge and ensure all your questions are answered.

HOW ?

Participate by doing the following:

Be on Twitter (or use an app like TweetChat) between 1-2pm CDT on Thursday, April 5, 2012.
Monitor for the Twitter hashtag #VirtualizeDell

PRIZE GIVEAWAY

During this Tweet Chat, a link to enter the giveaway (See Official Rules) will be mentioned. Our sponsors have donated the following prizes to participants who enter to win:

New vCloud Director Essentials Video Training by @DavidMDavis of @TrainSignal

David Davis — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:13:38 +0000

I am proud to say that my new vCloud Director Essentials video training course from TrainSignal has just been released.

I start the course off with a quick intro to Cloud Computing and vCloud Director in my 101 series, covering things like… What are the different types of cloud computing, what makes up a cloud, and why do you (and your users) want to implement one? You’ll find out the answers to these questions in this course (and that’s just in the first couple of lessons).

Once you are “cloud savvy”, we’ll jump into the #1 infrastructure cloud platform in use today – VMware vCloud Director. You’ll find out what makes up vCloud Director and how it builds on top of vSphere. In the end, you’ll learn “cloud-speak” by understanding terms like providers, organizations, virtual data centers, vApps, and numerous types of virtual networks.

Once you have a solid understanding of vCloud Director, you’ll install it using the new virtual appliance, as well as from scratch, on top of Linux with an external SQL database. We’ll connect vCD to vCenter & vShield, create our provider virtual data center, organizations, and Org vDCs. Finally, run multi-tiered apps in your cloud by creating vApps and storing them in your cloud catalog.

In 5 hours, you’ll learn:

Cloud Computing and vCloud Director 101
How to Build Your vCloud Director Lab
Managing vCloud Director Resources and How vCD Works with vSphere
How to Create Catalogs and vApps Inside
Plus – learn about vCloud Director in the real-world from vExpert Jake Robinson of vCloud Datacenter provider, Bluelock

At the end of this course, you will have all the knowledge you need to build a vCloud Director test / training lab or a proof of concept for your company. Watch the new vCloud Director Essentials video training course to become the new vCloud Expert at your company!

Here’s a 9 minute segment of my Cloud 101 lesson:

vChat – Episode 25 – Virtualization Top Blogs Results – Feb 2012 – with John Troyer

David Davis — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:39:13 +0000

In vChat Episode 25 David Davis, Simon Seagrave, and Eric Siebert welcome special guest, VMware Super-Social-Media-Evangelist, John Troyer (@jtroyer) to announce the virtualization top blog results, as of February 2012.

Watch the full episode below to hear the top 25 blogs and the winners of each of the new top blog categories, or click here to view all the results over at vSphere-Land.com

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

Thank You VMware for the vExpert Program and Gifts!

David Davis — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:56:48 +0000

Recently VMware announced that applications are now being taken for the to become a vExpert for 2012. There are some new changes to the program that you may want to be aware of. Read all about it here…

This week at VMware Partner Exchange (PEX) 2012, we had a vExpert meeting where we were able to meet with VMware executives (like my photo below with VMware CTO Steve Herrod). At that meeting, present vExperts were also awarded with some super-cool vExpert backpacks and fine leather portfolios – NICE! THANK YOU SO MUCH VMware !!

Here are a few pictures from the vExpert meetup…

Me with Dr Stephen Herrod, CTO of VMware

Me with vExpert super video trainer, Elias Khnaser

Left to Right, Mike Letschin, David Davis, Theron Conrey, Christopher Kusek, Stephen Herrod, Mark Vaughn, and Justin Lauer

Who knew that storage people could get along? Left to right, Scott Lowe (EMC), Christopher Wells (NetApp), Eric Seibert (HP), and Jason Boche (Compellent)

The happy couple, Crystal and Scott Lowe

VIDEO: Disaster Recovery in vCloud Director #VMwarePEX

David Davis — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:51:10 +0000

In this video from PEX 2012, you’ll see:

Duncan Epping and Chris Colotti of Yellow-Bricks.com and ChrisColotti.us
Jason Nash (of JasonNash.com) and Lane Leverett
Kendrick Coleman (of KendrickColeman.com) and David Hill (of Virtual-Blog.com)

They will be discussing Duncan and Chris’s session on vCloud Director disaster recovery (more info in their article – VMware: Overview of Disaster Recovery in vCloud Director)

AMAZING CONTENT GUYS! Keep up the great work on more cool vCloud Director Solutions!

VIDEO: View 5 Login Script Deployment by @BKnudtson

David Davis — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:27:18 +0000

Login scripts will allow you to register or unregister ThinApp applications to individual machines, and save time by doing so at time of login. From VMware View 5 Essentials Training, this video by Brian Knudtson shows how to deploy ThinApp login scripts with VMware View 5.0 in the most flexible way.

vChat – Episode 24 – LIVE from VMware PEX 2012

David Davis — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:41:07 +0000

In vChat Episode 23 David Davis and Eric Siebert talk about the latest news and happenings at VMware Partner Exchange (PEX) 2012, LIVE from Las Vegas!

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

vChat – Episode 23 – Top Blog Voting Update, Pre VMware PEX, and more

David Davis — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:47:43 +0000

In vChat Episode 23 David Davis, Simon Seagrave, and Eric Siebert talk about…

Top Blog voting update, how it work, when we will make the announcements
Simon’s trip to Cisco Live UK 2012
VMware Partner Exchange (PEX) 2012 Plans
and, of course, home labs, iPads, video games, and more!

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

VIDEO: VMware’s Super-Cool vSphere CLI and Power CLI 5 Posters (Thanks!)

David Davis — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:31:55 +0000

I just received in the mail from VMware a package with two brand-new super-cool posters inside. They sent me the new PowerCLI 5.0 poster and (one I have never seen before) the VMware ESXi 5 Reference poster. I created the video below to show you what they look like and say thanks to great people like @jtroyer and @heyitspablo.

I did find that you can download the new PowerCLI 5.0 poster and the VMware ESXi 5 Reference posters, here, at their respective links.

VMware View 5 Video Training Now Available by @Bknudtson @Wolfbrthr

David Davis — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:34:35 +0000

VMware vExperts Brian Knudtson (@BKnudtson) and Lane Leverett (@WolfBrthr) will teach you how to get VMware View 5 up and running in this new video training course from TrainSignal called “VMware View 5 Essentials”.

They will teach you everything you need to know to get your environment up and running in just over 7 hours. You’ll learn how to install View components, manage user profiles and data, setup location-based printing, and much more. VMware View 5 Essentials covers new topics to help simplify desktop and applications management while increasing security and control. Some of what’s new includes persona management, upgrading to VMware View 5 and PCoIP optimization with a troubleshooting lesson.

You’ll learn how to:

How to install components of VMware View
Manage user profiles and data
Setup location-based printing
Virtualize applications with ThinApp

Plus, as soon as the VCA-DT5 is available, this course will be the perfect resource!

Order VMware View 5 Essentials Now

Topics include…

Lesson 1 – Getting Started with VMware View 5 Essentials Training

In this lesson, you’ll meet your instructors, and learn about what is VDI and a brief overview of the entire course.

About Brian Knudtson
About Lane Leverett
Series Purpose
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
Expected Pre–existing Knowledge
An Overview of the Course Topics
Let’s Get Started

Lesson 2 – Course Scenario

Learn about the fictional company we’ll use to place the lessons into real-world situations.

Advantage of a Course Scenario
Our Scenario

Lesson 3 – Lab Setup

This lesson will introduce you to the lab environment where our demonstrations will occur.

Advantages of a Lab
My Lab Hardware
Existing Infrastructure
Additional VMs We’ll Use
Active Directory
My Favorite Supporting Resources

Lesson 4 – View Components and Licensing

In this lesson we’ll go over the individual View components and how they fit together to form the overall View Architecture.

Management Services
View Composer
View Agent
View Client
User Experience
ThinApp
View Licensing

Lesson 5 – Installing View 5

In this lesson, we’ll go through the steps to bringing your View Infrastructure to life.

System Requirements
Active Directory Requirements
Client Devices
Installation Process

Lesson 6 – Configuring Virutal Desktops

In this lesson you’ll learn the concepts of building a streamlined base image, pooling of desktops, and how a desktop image can be partitioned into isolated components.

Best Practices for Parent VM
View Desktop Types
Configuring View Desktop Pools
Composer Linked Clones
Persistent Disk
Disposable Data Disk
Pool Sizing

Lesson 7 – Maintaining Desktop Pools

This lesson goes through the concepts of getting desktop pools started and maintaining pools and sessions.

User Entitlements
Composer Operations
Editing Pools
Managing User Sessions
Desktop Pool Management Demonstration

Lesson 8 – User Profiles and Data

In this lesson, we’ll discuss and demonstrate how we can maintain the users’ desktop environment from one View session to the next. This provides a consistent and familiar workspace for the users even when they’re not accessing the same desktop every day.

Value of the User Profile
Contents of the User Profile
Options for Managing User Profiles
View Persona Management
Managing View Persona Management
View Persona Management Settings
Persistent Disk
Disposable Disk
Folder Redirection
View Persona Management Demonstration
View Persistent Disk Demonstration
View Disposable Disk Demonstration

Lesson 9 – Printing

Dealing with printers can be difficult in any desktop environment, and View introduces some new challenges. In this lesson, we’ll cover some of the more popular ways of dealing with printers in a View environment.

Printer Mapping Options
View Location-Based Printing
Implementing View Location-Based Printing
Local Printer Redirection Demo
View Location-Based Mapping Demo
My Favorite Supporting Resources

Lesson 10 – Creating ThinApp Packages

To complete a truly dynamic and efficient Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, you will need to virtualize your business applications. In this lesson, we’ll show you the steps needed to virtualize applications using ThinApp.

How ThinApp Virtualizes Applications
ThinApp Requirements
ThinApp Limitations
Steps to Virtualizing with ThinApp
ThinApp Packaging Machine Best Practices
Composition of a ThinApp Project
Composition of a ThinApp Package
Advanced ThinApp Concepts
Testing Packages
Create a ThinApp Package Demonstration

Lesson 11 – ThinApp Deployment

Once your applications are virtualized with ThinApp, they still need to be delivered to the desktops. We’ll show you several ways to accomplish this in this lesson.

Execution Modes
Registering Packages
ThinReg.exe Utility
Deployment Options
Package Security
Login Script Deployment
Integration with View

Lesson 12 – Monitoring View

After all is said and done you’re going to need to know how to care and feed your new View Environment. In this section we’ll dive into the different views for gathering information about the status of the environment as well as describe and demonstrate some of the different states and status of desktops and sessions.

Event Database
System Health Dashboard
View Administrator Dashboard
Desktop States
Session Status
Monitoring Walkthroughs

Lesson 13 – Troubleshooting View

All IT systems eventually fail in some way. To help prepare you for troubleshooting View, we’ve addressed many common failure points and pulled back the covers on several parts of View so you can better understand how they work.

Common Failure Points
Connection Procedures
How Linked Clones Work
Ports Needed For View
PCoIP Performance
Log File Locations
Collecting Diagnostic Information
Troubleshoot Problem Desktops
Investigate Linked Clones

Lesson 14 – Upgrading to View 5

For environments that already have View 4.5 installed, this lesson will help guide you through the upgrade process.

Version Compatibility
Upgrade Steps
Connection Server Upgrade
Transfer Server Upgrade
Composer Upgrade
Agent Upgrade
Client Upgrade

Lesson 15 – Next Steps

In this lesson, we’ll wrap up the course by recapping what we’ve covered throughout the course and look at what additional steps you should take in furthering your VMware career.

Order VMware View 5 Essentials Today!

VIDEO: Associating Service Profiles to Blades in Cisco UCS by @TheJasonNash

David Davis — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:30:20 +0000

In this video, you’ll learn what how to associate service profiles to blades in Cisco UCS. This video is a piece of Jason Nash’s new Cisco UCS video training course from TrainSignal.

For more information on learning Cisco UCS, checkout the TrainSignal Implementing Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) Training video by Jason Nash, VCDX.

VIDEO: What is Cisco UCS and Why Do I Need It? (by @TheJasonNash)

David Davis — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:29:03 +0000

In this video, you’ll learn what Cisco UCS is and why you need it, from the perspective of Jason Nash, VCDX. This video is a piece of Jason’s new Cisco UCS video training course and, in this video, Jason will talk about what he will cover in course.

For more information on learning Cisco UCS, checkout the TrainSignal Implementing Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) Training video by Jason Nash, VCDX.

Video: Deploying Personalized Desktops in VMware View 5 by @BKnudtson

David Davis — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:56:34 +0000

This 5 minute sample is from the TrainSignal View 5 Essentials Training course (releasing end of January 2012). In this lesson, Brian Knudtson (@bknudtson) shows us how to deploy a personal virtual desktop for a VMware View user.

You can learn more about the full course over at TrainSignal: View 5 Essentials Video Training.

Top 25 Free Tools for VMware vSphere presented by @davidmdavis @kendrickcoleman

David Davis — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:33:05 +0000

In this live (recorded) webinar, vExperts David Davis and Kendrick Coleman share their list of 25 best free tools for VMware vSphere management, reporting, performance, scripting and more. Whether you’re an experienced virtualization pro or someone just getting started with VMware administration, you’ll benefit from learning about these 25 completely free tools.

You can reach David at – @davidmdavis on Twitter or his blog, VMwareVideos.com

You can reach Kendrick at – @KendrickColeman on Twitter or his blog, KendrickColeman.com – the source of his 50+ top free vSphere tools.

Special thanks to TrainSignal.com – the best source for vSphere training for IT Pros – for sponsoring this webinar!

vChat – Episode 22 – vSphere Books, Home Labs, Chaotic Cloud Pricing

David Davis — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:41:59 +0000

In vChat Episode 22 (aka “the late one”) David Davis, Simon Seagrave, and Eric Siebert talk about…

VMworld Europe 2011 in Copenhagen including vSphere Client for iPad announced with vMotion and vCenter Operations Manager release at VMworld Europe
VMworld 2012 in Barcelona
Home Labs including HP Microserver, Iomega PX Series, and virtual vs physical
VCP5 and how to prepare for it using TrainSignal’s vSphere 5 and Scott Lowe’s Mastering vSphere 5 book
Last day to upgrade your VCP4 to the VCP5 is Feb 29
Mike Laverick’s new SRM 5 book
Duncan and Frank’s vSphere 5 Clustering Deepdive Book
NEW VMware Press Books including Cody Bunch’s book on vCenter Orchestrator and Storage Design with vSphere
Cisco Press book – Cloud Computing: Automating the Virtualized Data Center
Top Virtualization Blog Voting – COMING SOON!
iPhone 4S
Apple Nano Watch with Lunatic Band
Siri – John Briggs, UK Siri voice
Reasons to go to vSphere 5
vRAM Pooled Pricing & Cloud VM Pricing – article by David Davis “Chaotic Cloud Pricing”
and more!

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

TrainSignal Wins Best Virtualization Training Award by @VirtReview

David Davis — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:52:38 +0000

The readers of Virtualization Magazine have voted for the 2012 Reader’s Choice awards and I am proud to announce that TrainSignal’s video training has been selected at the WINNER of the BEST Virtualization training, even beating out classroom training. Readers said that TrainSignal’s virtualization training was the best value, offered a wide variety of topics, and provided a line up of top instructors.

BIG THANK YOU to all those who voted for us and THANK YOU to our values customers!

Stay tuned for more virtualization training from TrainSignal including courses like SRM 5, View 5, vSphere Advanced Networking, Cisco Nexus 1000V, Cisco UCS, and vCloud Director. 2012 is going to be a great year!

Here’s a scan of page 31, where we come out on top!

Cisco UCS Implementation Video by @TheJasonNash of @VarrowInc

David Davis — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:05:13 +0000

In 1st quarter 2012, TrainSignal will be releasing a new video training course by VCDX Jason Nash (@TheJasonNash) of Varrow, Inc (@VarrowInc) entitled Implementing Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS). The video below is part of the live portion available in the course – a whole new way to learn Cisco from TrainSignal.

Jason Nash has done an amazing job on this course, sharing his real-world knowledge in Cisco and VMware enterprise computing. Special thanks to the great people from Varrow for letting us borrow Jason and his UCS rack to create this video!

To sign up for our newsletter and be alerted when the new Cisco UCS course is available, click here.

VIDEO: Installing VMware vCloud Connector by @davidmdavis

David Davis — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:14:30 +0000

In this video, I show you how to download the free vCloud Connector, deploy the administrative virtual appliance, deploy a vCloud Connector node, use the vCloud Connector plugin, and the vCloud connector website to administer your private virtual infrastructure, private cloud, or public cloud.

Stay tuned for my next video in this series on Using the vCloud Connector to create a hybrid cloud and move a virtual machine from your internal vSphere infrastructure to a public vCloud Datacenter.

For more information, visit vCloud.VMware.com

VIDEO: vSphere 5 AutoDeploy from @TrainSignal and @ekhnaser

David Davis — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:48:02 +0000

In this video demo from Elias Khnaser, he 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. Besides that real-world application, if you are studying for the VCP5, this is one of the important topics that you should know.

This 8 minute video demo is part of a 1+ hour AutoDeploy video by Elias and video is part of the 16+ hour vSphere 5 video training course by Elias and David Davis, from TrainSignal.

@Veeam Releases Backup & Replication 6 for Hyper-V and vSphere (by @davidmdavis)

David Davis — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:13:44 +0000

Veeam just announced their new Backup & Replication version 6 that supports both Hyper-V and vSphere. Recently, Veeam’s Doug Hazleman (@VMDoug), VP of Product Strategy and Anton Gostev (@gostev), Director of Product Management, did a webinar on the new version 6. I am lucky enough to be able to offer a portion of that webinar below. This video from the webinar covers how version 6 supports backup and replication of VMware vSphere hosts and Microsoft Hyper-V hosts, all from a single interface.

To see all 4 video segments from this new Veeam webinar, click here.

However, this new release not only offers multi-hypervisor support but a list of other features that include:

Enterprise scalability – v6 introduces a new distributed architecture to simplify deployment and maintenance of remote office/branch office (ROBO) and large installations of Veeam Backup & Replication. This new architecture Provides multiple backup proxy servers (data movers) and backup repositories, which communicate directly with each other under the direction of a backup server. It dynamically assigns VMs to proxy servers, eliminating the need to babysit jobs and constantly tune job schedules to achieve desired levels of job concurrency. It uses intelligent load balancing that accounts for virtual environment specifics and current load on the backup infrastructure. The new architecture turns your Veeam Backup & Replication installation into a fully self-tuning business continuity/disaster recovery (BC/DR) system that automatically adapts to your ever-changing virtual environment.
Advanced replication – With encapsulation, multi-tenancy and hardware independence, virtualization enables a unified approach to data protection, including affordable near-continuous data protection (near-CDP). Veeam lets you take advantage of this by combining backup and replication in a single, cohesive solution. v6 builds on Veeam’s unified approach to data protection with even faster replication—up to 10x faster whether you replicate locally or over a wide area network (WAN).
1-Click File Restore – v6 enhances Veeam’s existing Instant File-Level Recovery (IFLR) by reducing the number of steps from 10 to 1. You can now restore Windows guest files back to their original location directly from file search results in the Veeam Enterprise Manager web UI. This new restore capability is secure and minimizes the possibility of operator error by not requiring administrators/help desk personnel to have permissions on backup files, hosts or VMs where files are being restored. They simply find the file and restore it to its original location with a single click of a button.

AND, at least 68 other additional features (too many to fit in this blog post). For more information on new features see What’s New in v6.

You can try out Veeam Backup & Replication 6 for 60 days, free. Download here.

Popsicle Stick Video: Free VMware Tools Session – VMworld Europe 2011

David Davis — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:44:03 +0000

Today, vKernel posted a flattering (I think) video showing what the Kendrick Coleman and David Davis Best Free vSphere Tools for 2011 presentation might have looked like at VMworld Europe 2011 if we had been selected to speak. While we had a huge turnout of around 1000 in Vegas this year, sadly, we weren’t asked to speak at VMworld Europe due to the reduced footprint of the show.

In this video, not only do you get to see what the session might have looked like but you learn about the upcoming free tool from vKernel called vSCOPE (available October 26, 2011 from www.vKernel.com). Thanks to Alex at vKernel for this funny idea and for posting this video!

I am still amazed that Kenny is already HAS his VCP7 and has starting preparing for his LOL !

Actually, Kenny and I will be giving our free tools presentation again, LIVE, next week – register here to attend!

Live Webinar – Best Free vSphere Tools for 2011 with @davidmdavis @kendrickcoleman

David Davis — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:13:04 +0000

We’re back ! After a hugely successful presentations to hundreds of VMware Admins at VMworld 2010 and 2011, Kendrick Coleman (of VCE and www.KendrickColeman.com) and David Davis (that’s me, of TrainSignal and www.VMwareVideos.com) are back to give you an updated and encore presentation of our Best Free vSphere Tools for 2011 presentation – in LIVE WEBINAR format !

If you couldn’t make it to VMworld 2011 in Vegas (or were just too busy to attend this session) then this session is for you. This session WON’T be at VMworld Europe so this is your last chance to catch it this year!

If you happened to catch our session at VMworld, you would know that we don’t just show 10 tools, it’s probably closer to 30. We give credit where credit is due for all the members of the VMware Community that dedicate time and effort into producing all these free tools. This session appeals to every person who has an interest in vSphere. We will talk about some of the free tools that beginners and novices can use that are easy out-the-box solutions and we will discuss some of the tools that require a bit of CLI work that appeal to those experts out there. We scoured hidden corners of the web to bring you the greatest content available. So come one and all to see the “greatest webinar on earth”!

I can guarantee that you will come back armed with more knowledge than you expected because this isn’t a single product pitch, heck, it’s not a product pitch at all. This is a webinar focused on giving vSphere admins what they want, knowledge to overcome obstacles in every day situations.

Here are some of the responses we received from our session in Vegas at VMworld 2011:

“Best little gems, can’t wait to try them out!”
“Even better than last year, best session for the whole week”
“One of the best presentations I attended. Had actual usable content instead of a sales pitch.”
“One of the best sessions I attended”

This live webinar will take place on October 26, 2011 at two times in order to make the the entire world happy (well almost).

Register to attend this webinar at either:

Europe: 7am Pacific / 10am Eastern / 3pm London
U.S.: 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern

This special webinar is sponsored by Xangati so please help to support their free tool - Xangati for vSphere.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

vExpert Justin Lauer of Tintri Interviewed at VMworld 2011 (@justin_lauer @TintriInc)

David Davis — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:37:06 +0000

In this video interview from VMworld 2011, TrainSignal talks with vExpert Justin Lauer of Tintri. In the video, Justin talks about…

How Tintri is VM-aware storage
Why it offer so much value for VMware and Storage Admins who use vSphere
How Tintri is a hybrid disk system that offers superior dollar per VM value
Big announcements from Tintri
How Tintri offers end-to-end latency tracking and auto alignement of the guest OS in a VMDK
How customers can get their own Tintri storage appliance for a proof of concept
What he enjoyed about VMworld 2011

For more information about Justin, follow him on Twitter at @Justin_Lauer and learn more about Tintri at www.Tintri.com or on Twitter at @TintriInc.

Please note:Justin Lauer is no relation to Matt Lauer

Interview of Lane Leverett VCDX#53 @VMworld (@wolfbrthr)

David Davis — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:59:26 +0000

In this video interview from VMworld 2011, Lane Leverett, VCDX #53, talks with TrainSignal about…

VMworld 2011 Keynote – AppBlast, Project Octopus
VMworld 2011 Sessions – Don Mann’s session on 10G Ethernet, Brian Madden’s session on VDI vs Terminal Services
How he first got into virtualization and what his advice is to future VMware admins including the importantance of learning virtualization
What it’s like to prepare for and take the VCDX, his advice to future VCDX candidates regarding the application and defense, and what it takes to become a VMware VCDX
What’s new for Lane including his plans to educate others on vSphere 5, vShield 5, View 5

Lane is an enterprise architect at Enterprise Network Solutions (ENS) and Co-Author of the TrainSignal vSphere Security Design video training course. To learn more about Lane, follow him on Twitter at @Wolfbrthr.

vExpert Greg Stuart of @vDestination Interviewed @VMworld 2011

David Davis — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:34:41 +0000

In this interview by TrainSignal, we interviewed vExpert, VCP, and blogger Greg Stuart of vDestination.com. Greg talks about his experience at VMworld 2011, the VMworld labs, the vExpert meeting at VMworld, his VMworld swag bag contest (enter to win a vNerd shirt and TrainSignal vSphere 5 video!), and his vExpert corner video interviews.

To keep up to date with Greg, visit his blog – vDestination.com – and follow him on Twitter – @vDestination

Doug Hazelman of @Veeam Interviewed at VMworld 2011 (@VMDoug)

David Davis — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:50:48 +0000

In this video interview, Doug Hazelman (@VMDoug), Vice President of Product Strategy at @Veeam, is interviewed at VMworld 2011. Doug talks about what will be coming in Veeam Backup and Replication version 6, the v6 replication and distributed architecture, that there is more to it than just Hyper-V support, the “real-failback” option for DR, Veeam’s support for vSphere 5, how Backup & Replication offers PowerCLI support, the new free Veeam Backup Academy, the free V-Index pulse of the virtualization community, and what’s next for Veeam.

To learn more about Veeam Backup and Replication, visit Veeam.com, where you can download free, fully-functional trials, free tools, webinars, and whitepapers.

David Davis Interviews Nigel Cook of @HPCloud at #VMworld (@davidmdavis)

David Davis — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:24:54 +0000

Live from VMworld 2011, David interviews the distinguished Mr Nigel Cook, HP Cloud System Technical Architect and Designer of the HP Cloud System Matrix. The HP Cloud System Matrix can offer businesses of all sizes Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). In the video, Nigel talks about what turns a “virtual infrastructure” into a “private cloud”, when you should consider implementing a private cloud, how you can burst your private cloud to a public cloud. Nigel talks about how the HP Cloud Matrix compares to the competitors like VCE Vblock or a NetApp Flexpod. And finally, Nigel responds to admins who may fear that by using a private cloud with self-service, they may lose control of their infrastructure.

For more information on the solutions that Nigel talked about, please visit the HP Cloud System Matrix homepage.

Jake Robinson, vExpert and Bluelock Engineer, Interviewed at VMworld 2011 (@jakerobinson)

David Davis — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:59:08 +0000

In this video interview from VMworld 2011, Jake Robinson (@jakerobinson), vExpert & VCP talks with TrainSignal about…

How he loves automation, using PowerShell. He met the creator of PowerShell, Jeffry Snover, and that there may be a new version coming out soon.
What’s new for Bluelock - how they were in the VMworld keynote for the 4th year in a row, how global connect and the global vCloud alliance will change things – you’ll be able to use multiple vCloud datacenters, around the world, as one.
How VMware did a soft announcement of of vCloud powershell snapin
Bluelock announcement called Portfolio – a decision support tool for cost management within the cloud and, for example, how it call tell you the actual cost of overallocating memory in your cloud infrastructure

Jake is an Engineer at VMware vCloud Computing partner, Bluelock.com To keep up to date on Jake’s latest posts, visit his blog at www.GeekAfterFive.com and follow him on Twitter at @jakerobinson.

Jason Boche, VCDX#34, Interviewed at VMworld 2011 (@jasonboche)

David Davis — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:42:45 +0000

Watch this video interview of Jason Boche (@jasonboche), vExpert, VCP, and VCDX#34, from VMworld 2011, to hear Jason talk about:

How he is excited about the release of vSphere 5, SRM5, vCD 1.5, vShield Zones & really looking forward to View 5
His advice for someone who wants to get started with vSphere 5
His advice on what IT Professionals should pay attention to in 2011 – vSphere 5, cloud, VDI
Jason’s new role at Dell/Compellent, what he does – lab, test, best practices, and pre-sales role
What’s next for Jason and what’s the latest on his famous monster lab in the basement?

Jason is a Technical Marketing Senior Advisor & Virtualization Product Specialist at Dell/Compellent. To find out more about Jason and keep up to date on his latest blog posts, visit his blog at Boche.net/blog

@KendrickColeman Video Interview from VMworld 2011

David Davis — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:45:37 +0000

Here’s a video interview of vExpert and super-blogger, Kendrick Coleman (@KendrickColeman) taken at VMworld 2011. In this video, Kenny talks about…

Our session at VMworld covering top free tools
His blog, www.KendrickColeman.com, where he talks about VCE, VBlocks, vCloud Director, free tools, and more
vSphere 5, View 5, Project Horizon, and more
VCE Fast-path – how it autoprovisions View and the connection broker, how it could help the SME and VMware partners – and what it’s like to work at VCE

To stay up to date on Kendrick Coleman’s latest posts over at his blog – www.KendrickColeman.com

VIDEO Interview with Jason Nash VCDX#49 of Varrow from VMworld 2011

David Davis — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:26:21 +0000

In this video, taken live at VMworld 2011, we interview Jason Nash, VCDX #49, Data Center Solutions Principal for Varrow.com and author of the TrainSignal vSphere Security video training course. In the interview, Jason talks about:

His sessions – compare and contrast of vSphere distributed switch vs. Cisco Nexus 1000v and his deep-dive session into the Nexus 1000V
VMworld 2011 sessiont that he enjoyed including the group discussion session he attended with Duncan Epping and Frank Dennemnan
Announcements that interested him from VMworld such as VXLAN

Keep up with Jason by following Jason on Twiter (@nash_j), by visiting his blog (JasonNash.com) and support Jason’s company, Varrow.com.

Interview with David Davis about VMworld 2011 and vSphere 5 (@davidmdavis)

David Davis — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:49:35 +0000

In this interview from VMworld 2011, I talk about my experience at VMworld by covering topics like:

Why VMworld 2011 is the best VMworld yet
My session with Kendrick Coleman about the the Top Free vSphere Management Tools in 2011
Why Xangati and VMturbo are one of the best two free tools available for vSphere
One of my favorite VMworld 2011 session – the ESXi Quiz show hosted by John Troyer with guests like Duncan Epping, Frank Denneman, Eric Siebert, Jason Boche, Chad Sakac, Vaughn Stewart, Eric Sloof, Kit Colbert, John Arrasjid, and many more!
Indepth tech previews covering VASA and VAAI
Big announcements like AppBlast, Project Octopus, SRM 5, View 5
Information about my new vSphere 5 video training course with Elias Khnaser, from TrainSignal

Enjoy!

Virtualization Backup Videos By @davidmdavis and vExperts

David Davis — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 03:46:28 +0000

Veeam just released their Backup Academy – a vendor neutral virtualization backup training program. This is, primarily, a theory-based program that covers topics like why virtualization backups are different, virtualization backup integrity, as well as best practices for VMware & Hyper-V Backups. I created two of the lessons in that program along with other experts like Elias Khnaser, Greg Shields, Rick Vanover, and Eric Siebert.

The two lessons that I created as part of the 8 lesson course are below. You can watch all 8 lessons at the Backup Academy website.

Why Virtual Machine Backups are different by David Davis, 28 minutes

Disaster Recovery of VMware Workloads, by David Davis, 28 minutes

How to Administer vSphere 5 with an iPad

David Davis — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 01:20:18 +0000

Taken from my new vSphere 5 video training course, this full video shows you how to use the free vCenter Mobile Access (vCMA) from Labs.VMware.com along with the free vSphere Client for iPad to administer vSphere 5. Enjoy!

Talking vSphere 5 from VMworld 2011 – Interview of @davidmdavis by @vKernel

David Davis — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:50:47 +0000

In this interview, taken live from VMworld 2011 (just as the solutions exchange was being torn down), I talked with Bryan Semple, Director of Marketing at vKernel. In the interview, we cover my experience at VMworld, my thoughts on new VMware products & tech released at the show, the effect of VMware’s vRAM pooled pricing for 3rd party companies like vKernel, and the release of my new vSphere 5 training course with Elias Khnaser.

Enjoy!

VIDEO: @TrainSignal Talks with Sean Clark at VMworld 2011 (@vSeanClark)

David Davis — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:12:37 +0000

Live from VMworld 2011 in Las Vegas, TrainSignal interviewed Sean Clark (@vSeanClark), Principal Consultant at Tek-Systems and co-instigator of VMunderground (aka WuPaaS).

Besides being a knowledgeable virtualization expert, Sean Clark is a smart, fun, and all around nice guy. I think you’ll enjoy this interview! (thanks Sean!)

TrainSignal is the leader in video training for IT Pros and offers a library of over 100 hours of vSphere training, including our new vSphere 5 video training course – check it out !

vChat #21-LIVE @VMworld 2011 with @ericsiebert and @davidmdavis

David Davis — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:44:46 +0000

In this special vChat #21, live from VMworld 2011, Eric Siebert and David Davis talk about everything that happened at VMworld. We cover things like project octopus, appblast, vSphere 5, host-based SRM used a disaster recovery as a service, sessions, keynotes, and even John Troyer ending up in the pool. And yes, we even talk about the iPad – covering the latest updates to the vSphere Client for iPad.

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

Video Interview with Mike Laverick and David Davis from VMworld 2011 (@mike_laverick @davidmdavis)

David Davis — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:36:06 +0000

Mister RTFM, Mike Laverick, does some excellent video interviews he calls “chinwags”. At VMworld 2011, Mike did some smaller interviews he called “mini-wags”. I was honored to be on one of this cool interviews with Mike. In the video, we talk about what we saw and did at VMworld including vendors we liked, new VMware technologies, Mike’s new SRM 5 book, and more. Here you go…

Additionally, Mike has got more great VMworld 2011 mini-wags at his blog – www.RTFM-ed.co.uk.

VIDEO: Scott Lowe, Mastering vSphere 5 Author, Interviewed at VMworld 2011

David Davis — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:58:26 +0000

In this video taken at VMworld 2011, Scott Lowe, vExpert, VCDX, and EMC vSpecialist, is interviewed about his books, upcoming books, his VMworld sessions, and much more! You can learn more about Scott at his blog. Also, you can pre-order (or order) Scott’s book, Mastering vSphere 5, at Amazon.com.

vChat – Episode 20 – VMworld 2011 Stack of Crap (pre-VMworld video)

David Davis — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:19:39 +0000

In vChat Episode 20 David Davis, Simon Seagrave, and Eric Siebert talk about what we have been up to the last couple of months and –> VMworld 2011 (pre-VMworld!) This is a fun podcast where David talks about his vSphere 5 video training being released, Eric talks about working at HP, Simon talks about the VMworld hands-on labs and much more!

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

VMworld 2011 Best Free vSphere Tools Presentation

David Davis — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:45:24 +0000

Here is a copy of my presentation, with Kendrick Coleman, at VMworld 2011 on the Best Free vSphere Tools. We welcome your feedback and comments!

(this presentation is posted with SlideRocket – another FREE VMware Tool)

Note: the SlideRocket presetation above doesn’t have the videos in it that we showed in our presentation (as SlideRocket only supports FLV and MP4 videos and our videos aren’t in that format). For the full presentation and videos, download the PPTX version of our presentation at KendrickColeman.com.

VIDEO- What’s New in Veeam Backup v6 by @VMDoug

David Davis — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:47:07 +0000

In this video, Veeam’s Doug Hazelman (recently promoted to VP of Product Strategy), aka @VMDoug, covers the new features of Veeam Backup v6. New features include one-click restore, multi-hypervisor support (Hyper-V), accelerated restore, and increased scalability.

Learn more in the Backup and Replication v6 press release.

Xangati for vSphere New Edition – Free Performance Tool (@XangatiPress)

David Davis — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:00:39 +0000

Xangati has released a new version of their “Xangati for ESX” with tons of new features. For those who aren’t familiar, Xangati is a vSphere performance tool that 1) deploys as a virtual appliance 2) offers record and replay of performance in the virtual infrastructure and 3) offers insight into vSphere virtual network traffic.

First off, the new name is “Xangati for vSphere” (which I had a part in suggesting). What’s even better than that is all the new features (yes, even in the free version!). Here’s the list:
- Health index score
- Alerts and notifications of performance problems
- Ability to record and replay events that happen in the virtual infrastructure
- Drill down into metrics like datastore latency, read and write rates on datastores, how datastores are responding to hosts, what VMs are talking to other VMs, and much more!
- Installation process has been improved and made much easier

I’ll certainly be talking about the new Xangati for vSphere in my free tools session with Kendrick Coleman at VMworld 2011 next week. Like thousands of others, download Xangati for vSphere today!

VIDEO: Interview with @VMDoug About @Veeam Supporting Hyper-V

David Davis — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:42:00 +0000

In this 7 minute interview with Doug Hazelman of Veeam (aka @VMDoug on Twitter), Doug talks about how Veeam Backup and Replication will soon include Hyper-V support. With that, they will offer 3 key capabilities:

Image-based backup and replication for Hyper-V
Changed block tracking
Deduplication and compression

If you’re interested in learning more about the Hyper-V support in Veeam Backup and Replication version 6, check out David Davis’ post Can Veeam do for Hyper-V what Microsoft Can’t? and Doug’s video on the VMware Backup coming to Hyper-V.

VIDEO: Bluelock Special – Jake Robinson and Alicia Gaba of @Bluelock Interviewed by @davidmdavis (cc @jakerobinson)

David Davis — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:11:44 +0000

In the two videos below, I talk with Alicia Gaba (@Bluelock on Twitter) and Jake Robinson (@jakerobinson on Twitter) about what Bluelock (www.Bluelock.com) is and what it can do for the typical enterprise who may be considering the cloud. Alicia talks about how Bluelock is a VMware vCloud datacenter provider, what makes them unique, and why the cloud is making business sense more and more.

Jake Robinson, Senior Systems Engineer of Bluelock, talks about his super-cool script where he can automated the movement of a virtual machine from your private infrastructure to the Bluelock public cloud infrastructure (I’ll have to contact him to learn more and try this out for myself). He also talks about the size of the Blueblock Cloud (infrastructure used to run it – hint: IT’S REALLY BIG) and other cool stuff so make sure you watch…

Happy Birthday John Troyer! (#vTHNX @jtroyer)

David Davis — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:10:00 +0000

July 24 is a special day on your virtualization calendar, it’s John Troyer’s birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!

As part of a special project dreamed up (very smartly) by Christopher Kusek (aka @CXI on Twitter), I created this short video below (along with many others on the DrJohnRocks YouTube channel):

I remember when I first met John back at VMworld 2008 in Las Vegas. He said to meet him by the podcasting table. I walked up and he was sitting down behind a mixing board and wearing some headphones. He stood up to shake my hand and I recall being amazed (and a bit intimidated) by how very tall he was (something I couldn’t see when I first walked up when he was sitting down). After spending a little time with him, I quickly realized what a kind, thoughtful, well-spoken, intelligent guy John was.

John has done so many things to help me in my career over the years, the list is too long to cover in a short blog post. The biggest thing that John has done over the years, for me and everyone in the community, is being a consistent role model who shows us what a virtualization evangelist, blogger, podcaster, and social networker should be. By the way, did you know that John Mark Troyer has a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Chemistry? Dr John is a genius, and all around nice guy (a rare combination). THANK YOU JOHN FOR ALL THAT YOU DO !

I hope that you will please join the vExperts in wishing John Troyer a very happy birthday and send thanks for all he does, there is a twitter hashtag specially for today #vTHNX and John can be found on twitter as @JTroyer

Here’s one of my favorite pictures of John

VIDEO: Interview of Justin Lauer from Tintri (@Justin_Lauer @TintriInc)

David Davis — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:50:07 +0000

In a recent interview at the Chicago vForum, I interviewed vExpert (and former vSpecialist), Justin Lauer (@Justin_Lauer) about his new company, Tintri (www.Tintri.com). In the video, Justin explains how Tintri offers SAN storage that is dedicated to VMware vSphere. Even better, Tintri storage actually UNDERSTANDS vSphere, virtual machines, VMDK files, VMX files, and virtual machine swap files. It is the first purpose-built storage for vSphere and it easily managed from the vSphere Client using a plug-in. Just says that Tintri can show you vSphere VM storage performance stats that have never been this easy to view and because the array works by using both SSD and traditional disk, it offers HUGE performance for vSphere VMs.

Learn more by watching the video and also checkout www.Tintri.com and even Duncan’s post about Tintri – the virtual machine-aware storage.

VIDEO: Scott Baker of NetApp, Keynote Address

David Davis — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:22:27 +0000

In this video, NetApp’s Scott Baker makes the keynote address at the Charlotte Regional VMUG where he covers the state of storage and virtualization. Enjoy!

VIDEO: Scott Harvey, VMware VP of Professional Services, Keynote Address

David Davis — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:00:50 +0000

In this video, Scott Harvey, VMware VP of Professional Services, makes the keynote address at the Charlotte Regional VMUG in which he covers the state of virtualization…

VIDEO: Automating vSphere with PowerCLI, A Primer by Aaron Miller

David Davis — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:00:35 +0000

Live from the Charlotte Regional VMUG, VMware’s Aaron Miller covers how to automate your vSphere infrastructure using PowerCLI. Watch, enjoy, and learn

VIDEO: Scott Lowe of EMC speaks on HA Stretched-Clusters (@scott_lowe)

David Davis — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:30:26 +0000

In this video, Scott Lowe (@Scott_Lowe), book author, vSpecialist, and VCDX speaks at the Charlotte Regional VMUG about VMware HA Stretched-Cluster Design. This is a SUPER-COOL topic and I have to watch this video again myself (even though I watched his presentation) because it is just such an amazing topic that Scott makes fun to learn. If you enjoy the video, please video Scott’s Blog to read more of his great content at http://blog.scottlowe.org

VIDEO: A Practical Guide to vCenter Operations by VMware’s Martin Klaus (@mklausvm)

David Davis — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:03:54 +0000

In this video of VMware’s Martin Klaus, he covers VMware’s vCenter Operations and how it can help you manage your vSphere infrastructure. This video was taken at the 2011 Carolina Summit VMware User Group in Charlotte, North Carolina. To keep up to date with what Martin is doing, you can follow him on Twitter at @mklausvm.

VIDEO: Ajay Singh of Nimble Storage – A Fresh Approach To Storage

David Davis — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:59:32 +0000

In this video of Ajay Singh, Product Manager for Nimble Storage, he covers what makes Nimble Storage different and how he believes that they have a fresh approach to storage for the virtual infrastructure. His session was entitled “VMware Data Protection in a Box: How Converged Storage and Backup Simplifies Data Management for VMware.” This video was taken at the Charlotte Regional VMware User Group (VMUG) in May of 2011. You can learn more about Nimble Storage by visiting their website and by following them on Twitter (@NimbleStorage).

vChat – Episode 19 – LIVE from the VMware vSphere 5 Launch in San Francisco

David Davis — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:07:29 +0000

In vChat Episode 19 David Davis and Eric Siebert talk LIVE from the VMware vSphere 5 Launch in San Francisco about what’s new in the VMware Cloud Infrastructure Suite launch and what it was like to attend the launch in person. We cover things like vSphere 5 Storage DRS, Profile-Driven Storage, host-based replication with SRM, VMware Data Recoveyr 2.0, and the controversial vRAM pooled pricing. You can find links to everything we discuss about the new VMware products on this VMware.com page.

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

vSphere 5 Video Training – COMING SOON!

David Davis — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:48:03 +0000

Coming Soon! TrainSignal will launch a vSphere 5 video training course by David Davis and Eli Khnaser”! Watch the cool promo video below and go to our vSphere 5 product page to sign up to get an email when it is released.

Interview of Ed Hsu, VMware VSA Product Manager by David Davis

David Davis — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 07:03:41 +0000

In this video, Ed Hsu, VMware vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA) product manager, is interviewed by David Davis at the VMware Cloud Launch Event in San Francisco on July 12, 2011. You can find out more info about the VSA at the VMware VSA product homepage.

You can also watch this slideshare presentation on the VSA by Eric Sloof of www.ntpro.nl

Introduction – vSphere Storage Appliance

View more presentations from Eric Sloof

VMware CTO, Steve @Herrod Covers New vSphere 5 Features

David Davis — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 06:49:03 +0000

In this video, VMware CTO, Steve Herrod Covers New vSphere 5 Features while he gives us a tour of the VMware headquarters campus in Palo Alto, CA. Make sure that you watch to see the Chewbacca cameo appearance – so funny!

Duncan Epping Interviewed by David Davis about vSphere 5 and his New Book!

David Davis — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:18:53 +0000

In this video, Duncan Epping, VCDX#007 is interviewed by David Davis at the VMware Cloud Infrastructure Launch event on July 12, 2011 in San Francisco. Duncan talks about he and Frank Denneman’s new book- VMware vSphere 5.0 Clustering Technical Deepdive as well as new features in vSphere 5 like Storage DRS, Profile-Driven Storage, and VMHA Fault Domain Manager. Duncan’s site is Yellow-Bricks.com and Frank’s site is FrankDenneman.nl.

You can buy Duncan and Frank’s new book at—> VMware vSphere 5.0 Clustering Technical Deepdive

VIDEO: Interview of Varrow’s John Simmons by David Davis

David Davis — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 18:04:10 +0000

At the Charlotte regional VMware user group (VMUG) I interviewed Varrow’s John Simmons (who blogs at johnsimmons.varrowblogs.com). Varrow is one of the few value-added resellers who specializes in virtualization. They are based out of the southeast (the Carolinas) and are experts in datacenter virtualization, VMware, EMC, and vBlock solutions. For the Charlotte VMUG, John put together some amazing — completely virtualized — labs for attendees to use and he tells us all about it in this video.

VIDEO: vSphere Security- Get Rid of Annoying SSL Certificate Warning vSphere Client

David Davis — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:42:36 +0000

In this lesson, Jason Nash, VCDX (aka @nash_j on Twitter) covered how to get rid of that annoying SSL certificate warning when you connect to an ESXi server or a vCenter server from the vSphere Client. This video is part of the soon to be released (July 2011) Train Signal vSphere Security video training course.

vChat – Episode 18 – Simon Uses Twitter at Mt Everest and Iomega PX4

David Davis — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:34:07 +0000

In vChat #18, Simon, Eric, and David discuss Simon using Twitter at Mt Everest basecamp, the new Iomega PX4, HP Discover, HP TouchPad, Uber EMC VNX VSA, the Denver VMUG, the VMware Cloud Infrastructure Launch Event (July 12), VMware vExpert program, VMworld 2011, and new TrainSignal VCA-DT and Security products.

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

Show Notes / Links Discussed-

VIDEO: Cloud in the Real World by VMware’s Mike DiPetrillo (@mikedipetrillo @vCloud)

David Davis — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:16:16 +0000

In this video, from the Charlotte Carolina Regional VMUG, VMware’s Mike DiPetrillo (@mikedipetrillo of MikeDiPetrillo.com), a VMware Global Cloud Architect, covers the status of cloud computing (and especially VMware’s vCloud Director) in the real-world. Mike is an energetic and attention-grabbing speaker who works with real customers and cloud computing everyday. Enjoy!

(and feel free to embed this on your own blog)

VMware View Video Training – Using Location Based Printing

David Davis — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:58:40 +0000

Launched today, our new VMware Certified Associate – Desktop (or VCA-DT) video training course covers VMware View Administration. This 8 hour course is taught by Brian Knudtson, a VCP, VCA-DT, VCAP-DCA, VCAP-DCD, and vExpert.

Below, you’ll find lesson from the course that covers how to use VMware View’s location-based printing. VMware View Location-Based Printing allows you to map printers to virtual desktops based on client properties, including device name, IP, MAC address, login credentials or group membership. In this demonstration from TrainSignal’s VMware View course, Brian will walk through the configuration options to optimize the end user experience with printing in View.

Here’s the outline from the new Train Signal VMware View Administration / VCA-DT video training course:

Lesson 1 – Getting Started with VMware View Administration Training

In this lesson, you’ll meet your instructor for the course, Brian Knudtson, and get an overview of what topics the course will cover.

About Your Instructor
An Overview of the Course

Lesson 2 – Lab Setup

Hands-on experience is crucial to solidify your knowledge of VMware View. In this lesson, you’ll learn what hardware and software components are needed to build your own lab environment in order to follow along with Brian’s demonstrations.

Advantages of a Lab
An Overview of the Course Lab

Lesson 3 – The Course Scenario

In this lesson, we will talk about the fictitious company used to provide real-world examples throughout the course, Home Royal Furniture.

The Scenario – Home Royal Furniture

Lesson 4 – View Components and Licensing

In this lesson, we will discuss the VMware View architecture and the role of each component. We will also look at the licensing options for View and ThinApp.

View Manager
View Connection Server
View Replica Server
View Transfer Server
View Security Server
View Composer
View Agent
VMware vSphere
vShield Endpoint
View Client
Local Mode
Kiosk Mode
User Experience
ThinApp
View and ThinApp Licensing

Lesson 5 – Installing View

In this lesson, we begin with an in-depth discussion of system requirements for installing each component of the View architecture. We then work hands-on to install all of the components.

Connection Server System Requirements
Transfer Server System Requirements
Composer System, Database and Feature Requirements
Agent System and Client System Requirements
Protocol Specific Requirements
Feature Specific Requirements
Active Directory Requirements
Client Devices
Delegated Authority
Installation Process
Installing the Connection Server
Installing Composer
Configuring View Administrator
Installing the Security Server
Installing the Transfer Server
Installing the Agent on the Parent VM
Installing the Windows Client

Lesson 6 – Configuring Virtual Desktops

In this lesson, we’ll look at the processes and best practices for creating virtual desktops and pools. We’ll talk in depth about the types of desktops in View, best practices for creating the parent image and for sizing your pools, we’ll look at persistent and disposable data disks, and we’ll wrap up by walking through the creating of an automated floating pool, an automated dedicated pool and a manual dedicated pool.

Parent Image Best Practices
View Desktop Types
Configuring View Desktop Pools
Composer Linked Clones
Persistent Disk and Disposable Data Disk
Pool Sizing
Demonstration: Automated Floating Pool
Demonstration: Automated Dedicated Pool
Demonstration: Manual Dedicated Pool

Lesson 7 – Maintaining Desktop Pools

We’ll discuss and demonstrate the operations you can perform on your desktops with Composer, including refreshing, recomposing and rebalancing desktops, and show how the pool configuration impacts the result of each operation. We’ll also look at how to entitle users and groups to desktops and how to limit pool access to specific Connection Servers. Our demonstration will also include what options you can edit once your pool is created and how to manage user sessions.

User Entitlements
Composer Operations – Refresh
Composer Operations – Recompose
Composer Operations – Rebalance
Editing Pools
Managing User Sessions
Demonstration – Entitling Users
Demonstration – Refresh Operation
Demonstration – Recompose Operation
Demonstration – Editing Pools
Demonstration – Managing User Sessions

Lesson 8 – User Profiles and Data

In this lesson, we’ll talk about the components of the Windows User Profile, the benefits and caveats of using Active Directory Roaming Profiles, and alternatives to using roaming profiles. We’ll discuss best practices for maintaining user profiles and how to use persistent disk storage and folder redirection with user profiles. Our demonstration will show how to enable roaming profiles and configure persistent disks and folder redirection in a View environment.

Windows User Profiles
Active Directory Roaming Profiles
Common Issues with Roaming Profiles
Maintaining User Profiles
View Persistent Disk
Folder Redirection
Exploring Local Profile
Enabling Roaming Profile
Configuring Persistent Disks
Configuring Folder Redirection

Lesson 9 – View Local Mode

If users need access to their virtual desktop but are offline or have a poor network connection, View Local Mode allows them to continue to use their virtual desktops. With View Local Mode, users can download and execute virtual desktops using local resources. In this lesson, we’ll talk the use cases for View Local Mode, how to manage Local Mode with policies, some requirements and best practices for Local Mode and we’ll demonstrate how to configure View Local Mode, what it looks like to the end user, and how to manage local sessions.

What is Local Mode?
Local Mode Use Cases
View Transfer Server
Maintaining Local Mode Desktops
Local Mode Policies
Local Mode Settings, Requirements and Best Practices
Configuring Local Mode
End User View of Local Mode
Managing Local Sessions

Lesson 10 – View Kiosk Mode

There are many use cases for public or shared clients that serve specific functions and that maintain a desktop ready for users, such as hospital workstations, airline check-in machines and customer information stations. View Kiosk Mode is a perfect solution for these use cases, providing an unattended client that automatically logs into View and connects to a desktop, authenticates at the device-level instead of end user, and leaves additional authentication to applications. In this lesson, we’ll discuss View Kiosk Mode, best practices for using Kiosk Mode and walk through how to set it up and connect to a client.

What is Kiosk Mode?
Kiosk Mode Use Cases
Setup for Kiosk Mode
Connecting the Client
Best Practices
Setting Up Kiosk Mode

Lesson 11 – Printing

Printing is a very important component of the user experience with virtual desktops. View provides several options for setting up printers in your virtual desktop environment, including location-based printing. We’ll discuss each of the options and walk through login script printer mapping and configure location-based printing for our scenario environment.

Options for Setting Up Printers
Location-Based Printing
Location-Based Printer Mapping
Login Script Printer Mapping
Configuring Location-Based Printing

Lesson 12 – Creating ThinApp Packages

ThinApp provides a layer of virtualization between the operating system and applications and isolates applications from other applications and the OS. In this lesson, we’ll look at ThinApp up close, its requirements and limitations, best practices for configuring the packaging machine, the components of a ThinApp package, and we’ll demonstrate how to create and test a ThinApp package.

How ThinApp Virtualizes Applications
ThinApp Requirements and Limitations
ThinApp Packaging Machine Best Practices
Steps to Virtualizing with ThinApp
Composition of a ThinApp Package
Advanced ThinApp Concepts
Testing Packages
Creating a ThinApp Package
Dirty Testing and Clean Testing the Package

Lesson 13 – Deploying ThinApp

In this lesson, we’ll discuss the options for registering packages, securing packages and deploying packages to clients, including Login Script deployment and ThinApp integration with View. For our demonstration, we’ll take the ThinApp package that we created in the previous lesson and deploy it to our clients.

Execution Modes
Registering Packages
Deployment Options
Package Security
Login Script Deployment
ThinApp Integration with View

Lesson 14 – Monitoring View

In this lesson, we’ll look at all the ways to monitor the performance of VMware View. We’ll configure the Event Database to store information about events occurring within the View environment, we’ll look at the information collected on View Dashboards and how to examine desktop and session status within View Administrator.

Event Database
View Dashboards
Desktop States
Session Status
Setting Up the Event Database
Monitoring Desktop Status

Lesson 15 – Troubleshooting View

We’ll start this lesson by talking about common failure points within View. We’ll dive deep into the connection procedures and how Linked Clones work in order to understand where failure may occur. We’ll also discuss the ports needed for View and some items to consider to optimize PCoIP performance. Then we’ll dive into logs and diagnostic information and look at what information View collects, where it is stored and how to generate support bundles in case you have to open a ticket with VMware.

Common Failure Points
Connection Procedures
How Linked Clones Work
Ports Needed for View
PCoIP Performance
Log File Locations
Collecting Diagnostic Information
Troubleshooting Problem Desktops
Investigating Linked Clones
View Log Files
Generating Support Bundles

Lesson 16 – Preparing for the VMware VCA4-DT Certification Exam

In this lesson, we’ll talk about the VMware View certification path, give an overview of the VCA4-DT exam, discuss the exam objectives and which lessons cover the topics of each objective. We’ll talk about some tips for taking the VCA4-DT exam and some supporting resources that will help you prepare for the exam.

VCA4-DT Overview
VCA4-DT Objectives
VCA4-DT Exam Tips
My Favorite Supporting Resources

Lesson 17 – Next Steps

This lesson will wrap up the course. We’ll talk about what we covered throughout the course, what View certifications you can pursue and supporting resources that will help solidify your View expertise.

What We Learned
VMware Desktop Certifications
My Favorite Supporting Resources
We Value Your Opinion

VIDEO: Interview with eGroup’s Steve Rattacasa (@Rattacasa @davidmdavis)

David Davis — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 11:43:34 +0000

In this video, I interview Steve Rattacasa, Systems Engineering Manager from eGroup (www.egroup-us.com). Steve (aka @Rattacasa on Twitter) and I were at the Charlotte regional VMware User Group (VMUG) where eGroup has a nice vSphere lab setup for attendees to use. This all-in-one lab was used for hands-on training with VMware View and other VMware vSphere products. The rack includes the new EMC VNX 5300, Cisco UCS Blades, and a Cisco Nexus 5000. You can follow eGroup on Twitter at @eGroup_Inc.

Sorry that there is some annoying background noise at the start of the video but, hang in there for a few seconds and it goes away.

New VMware View Administration Video – Demo of Folder Redirection

David Davis — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:40:52 +0000

On July 6, 2011 Train Signal will launch a new VMware View Administration course that covers the VMware Certified Associate – Desktop (VCA-DT) certification from VMware. This course by VCA-DT, VCP, VCAP-DCA, VCAP-DCD, and vExpert Brian Knudtson is delivered in online streaming video as well as DVD format for offline learning (even on your iPad or in the car). Watch the sample from the new course, below, where Brian covers VMware View Folder Redirection.

To view the entire course outline and sign up to get an alert when the course is available (on 7/6/11), visit the Train Signal VMware View Administration course homepage.

VIDEO: Ask the Expert with Scott Lowe, Rich Brambley, Jason Nash, Mike Laverick and Mike DiPetrillo

David Davis — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:07:43 +0000

The “Ask the Expert” session at the Carolina VMUG was awesome this year (2011). Experts on the panel were:

Scott Lowe, VCDX (@Scott_Lowe) of blog.ScottLowe.org
Jason Nash, VCDX (@nash_j) of jasonnash.wordpress.com
Mike DiPetrillo, Senior vCloud Architect (@mikedipetrillo) of www.mikedipetrillo.com
Mike Laverick, VCP & all around vGuru (@Mike_Laverick) of www.RTFM-ed.co.uk – (and sorry, Mike, that they left you off the intro video credits)
Moderator: Rich Brambley, vPower (@rbrambley) of www.VMetc.com

These guys covered everything from VMware vSphere & vCloud Director to EMC and storage.

DON’T MISS THIS VIDEO!

Like the video? Feel free to embed it in your blog !

Free Webinar by David Davis- Top 10 Benefits of Virtualization for You and Your Company

David Davis — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:40:33 +0000

Just a quick note to let you know that I will be hosting a free webinar this Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 11:00am PT / 2:00pm ET covering the Top 10 Benefits of Virtualization for You and Your Company. In this webinar, sponsored by VMware, I will cover how large enterprises and SMBs both can save costs and boost IT asset utilization by using virtualization. Here is what you will learn:

What virtualization offers beyond just consolidation
How to determine if virtualization is right for your company
How to get started testing virtualization
What you need to know to build a virtualization lab
The unique benefits of VMware’s virtualization solutions

Ask the expert! Come prepared with questions to ask me in the live Q & A session! Find out why and how you should get started with virtualization.

Register today!

VIDEO: Solarwinds Virtualization Manager Overview by @davidmdavis

David Davis — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:28:16 +0000

I was granted access to Solarwinds demo system to play around with the latest version of Solarwinds Virtualization Manager – version 4.0. This is actually a new version of Hyper9 Manager as Solarwinds recently acquired them.

I had looked at this tool in the past and was impressed with what the new version now offers. Besides the “Google-like search function” for your vSphere infrastructure, Virtualization Manager offers capacity planning, performance monitoring, VM Sprawl, configuration management, & chargeback/showback. I like that it can offers real-world practical info such as finding performance bottlenecks and telling you how much capacity you have remaining.

You can access the same demo environment I used, download a free trial, and learn more about what it can do at Solarwind’s -Virtualization Homepage.

Virtualization manager is deployed as a virtual appliance and the starting price of $2995 supports up to 50 powered on virtual machines.

@Veeam Backup Reviews by @DavidMDavis and @JasonBoche

David Davis — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 04:39:50 +0000

Two reviews of Veeam Backup and Replication 5.0 were recently posted by David Davis (that’s me) and Virtualization vEvangelist & VCDX, Jason Boche (@JasonBoche) of Boche.net.

The first of these reviews was published in Virtualization Review’s printed magazine (and it was authored by me). The title is Living Up To The Hype and it covers how Veeam Backup and Replication 5 was announced with tremendous hype but how the product has been totally living up to that by offering unprecedented features like virtual labs and automated backup verification.

The second review was posted in a new whitepaper by Jason Boche. In Jason’s review of Veeam Backup & Replication (B&R), he covers the options to protect your virtual infrastructure, the Veeam solution, how Veeam Backup works, how Veeam Replication can help you, and what might be improved in these products with the next revision. You can download Jason’s Veeam Backup & Replication Product Review here (free registration required for this one).

New Solarwinds Virtualization Manager Videos

David Davis — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:03:32 +0000

Being a video training author myself, I applaud any company that posts free video training on their products. I wanted to take a moment to point out that Solarwinds has been posting some very nice video training on their products. These videos are very real-world-based and show you how to use their new version of Virtualization Manager (formerly Hyper9) to troubleshoot your virtual infrastructure. Nice work !

How-to Troubleshoot Historic Issues with Time Travel from SolarWinds Virtualization Manager

How-To Master Virtualization Capacity Planning with SolarWinds Virtualization Manager

How-To Pinpoint Virtualization Performance Bottlenecks with SolarWinds Virtualization Manager

How-To Conquer VM Sprawl with SolarWinds Virtualization Manager

Finally, they are launching a new series of funny virtualization videos with the first one being “Sprawl Busters”. I love it when he says “did you cry when Firefly was cancelled”-

VMware Videos - Virtualization News and How-To

vChat – Episode 35 – Josh Atwell at SFLVMUG Talking vCO and Career Success

Secrets to a Successful Career in Tech by David Davis (@davidmdavis)

VIDEO: How to Upgrade vCenter Operations Manager by VCDX Jason Nash

Veeam Announces vCloud Director Support in Backup v7

Free Introduction to Virtualization Video Training by @DavidMDavis

Lesson 1 – Server Virtualization and Hypervisors

Testing and Deploying Server Virtualization

Understanding VMware Virtualization Solutions

Building a Virtualization Lab with VMware Workstation

Virtualization Certifications from VMware and Microsoft

vChat – Episode 34 – Top Virtualization Blogs 2013 with John Troyer

Webinar – Ensuring Max QOS for Business-Critical Apps with VMware vCenter Operations

Click here to watch the full webinar!

Unlimited VMware Virtualization Training for $49 Per Month

www.TrainSignal.com

Fun Facts About VMware History Video

Getting Started with the New Free @HotLink SuperVISOR by @davidmdavis

Join Us in a Google Hangout – Optimize your SMB IT Infrastructure with Windows Server 2012

vChat – Episode 33 – Christmas 2012 with Simon, Eric, and David

Webinar: vSphere Lab and SMB Storage with @Drobo and @DavidMDavis + prizes

VIDEO: Multi-Hypervisor and Hybrid Cloud from @Hotlink Interview at VMworld 2012

vChat – Episode 32 – VMworld San Fran 2012 Re-Cap

The Best New Hyper-V 3 Features

vChat – Episode 31 – VMworld 2012 Plans and Special Guest Mike Laverick

vChat – Episode 30 – Olympics XXX Edition, VMworld 2012 Prep, and more!

VIDEO: What is Cloud Computing?

3 Free Virtualization & Cloud Computing Webinars

August 7th: VMware vSphere Design 101 with VCDX Scott Lowe

August 15th: Top 5 Most Useful Features in Your vCloud Director Organization with vExpert Jake Robinson

September 13th: Cloud Computing 101 with vExpert David Davis

vChat – Episode 29 – EMC World, HP Discover, and TechEd 2012

VIDEO: Top 3 VMware Certifications and How to Pass by @davidmdavis

vChat #28-vCenter Operations Contest and Overview – Interview with Ben Sheerer

Expert Judging Panel:

vChat – Episode 27 – Live from the Charlotte VMware User Group

VIDEO: New Xangati Management Dashboard (XMD) Version 9 (@XangatiPress)

VMware CTO Steve @Herrod Interviewed by @ericsiebert @hpstorageguy

vChat – Episode 26 – Big Fat Geeky vChat

@Drobo Announces Automated Data-aware Tiering Video

Live Webinar- Desktop Virtualization for SMB with @DellSMBus @DavidMDavis

TweetChat- How SMBs Can Lower Costs & Improve Efficiency with Virtualization with Dell, Intel, and David Davis of TrainSignal – Win A Laptop!

HOW ?

PRIZE GIVEAWAY

New vCloud Director Essentials Video Training by @DavidMDavis of @TrainSignal

vChat – Episode 25 – Virtualization Top Blogs Results – Feb 2012 – with John Troyer

Thank You VMware for the vExpert Program and Gifts!

VIDEO: Disaster Recovery in vCloud Director #VMwarePEX

VIDEO: View 5 Login Script Deployment by @BKnudtson

vChat – Episode 24 – LIVE from VMware PEX 2012

vChat – Episode 23 – Top Blog Voting Update, Pre VMware PEX, and more

VIDEO: VMware’s Super-Cool vSphere CLI and Power CLI 5 Posters (Thanks!)

VMware View 5 Video Training Now Available by @Bknudtson @Wolfbrthr

Order VMware View 5 Essentials Now

Order VMware View 5 Essentials Today!

VIDEO: Associating Service Profiles to Blades in Cisco UCS by @TheJasonNash

VIDEO: What is Cisco UCS and Why Do I Need It? (by @TheJasonNash)

Video: Deploying Personalized Desktops in VMware View 5 by @BKnudtson

Top 25 Free Tools for VMware vSphere presented by @davidmdavis @kendrickcoleman

vChat – Episode 22 – vSphere Books, Home Labs, Chaotic Cloud Pricing

TrainSignal Wins Best Virtualization Training Award by @VirtReview

Cisco UCS Implementation Video by @TheJasonNash of @VarrowInc

VIDEO: Installing VMware vCloud Connector by @davidmdavis

VIDEO: vSphere 5 AutoDeploy from @TrainSignal and @ekhnaser

@Veeam Releases Backup & Replication 6 for Hyper-V and vSphere (by @davidmdavis)

Popsicle Stick Video: Free VMware Tools Session – VMworld Europe 2011

Live Webinar – Best Free vSphere Tools for 2011 with @davidmdavis @kendrickcoleman

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

vExpert Justin Lauer of Tintri Interviewed at VMworld 2011 (@justin_lauer @TintriInc)

Interview of Lane Leverett VCDX#53 @VMworld (@wolfbrthr)

vExpert Greg Stuart of @vDestination Interviewed @VMworld 2011

Doug Hazelman of @Veeam Interviewed at VMworld 2011 (@VMDoug)

David Davis Interviews Nigel Cook of @HPCloud at #VMworld (@davidmdavis)

Jake Robinson, vExpert and Bluelock Engineer, Interviewed at VMworld 2011 (@jakerobinson)

Jason Boche, VCDX#34, Interviewed at VMworld 2011 (@jasonboche)

@KendrickColeman Video Interview from VMworld 2011

VIDEO Interview with Jason Nash VCDX#49 of Varrow from VMworld 2011

Interview with David Davis about VMworld 2011 and vSphere 5 (@davidmdavis)

Virtualization Backup Videos By @davidmdavis and vExperts

How to Administer vSphere 5 with an iPad

August 7^th: VMware vSphere Design 101 with VCDX Scott Lowe

August 15^th: Top 5 Most Useful Features in Your vCloud Director Organization with vExpert Jake Robinson

September 13^th: Cloud Computing 101 with vExpert David Davis