My Journey to the Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

My Journey to the Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Over the years I have worked with the cloud, I started in 1987 with a mainframe, this consisted of a central datacentre, and users accessing services via a TCP/IP network.

I then moved to Novell networks, Microsoft networks.

Then in 1999 I started using VMware products, and created my first “private cloud”, I worked with vCloud Director, vSphere, and VMware Cloud Foundation.

My first look at Public Cloud came with Microsoft Azure, then AWS.

I then started to get involved with VMware Cloud on AWS.

Then this week came the announcement that VMware Cloud Foundation would be made available on GCP

This prompted me to start my journey to GCP.

Fortunately, I work for QA Training, and as such I have access to a variety of training materials as QA are a Google training partner

Also, within the QA family we have Cloud Academy, who offer some excellent self-paced content on GCP.

As with any journey it starts with the first step, and even though I’ve worked with Clouds for many years, I’m going to start at the beginning with:

GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM FUNDAMENTALS: CORE INFRASTRUCTURE

As I go, I’ll post more of my thoughts and map out my journey.

Have a great one, as always, I’m #alwayslearning.

VMware Cloud Foundation Starts with vSAN - Webcast 11th June 2019

I've been doing a lot of work recently with VMware Cloud on AWS and this has involved working with VMware Cloud Foundation.

The VMware Cloud Foundation software can be used in a number of different scenarios.

• Private Cloud
• Hybrid Cloud
• VMware Cloud on AWS

One of the components/solution that comes with VMware Cloud Foundation is vSAN

If you're free on 11/6/19 why not sign up for the

VMware Cloud Foundation Starts with vSAN - Webcast

VMware Cloud Foundation provides a complete set of software-defined services for compute, storage, networking, and cloud management to run enterprise apps—traditional and containerized—in private and public cloud environments. This session focuses on why hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) powered by VMware vSAN is the ideal building block for Cloud Foundation—and is the most comprehensive hybrid cloud architecture available. 

We will discuss the features that simplify “Day 0” deployment, “Day 1” configuration, and “Day 2” lifecycle management of a Cloud Foundation environment built on hyperconverged infrastructure.

Join VMware's Pete Flecha - Senior Technical Marketing Architect and John Nicholson - Senior Technical Marketing Architect for the 60 minute webcast

To register visit VMware

VMware Specialist - vSAN 2019 (vSANSpecialist2019)

My list of VMware certifications now exceeds 20, and now VMware have released another certification for me to pursue.

I love the vSAN product and it's something I've used for years with both VDI solutions and increasingly server virtualisation.

The vSAN 2019 badge validates that an earner can properly design a vSAN cluster including the selection of supported hardware, compute and storage capacities, and performance profile. An earner is able to install and configure vSphere and vSAN according to business requirements and vendor recommendations. He or she is also capable of managing and monitoring a cluster to help ensure consistent performance and minimal downtime. An earner can perform basic troubleshooting and problem resolution.

The plan is as follows

1. Earn the VMware Certified Professional - Data Center Virtualization 2019 (VCP-DCV 2019)

2. (Recommended) Attend one of the training courses

• VMware vSAN: Deploy and Manage [6.7]
• VMware vSAN: Production Operations [6.7]
• VMware vSAN v6.7 - Getting Statrted Hands on Lab

3. Pass the VMware vSAN 6.7 Specialist Exam 2019 (5V0-21.19)

120 minute exam 60 Questions and costs $250

For more information, visit VMware Education

Free VMware eBook - Hyper-Converged Infrastructure for Dummies

VMware have kindly produced a 2nd Special Edition of the Hyper-Converged Infrastructure for Dummies ebook.

The book covers the benefits of a Hyper-Converged infrastructure.

From the Introduction.

"Hyper‐converged infrastructure (HCI) does just that. HCI evolves the way that compute, storage, and management are delivered and provisioned to help you cut operational and capital costs, increase information technology (IT) and business agility, and improve application performance."

The book is 76 pages long and is written by Michael Haag

Download Hyper-Converged Infrastructure for Dummies and enjoy the read.

VMware - IT Automation for Dummies iPaper

One of the recurring topics in a lot of the cloud courses I teach now is DevOps, or for IT automation.

A lot of traditional IT support staff may see this as putting them out of a job, but I see it more as, making the IT department more efficient.

A lot of us work more hours than we're paid for, so IT automation allows us to regain some of that time.

The fantastic people at VMware have produced a 6 page iPaper entitled:

IT Automation for Dummies - written by Tracie Stamm and David Zolnier

Here's a little bit to wet the appetite.

"Automation is quickly becoming the key industry standard to achieve the agility required for faster access to IT resources. Automation helps organisations accelerate IT service delivery by automating the configuration and provisioning of the networking, security, and infrastructure components that support application development."

VMware Cloud on AWS – Quick Reference Poster

I've been learning all about VMware VMC on AWS, this is a fantastic resource.

Thanks to Jeremiah Megie and Emad Younis for making the following available.

VMware Cloud on AWS – Quick Reference Poster

It covers the following sections, and I've already found it extremely useful.

• Infrastructure Overview: A high-level diagram showing the relationships between the on-premises data center, the VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC, and native AWS services.
• HCX Enterprise Network: A detailed diagram covering the HCX components, connectivity, flows, and ports utilized between the on-premises data center and VMware Cloud on AWS.
• Direct Connect Topology: This section shows the components and overall topology of utilizing AWS Direct Connect (DX) for connectivity between the on-premises data center and VMware Cloud on AWS.
• NSX-T AWS Connected VPC: This diagram presents an overview of how communication occurs between the VMware Cloud on AWS VPC and a customer’s VPC if they are utilizing AWS native services.
• Firewall Rules: The final section includes a list of the common firewall rules used between the on-premises data center and VMware Cloud on AWS for the Management Gateway, HCX, and Site Recovery.

Feature Walk Through - VMware Products

As a VMware instructor, I spend a lot of time looking at resources and trying to find resources that will be useful to my delegates.

The VMware Product Walkthroughs are one of the resources I check quite a bit.

The site has resources for the majority of VMware products in a useful centralised location.

Examples of products include:

VMC on AWS
vSAN
NSX
vSphere

Definitely worth looking at if you find yourself with a few free minutes