Friday 13 November 2020

The Multi Cloud and how VMware can help

 

Whenever I teach my various on-premises courses and even when I teach my Cloud based courses, I always get reminded by my Cloud trainer colleagues that in the future “everyone will be running all of their services in the cloud”.

I then ask my delegates and attendees the questions:

“In the future will you run all of your IT services purely from a public cloud?” Usually the answer is “No, we won’t”

“Are any of you running services in just one cloud solution?” These answers vary from “No, Yes, and we actually use multiple clouds”.

As we move forward and more of our services move towards modernisation, questions are being asked, obstacles are appearing, and as different departments perhaps decide to take their services into their own hands, we find that silos are created, and eventually it will come back into the IT departments hands.

The challenge becomes managing these multi-cloud environments in a cohesive and transparent (for the user) way.

Some of the questions that I get asked:

What is the difference between a hybrid-cloud and multi-cloud scenario?

I always think of hybrid cloud as a mix between a private on-premises cloud and a public cloud solution, I have to focus on a management method that allows consistency of management across a common infrastructure layer. Such as having VMware on-premises and then running VMware via VMC on AWS for my public cloud offering.

Mult-Cloud for me is a bit more complex, I may have VMware on-premises, AWS running my website, and web interfacing services, and then running perhaps Azure with Office 365 for productivity, and Intune for my device management, they all have their own management tools, and potentially 100s of separate accounts that I need to now coordinate and manage consistently.

The challenges for organisations starting or continuing their journey to the multi-cloud

·         Multiple systems that require management

·         Unpredictable costs, due to pay as you go models.

·         Not knowing 100% which clouds are in use, as developers and departments create their own workloads, leading to inconsistency and perhaps duplication of solutions.

·         Protection of workloads from a high availability, scalability, and business continuity view.

·         Backing up workloads.

·         Governance.

·         Automation.

·         Prioritisation.

·         Service Level agreements

·         Delivering applications, on any cloud, on any device, and making this transparent to the end user

 Why use a multi-cloud strategy for your Organisation

·        Unique Services: Organizations have the freedom to choose from different cloud providers to best fit specific application and computation requirements to their own unique business needs.

·        Scalable: An organisation can quickly scale up to use more resources during peak periods and then scale down when demand lessens, or fewer virtual data centres, depending on demand.

·        Speed: Global organizations can get services faster in multiple regions by choosing local public cloud vendors at all of their office locations. The closer the data centre, the lower the latency. Using a local public cloud computing provider also decreases response time for higher priority tasks.

·        Compliance with governmental regulation: Some organizations may need to use multiple cloud storage providers to adhere to government regulations and data sovereignty laws that require certain types of data to reside within the company’s country.

·        Saving time, money and physical space: Most organizations that employ multi-cloud capabilities use the public cloud for IaaS, avoiding the need to build and maintain their own datacentre. The advantage of using public cloud for IaaS is that users can build a virtual data centre in the cloud without needing a physical piece of hardware. This saves money and physical space, because the company does not have to invest in or store their own hardware. It also saves time, because the public cloud service provider manages, maintains and updates the data centre.

·         Future-proof and flexible: Opting for multiple cloud services provides benefits beyond spreading the risk of failure across several vendors. By adopting a multi-cloud strategy, businesses can get everything they want, or might want tomorrow, without being limited to the services that one vendor provides.

There has to be a way to better manage all of these clouds, whether they be on-premises, hybrid, or public clouds

As I work with VMware products and have done for 20 years, my focus will be on how VMware can help me manage the diversity in solutions and clouds that I may have in use now and in the future.

Can VMware help manage operations when I have applications and services on AWS, Azure, Google, IBM, Oracle, and so on?

The simple answer is YES. VMware multi-cloud solutions are designed to help manage workloads that run on the native infrastructure of public clouds. Not only that VMware can help me to manage a multi-cloud and hybrid scenarios that include, consistent infrastructure based on VMware technologies that run alongside workloads that run natively in the cloud.

VMware solutions for the multi-cloud

VMware’s building block for cloud solutions is VMware Cloud Foundation, this product suite contains a number of solutions. It consists of:

·         VMware vSphere

·         VMware NSX-T

·         VMware vSAN

·         VMware vRealize suite

VMware also have solutions to help analyse and manage your cloud solutions such as CloudHealth by VMware, that allows companies to Analyse and manage cloud cost, usage, security and governance in one place with a cloud management platform.

Also, VMware have Cloud Health Secure State that allows companies to Gain real-time visibility across clouds. Build a unified security monitoring approach for AWS, Azure, and Google Clouds to understand how a minor configuration change can elevate risk across all connected objects. Monitor ephemeral cloud resources and detect security events within minutes without excessive API calls to cloud. Visualize cloud resource relationships and associated misconfigurations, threats, metadata, and change activity. Explore inventory with typeahead search and investigate risks with powerful visualization capabilities for navigating cloud topology. Audit configuration changes and track progress developers are making in resolving security violations.

VMware Cloud Partners and solutions

VMware’s original partnership started with AWS and as such, my first foray into hybrid cloud was VMware Cloud on AWS

But VMware has expanded and also provide:

·         Azure VMware Solution

·         Google Cloud VMware Engine

·         IBM Cloud VMware Solutions

·         Oracle Cloud VMware Solution

As we move forward, I am sure that most companies will embrace some form of multi-cloud solution, and this area will grow rapidly, what’s important is that all companies research and then select the service that works best for them.

 

Thursday 12 November 2020

The many certifications available from VMware

 

When I started working with VMware nearly 20 years ago there was only one certification and that was the VMware Certified Professional, moving forward and over 25 VMware certifications to my name, the range of certification have increased massively.

 

VMware Certified Technical Associate - VCTA

For Operators

This entry-level technical certification is for anyone new to the industry or advancing their careers who perform operational tasks typically delegated by administrators of virtualized environments.

VMware Certified Professional - VCP

For Administrators and Engineers

This level is designed for IT professionals who install, configure, manage, and optimize VMware solutions.

VMware Certified Advanced Professional - VCAP

For Administrators, Architects and Engineers

The advanced level certifications are for those who design and build VMware Solutions (VCAP Design), manage and optimize (VCAP Deployment) VMware solutions.

VMware Certified Design Expert – VCDX

For Architects

The highest level of VMware certification, VCDX recognizes IT professionals who design, build, and manage VMware solutions and systems.

The Areas of Specialisation

Data Centre Virtualisation route

VMware Data Centre Virtualisation certifications are designed to gauge your level of skill designing, installing, and managing VMware vSphere environments in a real-world environment.

Cloud Management and Automation Route

VMware Cloud Management and Automation certifications are designed to gauge your level of skill installing, configuring, and optimizing VMware vRealize for your cloud solution.

Digital Workspace route consists of the following:

Digital Workspace

VMware Digital Workspace certification is designed to gauge your skill configuring, deploying, managing, maintaining, optimizing, and troubleshooting VMware Workspace ONE and related solutions.

Desktop and Mobility

VMware Desktop and Mobility certifications are designed to gauge your level of skill designing, installing, and managing a VMware Horizon with View environment deployed on a VMware.

Network Virtualisation route

VMware Network Virtualization certifications are designed to gauge your level of skill designing, implementing, and managing a VMware NSX environment.

Security route

This certification validates a candidate's understanding of VMware's security solutions and the candidate's ability to provide entry level support for the security features of VMware products, including NSX-T Data Centre, Workspace ONE and VMware Carbon Black Cloud.

Application Modernisation route

VMware Application Modernisation certifications are designed to gauge your level of skill validated by passing specialists exams. Whether it’s developer knowledge of specialized frameworks, or administrator knowledge of emerging technologies like Kubernetes and containers, VMware can help you build an effective team with proven skills.

 

For more information visit VMware Certification tracks diagram

 

 


Wednesday 11 November 2020

VMware Certified Technical Associate an ideal place to start your VMware certification journey

 

Whilst teaching this week I was asked about starting level certifications in VMware and we introduced the well-known VMware Certified Professional.

However, VMware have also introduced the VMware Certified Technical Associate certification.



The VCTA is for anyone new to the industry or to VMware solutions, whether as a newly graduating student, someone changing careers, or someone already working in the industry and looking for opportunities to advance.

The VCTA is designed for those performing an operator job role.

This is an ideal starting point.

The VCTA is not a prerequisite for the VMware Certified Professional (VCP) certification, which is a higher-level certification; experienced candidates can start directly at the VCP level.

However, for anyone wanting to get that first step into the technical credentials and prove their operational skills across VMware solutions, the VCTA is a perfect starting point.

Training is available online through VMware Customer Connect Learning. You can take the VCTA exam at either a Pearson VUE test centre or at a home, office, or work location using the Pearson OnVue remote proctored solution. When registering for the exam, you will have the option of selecting your preference.

A good place to start would be the VMware Certified Technical Associate – Data Centre Virtualisation 2020

The VCTA-DCV certification holder has a basic understanding of virtualization and vSphere concepts. The certification holder also demonstrates knowledge of data centre technology and basic troubleshooting concepts. A VCTA-DCV holder also has a working knowledge of managing cloud resources and basic networking concepts.

Tuesday 13 October 2020

What I learned from VMworld 2020

 

VMworld 2020 focused on the changing world, we have had a lot of challenges to deal with this year.

We have had to deal with Covid-19, with inequality, and with moving toward a new type of infrastructure for work, perhaps the days of travelling hundreds of miles for work whether via trains, planes, or automobiles is now not as important. Perhaps we should invest in digital technologies to improve how we work.

This year has had the effect of accelerating companies into the digital age, perhaps this will in turn make us closer and a truly global community.

The tagline was Possible Together.

VMworld 2020 focused on Digital innovation.

The strategy is empowering Any App, on any cloud, on any device.

VMware has a strategy moving forward. They will deliver the digital foundation moving forward.

This consists of five critical building blocks

1.       App Modernisation

2.       Multi Cloud

3.       Digital Workspace

4.       Virtual Cloud Networking

5.       Intrinsic Security

App Modernisation is all about how we move applications from monolithic apps to the containerised applications, Docker has become the go to container engine, as we move to the multi-cloud world we have to ensure that we have a consistent method of management, and this leads us to Kubernetes and on to Tanzu, Allows you to run your app across any cloud.

VMware vSphere now has the ability to run native Kubernetes workloads/containers, and now with vSphere 7 U1 it’s even easier.

Moving forward, VMware are working closely with NVIDIA to create an available Artificial Intelligent solution that will be available for all, this is code named Project Monterey

Multi-Cloud, is the strategic platform for moving the company forward, companies take the best of all the clouds, and by using VMware technologies they have a centralised view of these workloads, and it was also announced that VMware have more 15 million workloads on VMware Cloud.

VMware cloud now runs on all the major public clouds.

VMware also have their Telco cloud and predict that this may mean in the future that 5G may make WiFi obsolete.

Digital Workspace this has now taken hold as millions of people started working from home, Workspace ONE, SD-WAN and Carbon Black working together allows home users to work securely from any location, run any application and work on any device

Virtual Cloud Networking is the software defined networking that’s running the VMware Cloud, VMware’s NSX technology is now in use with over 17,000 customers worldwide, NSX is a complete networking solution delivered in software.

Intrinsic Security VMware are building security into the datacentre, this allows for Security across Any App, Any Cloud, on Any device, VMware provide Carbon Black as the product to allow this functionality.

All of the above products above will accelerate us to the future of digital working.

VMware are now focusing on the vertical industry solutions and are focusing their efforts on Health Care, Education, Public Sector, Retail and Financial Services.

I’ll be watching with interest to see how VMware innovates in the future.

 

Wednesday 12 August 2020

VMware TV now broadcasting on all good web browsers

 As you are probably aware I am a VMware Certified Instructor and talk for a living, but I also have to learn for a living, so I was really pleased to receive an email from VMware informing me of VMware TV

What is VMware TV?

VMware TV is the next generation of webcasting from VMware that gives you access to the latest technical content in one on-demand hub. Enjoy multiple solution channels, webcasts in three languages (English/Spanish/Portuguese), and an extensive library of content including: 

  •     Technical deep dives (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) 
  •     Virtual Hands-on Labs 
  •     Product demos 
  •     IT leadership webcasts 
  •     Q&A sessions 
  •     And more 

To register for VMware TV

Visit the VMware TV site and register for an account, and then sit back and enjoy content including.
  • vSAN Best Practices 2020 
  • Go Hands-On with NSX-T and Test Your Skills in the Odyssey Challenge 
  • IT Leadership Series: How to Achieve Consistent Security policies across your hybrid environment with NSX 
Best of all, is it's FREE and once registered, just visit




Tuesday 11 August 2020

vSphere 7.0 performance best practise

 In a previous blog I mentioned that the VMware vSphere 7 exam had been released, due to lockdown and the fact I've been teaching fairly constantly I haven't had much opportunity to look after my blogs or sit my exams.

I've now set aside some time to look at passing my VCP-DCV 2020 on vSphere 7 and I've found the following white paper extrememly useful, not only from a revision point of view, but in general for various labs etc. Click the link to download a copy

Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere 7.0 

It contains all sorts of useful topics:

  • Persistent memory (PMem), including using PMem with NUMA and vNUMA
  • Getting the best performance from NVMe and NVME-oF storage
  • AMD EPYC processor NUMA settings
  • Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) 2.0
  • Automatic space reclamation (UNMAP)
  • Host-Wide performance tuning (aka, “dense mode”)
  • Power management settings
  • Hardware-assisted virtualisation
  • Storage hardware considerations
  • Network hardware considerations
  • Memory page sharing
  • Getting the best performance from iSCSI and NFS storage
  • vSphere virtual machine encryption recommendations
  • Running storage latency-sensitive workloads
  • Running network latency-sensitive workloads
  • Network I/O Control (NetIOC)
  • DirectPath I/O
  • Microsoft Virtualisation-Based Security (VBS)
  • Selecting virtual network adapters
  • vCenter database considerations
  • The vSphere HTML5 Client
  • VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager
  • VMware vSAN performance
Enjoy, hope you find it as useful as I have

Wednesday 29 July 2020

VMware has now released their vSphere 7 Exam

As a VMware Certified Instructor I have been using VMware vSphere 7 for a while now. I also teach the VMware vSphere 7 courses.

VMware have now released the VMware vSphere 7 exam which leads to the VMware Certified Professional - Data Centre Virtualisation certification (VCP-DCV 2020)

The Professional VMware vSphere 7.x Exam (2V0-21.20), which leads to the VMware Certified Professional – Data Center Virtualization 2020 certification, is a 70-item exam with a passing score of 300 using a scaled method. Candidates are given an exam time of 130 minutes, which includes adequate time to complete the exam for non-native English speakers.

The exam is delivered through Pearson VUE and can be done online (proctored).


For more information and exam guide visit:

VMware Certification and Education

Good luck with your studies and passing the exam

Sunday 3 May 2020

Configuring your first ESXi host after install


As we saw in a previous post, installing your first VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0 host is not a complicated task.

Once it’s installed, you will have to perform some basic tasks, and these are generally based around networking.

Your ESXi hosts management network that you connect to, will have been assigned a DHCP IP address, and the chances are, you’ll want to configure a static IP address information, you’ll also want to add it to a valid DNS zone, and also give the host a name that conforms to your naming convention for servers.

To configure these initial settings, we can use the Direct Console User Interface or DCUI. This involves logging in directly to the ESXi Host. Once at the main screen press F2 and enter root username and password.



 This will then lead to the main screen.




The options are as follows:

·         Configure Password – This allows the changing of the root password, and this requires a complex password, uppercase, lowercase, numeric, and special characters
·         Configure Lockdown Mode – This is only available for vCenter controlled ESXi hosts and restricts root access.
·         Configure Management Network – Allows setting static or DHCP IP address for the management network, as well as DNS information, hostname, and domain.
·         Restart Management network – Restarts network, after making changes, or for troubleshooting purposes.
·         Test Management network – Sends Pings against DNS servers, default gateway, and resolves hostname against DNS server.
·         Network Restore Options – Allows restoring both standard, and distributed switches, as well as restoring networking to default settings.
·         Configure Keyboard – Allows configuring language settings for keyboard.
·         Troubleshooting options – Allows enabling local shell, which can then be accessed by pressing Alt-F1, and exiting by Alt-F”, and also enabling SSH, for accessing ESXi host from a remote device. Also allows for setting of Shell, SSH, and DCUI timeouts.
·         View System Logs – Allows viewing of system logs from DCUI
·         View Support Information – Gives details of product, used by VMware GSS
·         Reset System Configuration – Resets ESXi Host back to factory defaults.

The majority of configuration of an ESXi host is done via the vSphere host Client, or a vCenter server.



Sunday 26 April 2020

Installing your first VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0 Server


Installing VMware vSphere 7.0 is a fairly straight forward task, in simplistic terms, it involves grabbing hold of the ISO, whether that be from VMware or from the hardware vendor of your servers.

Once the ISO is obtained, mount it, boot your ESXi host hardware and follow the instructions that get presented on the screen.

The installation is really broken down into 4 steps.



Installing ESXi does have some requirements and the Hardware requirements are as follows. Make sure that you have the supported platform and for more information, visit the VMware compatibility guide

vSphere ESXi requires

·         At least two CPU cores
·         The NX/XD bit to be enabled for the CPU in BIOS
·         Requires a minimum of 4 GB of physical RAM, however provide at least 8 GB of RAM to run virtual machines.
·         To support 64-bit VMs enable hardware virtualisation on the host.
·         One of more Gigabit or faster NICs
·         A boot disk of 8 GB for USB or SD devices, if using HDD, SSD, or NVMe, then at least 32 GB of disk space. Also provide space for VMs if storing locally.

Once the ESXi host is installed, the host’s basic configuration will need to be configured, and this will be covered in a later blog.



Friday 17 April 2020

ESXi 7 Evaluation and License mode considerations


I’ve been a keen user of the VMware vSphere and previous versions of their bare metal hypervisor for a number of years now.

When I first get hold of the product, I usually build a test lab, purely so that I can install and play with the product in an environment that I’m not going to break, and if I do, it’s not a business critical system that will bring the company crashing down.

With VMware vSphere 7.0, VMware have allowed the product to be installed and used in full Enterprise Plus mode for 60 days.

As the evaluation is a full edition of Enterprise Plus, you can use all of the features that makes the product the market leading virtualisation platform, these features include vSphere vMotion, vSphere HA, vSphere DRS, etc.

The 60 evaluation starts when you first turn on the ESXi host. At any time during the evaluation period, you can convert the product to a licensed mode from evaluation mode, but the evaluation mode has only decreased by the time it was in evaluation mode.

For example, I install ESXi on 1st April 2020 and convert to Standard license on 7th April 2020, that means I have only used 7 days of my Enterprise Pus evaluation.

Now let’s say that I really need to test vSphere Distributed switches, unfortunately these are not available with Standard edition.


If we set the product back to evaluation mode, we’ll be able to explore the entire feature set for an additional 53 days.




VMware and Pearson VUE now delivering remote exams

If you're worried about how you'll get that VMware exam done that you've been studying for, the here's some good news.

From April 20th 2020 you will be able to sit your exam remotely, for some of us who have had the luxury of being able to sit our Microsoft and AWS exams, this will come as a welcome addition to the number of exams we can now do from the comfort of our own homes and offices.

For more information, please visit Karl Childs of VMware Education post

Regards and stay safe

Bryan

Wednesday 1 April 2020

A great place to access VMware vSphere 7 resources

Hope everyone is doing as well as can be expected.

As you may or may not be aware VMware are soon to announce their latest version of vSphere, that being vSphere 7

There are new features coming.

For a central resource that you can access to find information relating to this new version of vSphere, visit.

VMware vSphere 7 Blogs

Short post, but I hope you find it useful

Tuesday 31 March 2020

VMware vSphere with Kubernetes Deploy and Manage V7

In this little series of blogs we're going to introduce the new courses coming to enable people to learn and get to grips with the New version of vSphere that was announced March 2020

The next course is the

VMware vSphere with Kubernetes: Deploy and Manage V7

During this 3-day course, you focus on deploying and managing VMware vSphere with Kubernetes.

You learn about how vSphere with Kubernetes can be used to orchestrate the delivery of Kubernetes clusters and containerised applications in a VMware vSphere environment.

The course covers the following objectives

  • Describe vSphere with Kubernetes and use cases in on-premises environments
  • Deploy vSphere with Kubernetes
  • Describe the VMware NSX networking requirements for vSphere with Kubernetes.
  • Create and manage vSphere with Kubernetes namespaces
  • Deploy and run container applications on vSphere with Kubernetes
  • Deploy and configure VMware Harbor
  • Describe the VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid service
  • Deploy a Tanzu Kubernetes Grid cluster
  • Deploy and run container applications on a Tanzu Kubernetes Grid cluster
  • Describe the vSphere with Kubernetes lifecycle
  • Use logs and CLI commands to monitor and troubleshoot vSphere with Kubernetes

For more information about the course, please watch Feidhlim O'Leary overview video.


Monday 30 March 2020

VMware vSphere Design V7

In this little series of blogs we're going to introduce the new courses coming to enable people to learn and get to grips with the New version of vSphere that was announced March 2020

The next course is the

VMware vSphere: Design V7

This three-day training course equips you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to design a VMware vSphere 7 virtual infrastructure.

You follow a proven approach to design a virtualisation solution that ensures availability, manageability, performance, recoverability, and security, and that uses VMware best practices.

This course discusses the benefits and risks of available design alternatives and provides information to support making sound design decisions.

Given a case study, you practice your design skills by working with peers on a design project.

The course covers the following objectives


  • Identify the business objectives for the vSphere environment
  • Identify business requirements, constraints, assumptions, and risks for all layers in the vSphere environment
  • Apply a framework to a design
  • Analyse design choices and best-practice recommendations
  • Create a design that ensures availability, manageability, performance, recoverability, and security
  • Design the core management infrastructure for an enterprise
  • Design the virtual data center for an enterprise
  • Design the compute infrastructure for an enterprise
  • Design the storage and networking infrastructures for an enterprise
  • Design virtual machines to run applications in a vSphere infrastructure
  • Design security, manageability, and recoverability features for an enterprise


For more information about the course, please watch Alistair Sutherland overview video.


Sunday 29 March 2020

VMware vSphere Fast Track V7

In this little series of blogs we're going to introduce the new courses coming to enable people to learn and get to grips with the New version of vSphere that was announced March 2020

The next course is the

VMware vSphere: Fast Track V7

This five-day, intensive course takes you from introductory to advanced VMware vSphere 7 management skills. Building on the installation and configuration content from our best-selling course, you will also develop advanced skills needed to manage and maintain a highly available and scalable virtual infrastructure.

Through a mix of lecture and hands-on labs, you will install, configure and manage vSphere 7. You will explore the features that build a foundation for a truly scalable infrastructure and discuss when and where these features have the greatest effect.

This course prepares you to administer a vSphere infrastructure for an organisation of any size using vSphere 7, which includes VMware ESXi 7 and VMware vCenter Server 7.

The course covers the following objectives

  • Describe the software-defined data center (SDDC)
  • Explain the vSphere components and their function in the infrastructure
  • Install and configure VMware ESXi hosts
  • Deploy and configure VMware vCenter Server Appliance
  • Use VMware vSphere Client to manage the vCenter Server inventory and the vCenter Server configuration
  • Manage, monitor, back up, and protect vCenter Server Appliance
  • Create virtual networks with vSphere standard switches
  • Describe the storage technologies supported by vSphere
  • Configure virtual storage using iSCSI and NFS storage
  • Create and manage VMware vSphere VMFS datastores
  • Use the vSphere Client to create virtual machines, templates, clones, and snapshots
  • Create a content library and deploy virtual machines from templates in the library
  • Manage virtual machine resource use and manage resource pools
  • Migrate virtual machines with VMware vSphere vMotion and VMware vSphere Storage vMotion
  • Create and manage a vSphere cluster that is enabled with VMware vSphere High Availability and VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler
  • Create virtual networks with VMware vSphere Distributed Switch and enable distributed switch features
  • Discuss solutions for managing the vSphere life cycle
  • Use VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager to apply patches and perform upgrades to ESXi hosts and virtual machines
  • Use host profiles to manage ESXi configuration compliance
  • Describe how vSphere storage APIs help storage systems integrate with vSphere
  • Configure and use virtual machine storage policies
  • Discuss the purpose and capabilities of VMware vSphere with Kubernetes and how it fits into the VMware Tanzu portfolio

Saturday 28 March 2020

VMware vSphere Troubleshooting V7

In this little series of blogs we're going to introduce the new courses coming to enable people to learn and get to grips with the New version of vSphere that was announced March 2020

The next course is the

VMware vSphere: Troubleshooting V7

This five-day, hands-on training course provides you with the advanced knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve competence in troubleshooting the VMware vSphere 7.x environment. This workshop increases your skill and competence in using the command-line interface, VMware vSphere Client, log files, and other tools to analyse and solve problems.

The course covers the following objectives


  • Introduce troubleshooting principles and procedures
  • Practice Linux commands that aid in the troubleshooting process
  • Use command-line interfaces, log files, and the vSphere Client to diagnose and resolve problems in the vSphere environment
  • Explain the purpose of key vSphere log files
  • Identify networking problems based on reported symptoms, validate and troubleshoot the reported problem, identify the root cause and implement the appropriate resolution
  • Analyse storage failure scenarios using a logical troubleshooting methodology, identify the root cause, and apply the appropriate resolution to resolve the problem
  • Troubleshoot vSphere cluster failure scenarios and analyse possible causes
  • Diagnose common VMware vSphere High Availability problems and provide solutions
  • Identify and validate VMware ESXi host and VMware vCenter Server problems, analyse failure scenarios, and select the correct resolution
  • Troubleshoot virtual machine problems, including migration problems, snapshot problems, and connection problems
  • Troubleshoot performance problems with vSphere components




For more information about the course, please watch Chinmay Inamdar overview video.


Friday 27 March 2020

VMware vSphere Optimise and Scale V7

In this little series of blogs we're going to introduce the new courses coming to enable people to learn and get to grips with the New version of vSphere that was announced March 2020

The next course is the

VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale V7

This five-day course teaches you advanced skills for configuring and maintaining a highly available and scalable virtual infrastructure. Through a mix of lecture and hands-on labs, you configure and optimize the VMware vSphere® 7 features that build a foundation for a truly scalable infrastructure, and you discuss when and where these features have the greatest effect.

Attend this course to deepen your understanding of vSphere and learn how its advanced features and controls can benefit your organization.

The course covers the following objectives.

  • Configure and manage vSphere networking and storage for a large and sophisticated enterprise
  • Use VMware vSphere Client to manage certificates
  • Use Identity Federation to configure VMware vCenter Server® to use Microsoft ADFS
  • Use VMware vSphere Trust Authority to secure the infrastructure for encrypted VMs
  • Use host profiles to manage VMware ESXi host compliance
  • Create and manage a content library for deploying virtual machines
  • Manage VM resource usage with resource pools
  • Monitor and analyze key performance indicators for compute, storage, and networking resources for ESXi hosts
  • Optimize the performance of ESXi and VMware vCenter Server
  • Discuss the purpose and capabilities of VMware vSphere® with Kubernetes and how it fits into the VMware Tanzu portfolio
For more information about the course, please watch Joathan Loux overview video.


Thursday 26 March 2020

VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage v7

In this little series of blogs we're going to introduce the new courses coming to enable people to learn and get to grips with the New version of vSphere that was announced March 2020

The next course is the

VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage v7

This five-day course features intensive hands-on training that focuses on installing, configuring, and managing VMware vSphere 7.

This  includes VMware ESXi 7 and VMware vCenter Server 7.

This course prepares you to administer a vSphere infrastructure for an organisation of any size. This course is the foundation for most of the other VMware technologies in the software-defined data center.

The course covers the following objectives

•  Describe the software-defined data center (SDDC)
•  Explain the vSphere components and their function in the infrastructure
•  Install and configure VMware ESXi hosts
•  Deploy and configure VMware vCenter Server Appliance
•  Use VMware vSphere Client to manage the vCenter Server inventory and the vCenter Server
   configuration
•  Manage, monitor, back up, and protect vCenter Server Appliance
•  Create virtual networks with vSphere standard switches
•  Describe the storage technologies supported by vSphere
•  Configure virtual storage using iSCSI and NFS storage
•  Create and manage VMware vSphere VMFS datastores
•  Use the vSphere Client to create virtual machines, templates, clones, and snapshots
•  Create a content library and deploy virtual machines from templates in the library
•  Manage virtual machine resource use
•  Migrate virtual machines with VMware vSphere vMotion and VMware vSphere Storage vMotion
•  Create and manage a vSphere cluster that is enabled with VMware vSphere High Availability and
   VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler
•  Discuss solutions for managing the vSphere life cycle
•  Use VMware vSphere Update Manager to apply patches and perform upgrades to ESXi hosts and
   virtual machines

For more information about the course, please watch Joe Cooper overview video.


Wednesday 25 March 2020

VMware vSphere What's New v6.7 to v7

In this little series of blogs we're going to introduce the new courses coming to enable people to learn and get to grips with the New version of vSphere that was announced March 2020

The first course is the

VMware vSphere: What's New v6.7 to v7

In this three-day, hands-on training course, you will learn the new features and enhancements in VMware vCenter Server 7 and VMware ESXi 7.

Real-world use-case deployment scenarios, hands-on lab exercises, and lectures teach you the skills that you need to effectively implement and configure VMware vSphere 7.

This course is recommended for delegates who want to deploy vSphere 7 in their existing vSphere environment.

Is is expected that you will either have attended previous version training on VMware vSphere, or you will have the necessary experience of install, designing, and maintaining the previous versions of  VMware vSphere

On this course you will cover

  • List and describe the importance of key features and enhancements in vSphere 6.7 update releases and vSphere 7
  • Determine the proper upgrade path for a vCenter Server instance and upgrade VMware vCenter Server Appliance to version 7
  • Migrate a Windows vCenter Server system to vCenter Server Appliance 7
  • Manage and update VM templates located in content libraries
  • Use Identity Federation to configure vCenter Server to use Microsoft ADFS
  • Use the VMware vSphere Client to manage certificates
  • Describe vCenter Server, VMware ESXi, storage, network, virtual machine, and security enhancements in vSphere 7
  • Use VMware vSphere Trust Authority to secure the infrastructure for encrypted VMs
  • Demonstrate the Quickstart feature of the ESXi cluster
  • Recognize improvements to VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler
  • Use vSphere Lifecycle Manager to manage vSphere deployments, updates, and configurations
  • Discuss the purpose and capabilities of VMware vSphere® with Kubernetes and how it fits into the VMware Tanzu portfolio


For an overview of what's covered on the course, watch Joe Coopers video.




Tuesday 24 March 2020

VMware vSphere 7 courses are on there way

As a VMware Certified Instructor (VCI), I am please to announce that VMware are releasing dates and information about their vSphere 7 course offerings.



Join them on April 7 for a sneak-peek into the NEW VMware vSphere 7 training.

Chat with the experts behind this (and other vSphere 7 courses) and learn more about how they will help you grow your skills and enable you to take advantage of all the new key capabilities of vSphere 7.

Learn more and register for a time that’s convenient for you:

For all live events visit the VMware Learning Zone for more information and to register for the events.

Stay safe 

Wednesday 11 March 2020

VMware vSphere 7 with Kubernetes

As a VMware Instructor and also VMware support professional I talk to a lot of people who are or will be moving towards Modern Applications, and also multi-cloud.

For a lot of these companies, they wish to retain and also develop their existing talent, their also want to build on the investment they have with their existing IT services, but also need to become more competitive in their IT models.

I am a sysops type of IT professional, I work with developers and we want different things, I want an efficient, easy to manage platform, my developer colleagues want a system that is highly flexible and also want the ability to create and deploy applications within their agile methodology.  

With Kubernetes, we have the ability to quickly create and deploy these modern run anywhere apps that will give us that competitive advantage that will drive our companies towards a long and successful future.

As always VMware have given us the resources to learn about not only how these services work, but also why these services may work to our advantage.

Thanks to VMware for producing this 10 page white paper, just click on the link to learn more



Friday 28 February 2020

vExpert 2020


The VMware vExpert program is VMware's global evangelism and advocacy program. The program is designed to put VMware's marketing resources towards your advocacy efforts.

Promotion of your articles, exposure at our global events, co-op advertising, traffic analysis, and early access to beta programs and VMware's roadmap.

The awards are for individuals, not companies, and last for one year. Employees of both customers and partners can receive the awards. In the application, we consider various community activities from the previous year as well as the current year's activities in determining who gets awards.

We look to see that not only were you active but are still active in the path you chose to apply for.

We are looking for IT Professionals who are sharing their VMware knowledge and contributing that back to the community. The term "giving back" is defined as going above and beyond your day job.

I myself have worked with VMware products for approaching 20 years, I am employed as a VMware Certified Instructor, and also Microsoft and CompTIA, and honestly the product that I enjoy most is VMware.

I have been honoured to be awarded the vExpert designation for 2020 and look forward to many more years sharing my thoughts, experience, and teaching people about the wide array of VMware products.
Finally, I wish to offer my sincere thanks to the vExpert judges, and also to my fellow 2020 vExperts across the globe, it is an amazing community who will go above and beyond to help the VMware community.

All the best for the year ahead.



Friday 24 January 2020

Explore The Benefits of vSphere 6.5 & 6.7 Webinar


VMware vSphere 6.0 End of Support

The End of General Support for vSphere 6.0 is March 12, 2020.

To maintain your full level of Support and Subscription Services, VMware recommends upgrading to vSphere 6.5 or vSphere 6.7.

VMware has extended the general support for vSphere 6.5 to a full five years from date of release, which means the general support for vSphere 6.5 will end on November 15, 2021.

The End of General support for vSphere 6.7 will also be on November 15, 2021.

At VMworld 2019 a lot of the sessions spoke about vSphere.next and hopefully we will see that soon.

In the meantime, users of vSphere 6.0 can upgrade to vSphere version 6.5 or 6.7, if you’re not aware of what vSphere 6.0 or 6.7 can offer, I will be hosting/running a free webinar on the features of those versions.

The webinar will run GMT Monday February 17th 2020 via our QA On-Line Virtual Centre  


For more information and to sign up for this “FREE” webinar please visit the registration page at QA Training, and hopefully see you there (virtually)

Monday 20 January 2020

Follow on from VMware Starting Certifications - 2020 designations now in place

Last year I wrote a brief introduction into the VMware starter and professional certifications.

VMware have now upgraded the certification titles with the new 2020 designations.

If you're new to the certification trail, any exams you now sit will lead towards the new certification, VMware are currently working on their upgrade paths, and I'll post information as I find it.

If you are a VCP-x2019 VMware have said that their system has logic to realise you're a VCP-x and that the 2019 designation will lead to VCAP-x2020s

The new certification designations 2020 for the starter courses and the VCP are as follows.

The VMware Certified Associate


This certificate is aimed at providing a good overall knowledge of the VMware products and why they are used.

The VMware Certified Professional tracks are as follows.

Data Centre Virtualisation (DCV Track)


 This track focuses on the birth of VMware and their VM hypervisor product.
  
Network Virtualisation (NV) Track


This track focuses on the VMware NSX products, and now prioritises the VMware NSX-T product.

Cloud Management and Automation (CMA) Track


This track focuses on the vRealize suite of products, these products can be used in a truly multi-cloud environment

Desktop and Mobility (DTM) Track


This track focuses on VMware Horizon, which in its simplest form provides a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
  
Digital Workspace (DW) Track


This track focuses on the VMware WorkspaceONE and Digital workspace solutions, this provides and extensive set of endpoint management technologies.

For more information visit the VMware Certification website

For more information on QA’s VMware training solutions visit QA