Yellow Bricks

by Duncan Epping

vmworld

Highlighting some VMworld on-demand sessions

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It was a strange week for most of us. VMworld is THE event of the year, at least for those who focus on VMware technology and technology from the VMware ecosystem, and this year it was virtual. I spend a crazy amount of time watching keynotes and on-demand sessions. As always I had created this top 15 list, but after watching dozens of sessions I realized that I left out a few brilliant sessions which I would highly recommend watching. Here are the sessions that stood out to me the past couple of days. These sessions were interesting as they either contained unique content or just provided very useful use-cases.

I would recommend watching both of these sessions, as HPC2097 goes over a great use case, especially as Spark can now leverage GPUs as well. Both sessions give you a better understanding of Kubernetes, Cloud Native workloads and GPU acceleration. Combine that with the announcements around Project Monterey, where VMware and NVIDIA have announced to work closely together to provide a new level of integration for the datacenter of the future.

Again a session on AI/ML, I just loved the demos that Johan included. It gives you an idea what is possible today with AI/ML. It is a 35-minute session, so you should be able to get through it rather fast!

I had the session on the topic of vVols listed as a recommendation, but I just watched the Core Storage session, and I feel it may even be better. It discusses new technologies like NVMe over Fabric, but also discusses things like iSCSI best practices.

The last session I want to plug is by Paul McSharry. This session is full of best practices, design/sizing, and operational guidance around vSAN and VMware Cloud Foundation.

Oh, although I already had this session listed on the top 15, make sure to check out Frank Denneman’s 60 minutes of NUMA, that is… if you want to wreck your brain, it is DEEP!

Top 5 newly added VMworld sessions to register for!

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As VMware has just done a major announcement (vSAN 7.0 U1 and vSphere 7.0U1), additional sessions have been added to the VMworld agenda. I already did a top 15 post not too long ago, so I figured I would create a short post that contains my 5 favorite sessions that were just added to the extensive list of available sessions at VMworld. Here we go:

  1. Introducing VMware HCI Mesh, Powered by vSAN [HCI1405] by Peng Dai and Kris Groh
    In this session Peng (lead developer) and Kris(Product Manager) will be telling you all about this cool new feature which allows you to mount vSAN datastores from another vSAN Cluster! Any more I need to say?
  2. Deep Dive: vSAN Data Persistence Platform [HCI2529] by Gopala and Mansi
    You hopefully all have seen the announcements around the vSAN Data Persistence platform by now, Gopala and Mansi will dive deep into what this platform exactly is, what it will bring to you as a customer, and how it works!
  3. What’s New in vSphere [HCP2110] by Jared Rosoff
    I am not 100% sure this session was just added, but I do expect Jared will be discussing some of the enhancements and changes VMware has introduced for vSphere with Tanzu with vSphere 7.0 Update 1. Make sure to attend!
  4. Maximize the Power of Modern Databases and Stateful Services [HCI1979] Industry panel host by Lee Caswell
    This session will be all about the new vSAN Data Persistent platform, partners like Cloudian, Datastax, Dell EMC, and MinIO will be providing details on what they bring to the table and how DPp makes life easier for you as a customer. On top of that, there’s a customer joining the panel as well!
  5. vSphere with Tanzu Deep Dive [KUB2469] by Bo Fu and Derek Beard
    In this session the newly announced VMware vSphere with Tanzu  is going to be discussed. Will be an interesting session for sure!

Top 15 VMworld 2020 sessions to attend

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VMworld 2020 is coming, which means I get to create a list of sessions again which I feel are worth attending. My focus will primarily be on sessions that are hosted by folks of the VMware Cloud Platform Business Unit, which means that the list will be dominated by sessions on the topic of vSAN, vSphere, VCF etc. The key reason for it being of course is that I know most of the speakers on those sessions, and I have attended many of those sessions in the past, so I know what to expect.

I have two sessions accepted this year. The two sessions are:

  • vSAN 7.0: A Platform for both Virtual Machine and Containerized Workloads [HCI1814] – Duncan Epping & Cormac Hogan
  • Change Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone: My Take 3 Journey [ETPD1043] – Duncan Epping

Make sure to attend these sessions, and if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a note on twitter! When it comes to my top 15 sessions, please note that these are in random order, and also note that if your (or a) session is not listed it doesn’t mean I feel your session isn’t going to be great, it simply means I had too many great sessions to pick from and I somehow had to limit the list. Here we go:

  1. Fast Forward to Future-Ready Infrastructure [HCI3074] by John Gilmartin
    In this BU showcase, John Gilmartin will be discussing where HCI stands today, but more importantly, which direction we are heading towards!
  2. 60 Minutes of NUMA [HCP2453] by Frank Denneman
    Do you want to know everything you ever need to know about NUMA when it comes to vSphere? Make sure to watch this session, it was an instant classic last year, and I am sure it will be again this year!
  3. Storage and Availability Vision [HCP3073] by Vijay Ramachandran and Jayanta Dey
    This is the session where futures are discussed! Vijay and Jayanta will be sharing with you which concepts and functionality VMware is exploring for future releases of our HCI products. Definitely worth attending if you want to get a hint of our roadmap.
  4. The Datacenter of the Future [HCP3004] by Kit Colbert and Pere Monclus
    In this session Kit and Pere are going to discuss the future of the Datacenter. Both Kit and Pere are a CTO for the business unit they work for, so you can expect this session to be forward-looking and discuss the trends VMware is seeing and technologies they expect to become mainstream in the upcoming years.
  5. Datrium-based DRaaS Deep Dive: The What, Why, How of the new VMware DRaaS [HCI2886] by Nabil Quadri and Sazzala Reddy
    As most of you know, VMware recently acquired Datrium. In this session, Nabil and Sazzala are going to dive deep into what their DR as a Service solution brings, how it works, and why you should be watching this space closely!
  6. Extreme Performance Series: vSphere Compute and Memory Schedulers [HCP2583] by Xunjia Lu and Qasim Ali
    I always try to watch 2 or 3 sessions in the Extreme Performance Series, these sessions are always very educational. I have learned something new every single time I’ve attended, or watched, one of these. Do note, this is a deep (as in DEEP) dive typically.
  7. vSAN Technical Deep Dive [HCI1069] by Rakesh Radhakrishnan and Matt Amdur
    Technical deep dives host by engineering and product management are always worth attending in my eyes, and both Rakesh and Matt will for sure deliver what you would expect a deep dive to be.
  8. vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols): Modernize Your External Storage [HCI1692] by Cody Hosterman and Jason Massae
    If I had to pick two people to tell me all about vVols it would probably be Cody and Jason, these guys understand core storage and vVols inside out, and on top of that understand very well how, and why, customers are implementing it!
  9. The Future of Networking with VMware NSX [VCNC1555] by Bruce Davie and Marcos Hernandez
    A lot has changed in the world of networking the past decade or so, and with IoT and 5G around the corner, it is important to understand how VMware can help you moving into this new era.
  10. vCenter Server 7 Deconstructed [HCP2328] by Emad Younis and Niels Hagoort
    In this session Emad and Niels will be discussing the internals of vCenter Server. How did VMware integrate the Kubernetes effort? How does Lifecycle Manager help you manage your cluster?
  11. HCI Management: Current and Future [HCI1514] by Junchi Zhang
    In this session Junchi will be discussing the future of HCI management. In the last couple of years, this session has always been packed with demos of future functionality, and it has been my favorite the past couple of years for sure!
  12. What’s New in Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication [HCI1452] by Cato Grace and Velina Krasteva
    A lot has changed for Site Recovery Manager in the past year, definitely worth getting a better understanding by watching this session!
  13. Deep Dive: Storage for VMware Cloud Foundation [HCI2362] by Kevin Tebear and Ron Scott-Adams
    The question of which storage platform to use with VCF comes up frequently, and in this session Kevin and Ron are going to discuss all the supported protocols and architectures, and they will be providing guidance and best practices around what to use and when/where.
  14. Innovations in vSphere 7 vMotion: Architecture and Performance [HCP1508] by Sreekanth Setty and Yanlei Zhao
    I watched this session last year, and it was very interesting, a lot of in-depth info around the changes introduced and the changes that will be introduced in the future, to further improve the vMotion process!
  15. Inside xLabs and Off-Roadmap Innovation in the VMware Office of the CTO [OCTO2406] by Daniel Beveridge and Chris Wolf
    In the past couple of years Daniel and Chris have been hosting some very interesting sessions, some very fascinating ideas, concepts, and trends were shared, along with potential solutions for these.

Call to action: Register for VMworld 2020!

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Call to action: Register for VMworld 2020!By now everyone has probably heard that VMworld is a virtual event this year. I am looking forward to it, as it means many people who were never able to “attend” VMworld sessions, can now attend/watch/learn! This year we have a 2-day event, which is taking the “follow the sun” approach with content scheduled across all timezones, and of course, there will be the option to watch recordings as well.

I am currently preparing my sessions, I have two sessions scheduled. The two sessions I have scheduled currently are:

    • vSAN 7.0: A Platform for both Virtual Machine and Containerized Workloads [HCI1814] – Duncan Epping & Cormac Hogan
    • Change Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone: My Take 3 Journey [ETPD1043] – Duncan Epping

I want to point out that the event is free to attend for everyone, but for those who would like to have access guided hands-on-labs, 1:1’s with experts, roundtable discussions, and much more, there is a paid pass of $ 299,- available as well. There’s only a limited number of the passes available, so if you are interested make sure to register for that asap. More detail on this is available here.

Last, but not least, this year you can filter on “distinguished” speakers. These are the speakers who spoke at two consecutive VMworld events in a row, had more than 150 people at their session, and scored a 4.2 out of 5 or higher. It is a list of 61 speakers, and I am honored to be part of it. I would highly recommend the content that will be presented by these speakers, as satisfaction is (almost) guaranteed!

I hope to see you all (online) at VMworld 2020!

VMworld Odyssey Lab Competition, sign up and win a Macbook!

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At VMworld US there was this really cool new initiative at the hands-on-labs. They had this competition called Odyssey where lab teams were competing against each other to complete labs successfully as fast as possible! These labs are on the topic of vSAN, vSphere, vRealize, NSX-T, Horizon and AppD. Not only was the gamification aspect of the HoL a very interesting and fun concept, but it also meant for the participant that they had to work in teams to complete the labs and had to communicate to get a good understanding of who is doing what. Adds a whole new aspect to the exercise, and at the same time made it even a bit more similar to how you manage your datacenters.

But why would you bother doing this? Well besides that it is an enormous amount of fun, believe I have witnessed the competition and everyone was extremely motivated yet at the same time had a huge amount of fun, you also can win a brand new shiny Macbook Pro. Yes you are reading that correctly, every participant of the winning team will get a Macbook Pro, and a nice Oculus Go for the second place. On top of that, for every single participant of the Odyssey challenge the HoL team has created these awesome jackets, which are a trophy to begin with if you ask me!

There are free slots available for teams that want to compete, you (and your team) can register using this link http://hol.pub/regodyssey, or on-site on Monday by going to the Hands-on Labs Area/ Odyssey Info desk.