Yellow Bricks

by Duncan Epping

Server

Virtualization Changes Everything: Storage Strategies for VMware vSphere & Cloud Computing

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A long long time ago Vaughn Stewart reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to write a foreword for his book. When Vaughn told me the topic I knew this was going to be a hit! For several reasons it took a while for the book to be released but now it finally is available. Vaughn and Michael Slisinger did an excellent job and I would recommend everyone who is interested in storage / virtualization / cloud to pick it up. I love the fact they went the self-publishing route and decided to make it available for $ 19.95 (print) and just $ 9.99 (location dependent pricing, so may vary) for the ebook! I would recommend everyone to pick up the ebook though, GO VIRTUAL!

I want to thank Mike and Vaughn for the opportunity to write the foreword, and congrats on the release… I hope you will sell millions.

Storage is a foundational component in the support of virtualization and cloud computing – and it is dynamically evolving. It is an aspect of the datacenter that is all-too-often overlooked, but without storage, there is no data, and without data, there is no cloud. Virtualization Changes Everything, by Vaughn Stewart and Mike Slisinger, examines the evolutionary influence of host virtualization and cloud computing in breaking storage deployment out of outdated silo models and into a dynamic, flexible hosting environment. Virtualization Changes Everything reviews common goals and challenges associated with providing storage service with cloud computing, and addresses each through the application of advanced storage technologies designed to scale in order to support the ever-expanding storage needs of the future. The examples within the book are pulled from real-world experience, and often involve the integration of multiple innovative technologies. If you are looking for measured guidance on high availability, efficiency, integration and performance for the storage in your cloud, then this book is for you!

 

VMworld 2012 San Francisco… what a week

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It was a crazy week last week, VMworld 2012 SFO kept us all very very busy. I have a bunch of blog articles to finalize, so more will follow this week. Just a couple of keywords that summarize the craziness of this week for me:

  • New book release, vSphere 5.1 Clustering Deepdive
  • 5 speaking slots, 1 group discussion slot and 2 “expert” slots
  • Meetings, meetings and more meetings
  • Receptions and parties, triple booked every evening
  • 1200+ copies of the 5.1 book handed out / sold at VMworld!

Just some random pics to give an impression of the week… Thanks everyone for taking these pictures. If you have full res pictures please email them to me (duncan @ yellow-…com).

And a VMworld TV video to top it off. (Nice to see the infamous Eric Sloof presenting / interviewing for VMworld TV along side Jeremy van Doorn!) Make sure to follow VMworldTV on twitter for updates!

I want to thank everyone who took the time to say hi, provide feedback, have open discussions or just wanted to shake hands / get books signed. I really appreciate it and it was great meeting all of you!

See you again in Barcelona,

VMware Open Innovation Contest 2012

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It seems to be the week of the Innovation Team. I think it is a really smart move, not unlike the CloudPhysics contest by the way, to get your user involved in new innovations. First of all, why would you bother entering your idea? Well you can win a free pass to VMworld 2013! On top of that, and I believe that is the real price, it could be developed by the VMware team and become a fling… or maybe even a real feature, who knows!
For those who don’t know a fling is:

A fling is a short-term thing, not a serious relationship but a fun one. Likewise, VMware Flings are software tools that are offered on the VMware Flings website that are intended to be played with and explored. Though Flings might not become part of any future VMware product offering and are not supported, many VMware customers find them incredibly useful. It also doesn’t hurt that they’re free.

This contest runs from August 27th through October 31st 2012, and, yes, you’re allowed to submit multiple ideas. Although I am not eligible, I did not already enter one… and I am hoping all of you will do the same. So go register your ideas and win that free VMworld 2013 pass, but again maybe the best price is seeing your idea being developed and turn in to a fling, feature or product!

VMware vSphere 5.1 Clustering Deepdive available at VMworld!

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Frank and I had been talking about this for a couple of months, but without mentioning what it was we were working on. The last couple of months we’ve spent our spare time on updating the 5.0 Clustering Deepdive to 5.1.

Although this “just” an update to 5.1, we’ve added a section about stretched clustering to the book and the Storage DRS section has been completely overhauled.  Several new paragraphs were added to the vSphere HA section and we had to do some minor tweaks to the vSphere DRS section. On top of we added a great foreword by Raghu Raghuram!

In the upcoming week the book will be available on Amazon (paper – kindle) and in the Apple iBooks store. As we needed to be careful with publishing it at a certain time/date in some cases it might take a couple of days before it shows up in your “local” online bookstore. If you really can’t wait, it is available now on Createspace.

Again, we have kept the prices low… The e-book will sell for only $ 7.49 (note a surcharge might be added based on location) and the paper copies sells for $ 24.95. It is a bargain if I say so myself. Note that even the paper copy will be available directly from European Amazon stores and so will the ebook.

For those at VMworld, there are copies available at the VMworld store on Tuesday, or maybe even Monday afternoon. Note that there is a limited amount available… if you want a copy I would recommend picking it up soon! If you see Frank or myself walking around and would love to have your book signed, don’t hesitate it is our pleasure! We had the honor of presenting the book to Carl Eschenbach yesterday, I can tell you Carl was thrilled and so are we… P i c k i t u p!

How cool is my new shortening url vmwa.re, thanks Hypervisor.fr!

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Some of you might have noticed this already, but recently I started using a personalized shortening service on twitter. I am using vmwa.re for it. I had various people asking about it in the last week or two, I do not own this domain name. Raphael from Hypervisor.fr was kind enough to let me (ab)use it! Raphael used YOURLS to create this personal shortening service… How cool is that?

Anyway, I want to thank Raphael for letting me use this cool shortening service.