VM /ETC

Archive for May, 2009

The V12N community ache about the changes to the Exhibitors and Sponsors contract for VMworld 2009 is apparently still throbbing. The most recent gripes seem to be centered on 2 topics:

• Whether or not VMware is being deceitful about calling VMworld an “Industry Event”.
• VMware is restricting Microsoft and Citrix to 10×10 booths and asking them to keep their crowds and demonstrations within that defined space

Brian Madden has again ignited the blogisphere with his latest and third post on the topic.

“The best part is that a provision in the sponsor agreement says that (1) exhibitor employees must remain in the boundaries of their booths, and (2) no crowds watching demos are allowed to spill out of the booth into the common traffic areas, and if they do, VMware reserves the right to “resolve the situation.” (I am absolutely not making that up.)

[Omitted]

Look, I understand this is a VMware conference, and as such, it’s VMware’s decision to do whatever they want. My problem is that they’re limiting the competition on one hand while at the same time claiming the event is an industry event on the other. That’s the BS that I hope stops.

The bottom line: I’m behind VMware’s decision to limit competition, but ONLY IF they stop calling this thing an industry conference and start calling it a VMware conference. Or, even better, maybe VMware will drop the 10×10 limit for non-partners and really open this up like they’re claiming it is already!”

It’s always been obvious to me that VMworld is a VMware conference. In fact, the VMworld 2009 home page doesn’t mention anything about industry equality or competition fairness.

“This year at VMworld 2009, discover how virtualization is revolutionizing the next generation of computing—providing efficiency and flexibility at a time when both are critical to the future of IT.
As the only event completely dedicated to virtualization, VMworld, brought to you by VMware, is your opportunity to:

• Learn how VMware is transforming the datacenter and desktop into a flexible, reliable cloud infrastructure
• Discover the best way to introduce more efficiency, control and choice to your organization
• Connect with peers and virtualization thought leaders

Today it’s more important than ever for organizations to do more with less. VMworld 2009 is the place to discover how.”

The objectives of VMworld 2009 seem pretty clear cut to me. Furthermore, the VMworld 2009 Sponsors and Exhibitors page shows that most of THE INDUSTRY will be there.

News Flash: VMworld is an industry event because the virtualization industry cannot afford to miss it. The idea that VMware needs to cater to the competition is insane.
If the new contract verbiage and the 100 square foot limitation on the booth is upsetting, then be appreciative of the world spot light VMworld has created.

This also just in – There is an option to not attend VMworld 2009.

Other blogger reactions:

This VMworld Thing is Like Watching a Train Wreck – Scott Lowe

VMworld Exhibitor T&C – Storm in a proverbial teacup? – Mike Laverick

VMworld 2009 contract verbiage causes kerfuffle – SearchServerVirtualization.com

Is VMworld still open for competition or not? – UPDATED – Alessandro Perilli

In response to the stir created earlier today when Brian Madden interpreted new verbiage in the VMworld Sponsors and Exhibitors contract as a ban against competition, the VMworld Team has set the record straight on the VMworld.com blog by posting VMworld 2009 Exhibitors.

“VMware is totally committed to continuing to make VMworld the leading virtualization conference in the world, highlighting the rich, diverse
ecosystem that is the virtualization marketplace. Just to be clear, the exhibitor sponsorship contract we are using is standard across the
industry. Nothing out of the ordinary or meant to limit the value of VMworld.

As you’d expect, Microsoft and Citrix have already signed up and will of course be participating in the conference this year, as well as hundreds of other companies.

We encourage companies to exhibit and participate that compete with us in one fashion, but complement us in others. It’s all about customers and community!”

VMware’s response has triggered a new post on brianmadden.com, which offers a passable explanation about how this type of mix up occurred. From Brian’s update:

“At the last VMworld, some sponsors / exhibitors specifically trashed their competition and trashed VMware. VMware wanted to prevent that from happening
again this year, but they didn’t have any text in their sponsor agreement that would let them enforce that. So they looked at the sponsor agreements from other
industry events (like TechEd) and added the language that we referenced yesterday.

So the facts are:

1. YES, that anti-competitive text was added to the agreement and was NOT in there last year.
2. It was more of a legalese change, and not a change of policy for VMworld or what VMware wants the event to be.”

updated 05.28.09 – Hany Michael suggests that Madden may have manipulated the v12n blogisphere in an attempt to generate some publicity for his own BriForum conference. Check out the post SCREW
YOU Brian Madden…you are not the hero in this story.

[updated 052809 - VMware will allow competition to present and exhibit at VMworld 2009. See VM /ETC post Things That Make You Go Hmmmm - VMware Sets Record Straight On Competition At VMworld]

It’s been a while since I’ve been inspired to add to my “Things that make you go Hmmmm” series, but Brian Madden’s post about VMware’s change in the VMworld 2009 Sponsor and Exhibitor agreement has temporarily rekindled my motivation. In summary, Brian points out that the new agreement verbiage states that products deemed by VMware that overlap or substitute with/for VMware’s products will not be allowed in sessions or on the exhibition floor. I could not find the referenced agreement on the VMworld 2009 Sponsors and Exhibitors page.

Read Brian’s post:
For shame! VMware is now banning competing vendors’ products from VMworld! – Brian Madden – BrianMadden.com

He has some strong opinions on the matter:

“What kind of crazy world is VMware living in? Do they think that by denying that competition exists, more people will be tricked into buying their stuff?

And what’s this mean for VMworld? No Microsoft. No Citrix. No Neocleus or Virtual Computer. No InstallFree or Xenocode. No Symantec or Quest. VMworld 2009 will just be a big rah rah hug-fest.”

Personally, I can understand VMware’s decision, but it still sits funny with me. VMworld’s popularity and draw was no doubt based on the open door policy for all virtualization vendors making it a virtualization community wide event. Obviously, market competition has influenced the business decision to allow this to continue. This will be a PR nightmare if handled wrong. I’m sure the competition is loading their marketing cannons with this new ammo as quick as possible.

updated 052809 - Scott Lowe offers his opinions and projections on the topic with his post VMware, This is Wrong:

“What are you going to do, VMware? Let’s see, you’re expanding into the territory formerly handled by many of your ISVs, and now you’re blocking access to competing products at VMworld.”

updated 052809 - Marc Farley offers an understanding view of VMware’s decision with his post The end of free love at VMworld? Ok

Looking for a silver lining, this decision could have a positive effect on Read the rest of this entry »

VMware has released a series of KB articles outlining the requirements and best practices for installing vSphere, upgrading to vSphere, and upgrading ESX 3.0 virtual machines to ESX 4.0 hardware. VMware also provides a vCenter Installation Worksheet that could be useful for documentation purposes. Links to these KB articles are provided in this post along with quick quotes and notes providing additional information on each topic. Be sure to read the KB articles for the best practice details. Read the rest of this entry »

As expected, VMware announced the general availability of vSphere today. What came as a semi surprise is that the product is actually available for download!

If you already have a VMware account as a customer or partner you can download vSphere (ESX 4, ESXi 4, vCenter Server 4, and all of the add ons) here.

For everyone else:

Get guided evaluation of VMware vSphere with access to product demos and evaluation guides.

Try it free for 60 days

For help getting started check out visit the vSphere Support Center

The fact that Microsoft has embraced virtualization is an understatement. The fact that Microsoft has been slow to embrace other virtualization vendor’s capabilities to run Windows operating systems as guests is equally an understatement, but what if this wasn’t the case? That is, what if Microsoft abandoned the licensing strategy of anchoring Windows to physical hardware? What if the folks at Redmond recognized virtual hardware and virtual machines (VMs) as equals to physical devices when assigning licenses? Taking it a step forward, what if specialized versions of the various Windows operating systems and applications were specifically developed for VMs along with special licensing? Maybe it will never happen, but there have been a few signs recently that give one hope for the possibility.

Like crop circles, the following are some posts that caused me to wonder “what if?”. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve ever had to manually trace the cables from servers to network switches in a rack you probably were not very happy about it. In fact, if you’ve ever had to trace 10 cables from each ESX host to multiple network switches you were most likely aggravated to say the least. The good news is that if you have ESX 3.5 and Cisco switches you can determine the switch ports in use via the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP). Even better, the VMware administrator doesn’t even need access to the network switch and can obtain the switch port information directly from the VI Client.
Read the rest of this entry »