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Archive for the ‘partner’ Category

I thought I was done blogging about VMware Partner Exchange 2010, but, twist my arm, there seems to be enough public knowledge about an upcoming feature of vSphere that I thought I would briefly point it out.

Steve Herrod discussed in his Wednesday Keynote  that vSphere will soon have the ability to set DRS Resource Shares on I/O per VM. Here’s a photo of Herrod discussing the feature last Wednesday.

Other’s have posted on this feature this week as well as in the not to distant past. Check out these posts for more info:
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What a week in Las Vegas at VMware Partner Exchange 2010! For all those that complained just 4 months ago that VMworld 2009 was disappointing because the announcements were few and far between, all I can say is, based on what I watched, experienced, and touched this week at PEX 2010, VMware should grab your attention again soon! Unfortunately, so much of what was discussed falls under the VMware Partner NDA that I’ll have to ask VM /ETC readers to wait for the technology to become public. We’ll have plenty to discuss when it does.

For now I’ll quickly wrap up my week and drop some hints about VMware’s future direction based on my understanding about what I saw during the PTAB meetings, the Keynotes, and the Hands On and Self Paced Labs. I’m also linking to some reactions from others to support my impressions.

The official VMware News Release for Partner Exchange can be found at this link:

VMware Partner Exchange 2010 Kicks Off With Record-breaking 2,600+ Attendees, 55 Sponsors and 45 Countries Represented

PTAB: Cloud Infrastructure and Virtual Desktops

I knew what was on the Partner Technical Advisory Board meeting agenda before I arrived, but I have to admit I was still pleasantly surprised. In short, the two day meeting was split by topics. We talked about virtual servers on Day 1 and virtual desktops on Day 2.

The server discussions included everything from possible future enhancements to the vStorage API to details about Project Redwood architecture. Discussions included a mix of vSphere roadmap possibilities and potential directions of VMware in the private and hosted cloud. VMware is serious about Platform as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, and Software as a Service, and the slides presented to the PTAB committee revealed a considerable strategy to make it happen. I’ll just say it is a lot clearer to me where exactly Zimbra and SpringSource fit into VMware’s future plans.

Switching to the second day and to the topic of virtual desktops,

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Although my busy VMware Partner Exchange 2010 schedule included various meetings, break out sessions, company dinners, conference parties, and vendor receptions, a daily dose of social networking was found in between it all. Oh yeah, Las Vegas was a part of the equation as well. Here’s a quick list of my extra curricular conference highlights:

• It “cost me” $140 to learn how to play Craps at the Tropicana, but I had a blast with my Softchoice co-workers while rolling some dice! At some point I was actually up $35, but that was a fleeting moment in time. I’m sure many others can tell similar stories with much larger amounts of cash than me.
• I can now personally guide anyone using all means of transport between the Mandalay Bay, Excaliber, The Luxor, New York, New York, and Tropicana casinos. My legs are tired, but I have some great memories scattered at various points now on that end of the Vegas strip!
• Like the Thirsty Bear was during VMworld 2009, The Nine Fine Irishmen seemed to be a common stop for me during PEX2010.

I’ve created a photo collage of some of the good times, and for those that are curious about the #PEX3WORD goings on last week I’ve got a summary report at the end of the post.

Photo Collage

Here’s a collage of images from my week captured with my cell phone camera. Popular Twitter names pictured in various images are vseanclark, vmdoug, theronconrey, djroberts, asweemer, sakacc (really small in front of the tailgate party big screen), herrod (on stage during keynote), stockberger, and bknudtson.

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Here’s some links, thoughts, and general information surrounding some of the announcements that caught my attention during the VMware Partner Exchange 2010 conference. This is by no means and inclusive list of every press release and announcement made during the conference. To be honest, I wouldn’t doubt that I missed something more significant than the handful of news listed here. Let me know if I did!

The VMware Express

I personally toured the 18 wheeler on Monday evening before the Conference Kickoff Reception. I would recommend VM /ETC readers catch this VMware View demo center on wheels when it rolls through your town.

• VMware View Hits The Road

“The VMware Express  is a datacenter and demo environment on wheels and it will be crossing the U.S. and Canada over the next year letting you, our customers get hands on with the latest and greatest technologies in your own back yard.”

NetApp’s Vaughn Stewart has a nice post about the VMware Express with great photos from inside the truck. There is also another half dozen blog posts in the form of

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I’m sure there were others too, but thanks to Aaron and Scott for actually live blogging some VMware Partner Exchange 2010 sessions that did not contain NDA material.

blog.aarondelp.com

• VMware PEX: Lab Manager Design and Implementation –
• VMware PEX: Site Recovery Manger "Up and Running"
• VMware PEX: Reliable vCenter Database – Operations, Management and Troubleshooting

blog.scottlowe.org

• Partner Exchange 2010 Session TECHBC0320 – “How VMware Leverages Microsoft Volume Shadow Services for Virtual Machine Snapshots”
• Partner Exchange 2010 Session TECHMGT0921 – vCenter Chargeback deployment, configuration, and best practices.
• Partner Exchange 2010 Session TECHDV0721 – “VMware View Security Benefits, Architecture, and Best Practices”

As I find more live blog sessions from PEX 2010 I will add them here.

vExpert Meeting Location, and Panoramics So Far

VMware PEX officially starts today, but it’s been a full 2 and a half days of pre conference sessions, meetings, and get-togethers for me already. This post is a random mix of video, information, and links. Sorry for the mess!

Video: PEX2010 Panoramics So Far

Here’s a quick 30 second video of my conference so far. The photo quality stinks because all I have is my Blackberry to take pictures, but the video is fast and the music is upbeat.

vExpert Meeting Location and time

I’ve been emailed that somewhere around 30 vExperts are attending PEX2010. Tonight there will be a vExpert meeting with VMware at the Alumni Lounge starting at 5:30 pm. Watch for more information from me and others on Twitter or here in this post.

update: The Location of the meeting is changing since not all vExperts will be able to get in to the Alumni Lounge. I’ll post here again when I know the new spot.

latest update: The vExpert meeting will take place in Breakers K. This is apparently a VMware employee room. The meeting time is still set for 5:30 PM.

Saturday was my travel day to VMware Partner Exchange 2010 in Las Vegas, NV. I left Atlanta at 1:30 pm EST and finally checked into my room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel around 4:30 pm PST. All it took was a couple of tweets and I was able to make plans with Theron Conrey for dinner. Like Theron, several others were already in town for the 3 day Virtual Infrastructure Design Boot Camp. So, in about 90 minutes we had a group of nine headed over to the Nine Fine Irishmen at the New York, New York Hotel & Casino. I did not realize last night’s “Night of Nines” until writing about it just now.

Memorable pre-conference tweet ups tend to happen around Theron, and although this one was small in scale compared to his VMworld 2009 party, I had a great time.

Theron tweeted a couple photos of the group, and I used Windows Live Photo to make the above panoramic stitch (an easy to use and free photo editor if you haven’t tried it BTW!). Loosely moving from left to right (not everyone uses twitter?!) in the photo are @bknudtson @vConsult @wolfbrthr @ryancoates, and myself. Not shown is @theronconrey because he was taking the pics.

As always, the conversation was fast, funny, and informative. These informal gatherings are invaluable to me personally and professionally, but they sort of remind me of a Nascar race at Bristol Motor Speedway. For those readers that are “South Eastern U.S.” challenged, imagine a .5 mile race track crammed into a stadium that holds 100,000 people.There is so much happening that you have to force yourself to focus on a driver or two. Out of the corner of your eye the bumping and banging of another group of cars catches your attention, and then you watch that group for a while. By the end your neck hurts!

Although I’m sure I missed a lot, here are a few of the random virtualization related conversations that stuck out for me last night.

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