VM /ETC

Posts Tagged ‘vmetc’

Along with others yesterday, I received email notice from VMware’s @jtroyer that I was designated a vExpert for 2010. I was thrilled to win the award in 2009, VMware’s inaugural year of the program, and I’m just as thrilled to be named again this year. But being named a vExpert is now more to me than just winning an award. It’s a virtualization community honor with a responsibility.

First, let’s be honest.

vExpert is not a certification. VCDX is the badge for the VMware technically elite. Those that have endured the study, passed the tests, and triumphed in the design defense have earned the rare status of true VMware guru. There are many VCDXs that are also vExperts, but do not confuse the two. A vExpert should always stand at attention, salute, and then listen closely when a VCDX enters the room and speaks. They are the battle proven Generals. They’ve walked the walk.

Second, let’s be real.

Not all VCDXs are vExperts today, and I would suspect that as more are certified the ratio of VCDXs that will not get recognized for community contributions will rise. That’s not a negative. Let’s call this the “Epping Curse”. For example, when you are that good you end up working for VMware and you can’t win the vExpert award. It’s a problem to have in my opinion. Then there will always be some VCDXs who do not contribute to the community at all. Nothing wrong with that either.

Third, let’s recognize the effort and the honor.

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The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said “Nothing endures but change.” Isaac Asimov, commonly considered the greatest science fiction mind ever, said “It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today.” As a host of the podcast Virtumania, I nonchalantly signify a change in conversation with “Here Goes Nothin’” at the start of every new episode.

Now I’m about to start a new episode in my technical career and life, and although the opportunity is a result of the “Virtumania” I am (we are all) a part of, it is definitely not an lackadaisical new start.

I am excited to say “Here Goes Somethin’ !” to a great new opportunity with Veeam Software.

Veeam Senior Systems Engineer Southeast

On Monday April 26, 2010 I start as a Senior Systems Engineer for Veeam in the Southeast U.S. Region. I’ll be joining

David Sile’s team of world wide engineers responsible for partner training, customer proof of concepts, product pre sales and support, and spreading overall Veeam evangelism.

I’ve been fortunate to get to know David, Doug, and many of the Veeam team at conferences and events over the past few years, and I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about getting to work for and with such a great company, such great engineers, and a great group of people.

I believe there is big things in the future ahead at Veeam Software, and I’m appreciative to get the chance to become a part of their success.

Thanks for everything

It was not an easy choice to decide to leave my team and friends at Softchoice Optimus Solutions. I have laughed with and learned from a great group there. We all know we spend more time with our co workers than any one else during the day, and this is sincerely a bittersweet change for me. Knowing that I am leaving a Veeam Gold Partner that I will now get to support in my territory made the decision a little easier, believe it or not. I will stay in touch.

Hello Veeam Partners and customers in the Southeast!

I can’t wait to get to know all of the great partners and customers (both current and future) in the territory. Let me know who and where you are!

How does this impact VM /ETC and Virtumania?

It doesn’t from my perspective! Veeam is encouraging me to keep my personal activities independent and I’m thankful for that. Although it has not been officially discussed, maybe I’ll contribute posts to VeeamMeUp.com from time to time when inspired. – frankly I’m not sure if that’s an option or not. Maybe I’ll start my own separate Veeam centric blog. The point is that this blog and my podcast will remain as independent as possible.

Like my co host Marc Farley (3PAR), on the Virtumania Podcast I’ll continue to talk about virtualization from the operational perspective. I expect to still be in data centers helping with different virtual infrastructure solutions on a regular basis. I’ll have plenty of inspiration!

Here Goes Something’

So, like so many others already in 2010, I’m announcing a change. If you ask me it’s hardly nothin’.

I’ve given VM /ETC’s hosting provider, BLUEHOST.com, a hard time in the past. So, it’s only fair that I applaud them for improving their service. I was notified in an email of of several exciting improvements tonight. The following is a slightly edited list of changes:

FREE FEATURES ADDED IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS:

• CPU Protection – No longer will a single site on a server impact the performance of other websites on the same server.
• Memory Protection – No longer can a single user or program consume disproportionate memory that would cause slowdowns for our customers.
• Bandwidth Compression – This allows our customers to see a 10-25% decrease in site load times. This is especially noticeable for customers with slower internet connections.
• Process Protection – No longer will a single user be able to spawn runaway processes that cause the processors/cores to slow down trying to handle all the requests. This is especially useful when it comes to MySQL usage where sometimes hundreds of thousands of queries happen in short period of time (5 minutes).
• Many other changes Too many to list in this email.

I’ve been with BLUEHOST.com for 2 years now. I’ve almost moved this blog more than once because of several of the shared hosting plan challenges mentioned in the list above, but the convenience of CPanel management and the ease of site monitoring and reporting have kept me around. For the price, it’s a hosting plan really hard to beat.

Now I firmly recommend BLUEHOST for any blogger that just wants to focus on managing the site and creating content. Don’t get it twisted though – you can get dirty with .cfg, .ini, .php and any other files via the CPanel interface or ssh access if you wish.

Thanks for the free improvements BLUEHOST! I’m glad I stayed put!

I am proud to announce a new podcast I will be hosting on a weekly basis – VIRTUMANIA!

VIRTUMANIA is an Infosmack Production that will try to focus on the operational and administrative viewpoints of all things virtualization, so expect a different guest list of bloggers, architects, administrators, and consultants with each recording.

VIRTUMANIA episodes will be announced as new posts here on VM /ETC. Be sure to subscribe to the VM /ETC RSS feed in your favorite RSS reader or download the show each week from the podcast’s RSS feed. Of course, you can subscribe to the VIRTUMANIA podcast on iTunes. Finally, download or listen to each episode from the embedded player on the VM /ETC VIRTUMANIA Page.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the first episode of VIRTUMANIA!

VIRTUMANIA Podcast Episode 1 – Virtualbox, Type 2 Hypervisors, and Security Nipples.

Rich Brambley (@rbrambley) of VMETC and Marc Farley (@3parfarley) of 3Par and StorageRap.com with guests Sean Clark (@vseanclark) of SeanClark.us and Rick Vanover (@rickvanover) of RickVanover.com. This week’s episode includes discussion about Sun Virtulabox, Teleportation, comparing all type 2 hypervisors, and Oracle’s master virtualization plan. Thanks to Greg Knieriemen (@knieriemen) of Chi Corporation for this Infosmack Production.

Listen Now:

Download

I can’t thank Greg Knieriemen and Marc Farley enough for the patience, advice, and support necessary to get this podcast off the ground. For those that don’t already know, Greg and Marc host the already widely popular Infosmack podcast covering servers, storage, and virtualization news. Tapping into their insights and experiences while planning this podcast have been, and will continue to be invaluable to me. Special thanks to Marc for the Virtumania theme music and Greg for recording and post editing each episode.

Welcome to the VIRTUMANIA Podcast! A weekly virtulization discussion hosted by me, Rich Brambley (@rbrambley).

VIRTUMANIA is an Infosmack Production that will try to focus on the operational and administrative viewpoints of all things virtualization, so expect a guest roster of different bloggers, architects, administrators, engineers and consultants appearing on each new episode.

New VIRTUMANIA episodes will be announced as new posts here on VM /ETC. Be sure to subscribe to the VM /ETC RSS feed in your favorite RSS reader. You can also get the published .mp3 each week from the podcast’s RSS feed.

Of course, you can subscribe to the VIRTUMANIA podcast on iTunes, download, or listen to each episode from the player here on this page.

OR add the podcast feed to your favorite podcatcher or feed reader.

Infosmack

Be sure to check out and subscribe to the Infosmack podcast as well!

The LackRack

Most of my colleagues have a home lab with at least some equipment that is rackable, but because of expense, room size, or the decor concerns of a much smarter significant other purchasing a data center rack is not possible (or advisable). In fact, our servers, storage and switches are stacked under a desk, piled in a corner, or hidden in a coat closet. Virtualization and server consolidation has helped reduce the total amount of hardware we need running at home, but we still end up with a makeshift and cluttered workspace that keeps us in the dog house.

Now, imagine this conversation:

Yes, going to IKEA with your Love is a dangerous undertaking, but it’s a reality to consider for your home lab.

The IKEA Lack tables are the perfect size

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I was lucky enough to have been invited as a guest on this week’s Infosmack podcast. Infosmack, sponsored by StorageMonkeys.com, is a weekly storage, virtualization, and infrastructure podcast hosted by Greg Knieriemann and Marc Farley covering top weekly news and issues in the data center. Greg Schulz, author of the StorageIO Blog, was is also a guest with me on this week’s episode. I had a great time recording the call and I am really excited about the final result available now for download.

Already one of the subscriptions listed in my recent post about podcasts relevant to virtualization administrators, Infosmack Podcast Episode #34 – VMware vs Hyper-V discusses several topics on the minds of the virtualization community right now including:

• VMware’s purchase of Zimbra
• VMware Go for ESXi
• VMware and Microsoft Clouds
• HP’s partnership announcement with Microsoft and Hyper-V
• HP LeftHand’s announcement of a iSCSI SAN for Hyper-V
• Backup strategy for virtualized environments

Check out Episode #34 and offer your thoughts in the comments here or on the StorageMonkeys.com episode page linked above. Honestly, the title makes the podcast seem more controversial than it really is, but it’s good discussion none the less! The four of us really thought through virtual infrastructure and various vendor cloud scenarios based on recent announcements, acquisitions, and partnerships forming recently.

While you are listening Subscribe to the Infosmack Podcast for new episodes every Monday and join the StorageMonkeys.com community too. If you are an aspiring blogger use storagemonkeys.com for an instant audience. You have the option to be authenticated with your Facebook account if you don’t want to create a new one.

Be sure to look me up as rich brambley and add me as a StorageMonkey friend.

Greg Schulz has also posted is summary of the podcast. Check out his StorageIO.com post Infosmack Episode 34, VMware, Microsoft and More. Greg also includes several links for extra info on the topics we discussed.