MarkGabbs – Page 21 – Gabbs' Random Thoughts

Virtual Update 2019-03-18

VMware EMPOWER is coming
There are 3 events (listed at the bottom of this post) scheduled for this year.
I am lucky enough to have been named a VMware EMPOWER Ambassador.
There will only be 10 x Ambassadors for each EMPOWER event.
What does this meant???
Anyone (who is a partner) can reach out to me, and chat about this event.
Unsure of whether or not to attend? Not sure if there is value? What would be the best use of my time?
Reach out to me on Twitter @MarkGabbs and we can chat.
Plus, Ambassadors can help you get $100 off registration!

vExpert 2019
vExpert 2019 was announced just recently.
I have been a vExpert for five years.
What is vExpert? It doesn’t require a blog, but it is about someone willing to contribute the community, and share their experience with others.
Take a look at the vExpert page, see what the program is about, search the directory, or find a great catalog of bloggers

RVTool 3.11.6 released
The latest update has been posted.
Remember to Donate.
Rob de Veij spends quite a bit of time on this, and I’m sure more than once, any vSphere Admin / Architect has found this tool useful.

Virtual Update 2019-03-04

VMware PowerCLI update
PowerCLI has been updated to 11.2.0
Blog post highlighting some features are her
Release Notes are here
…just run Update-Module VMware.PowerCLI

Virtual Update 2019-02-18

VMware repeals 2 year recertification requirement
Finally….something I have fought VMware Education against since I heard they were going to implement this.
In short, you take an exam and get certified.
You MUST take another exam within 2 years, or you lose your certification.
Regardless of why they thought this was required, it is now no longer true.
Now, you certs are valid without requiring retesting after the 2 year mark.
Granted, if you are certified as a VCP5, when VCP7 is available, VCP5 doesn’t really hold much value
Read the announcement here.

VMware vSphere 6.0 – End of General Support
It is coming…March 12, 2000.
Feels like we JUST got folks off of 5.5 (which is good, because they are mostly 6.5 or greater now).
If you think that’s OK, End of General Support for:
vSphere 6.5 – November 15, 2021.
vSphere 6.7 – November 15, 2021. (yes, same as vSphere 6.5)
Two-and-one-half years goes by quick…..so don’t blink!
VMware KB 66977.

VMware Workspace ONE – from some of the best
If you are in the EUC (End User Computing) space, you must have heard the names of Johan van Amersfoot & Brian Madden at some point.
This is a great video that covers what the Workspace ONE solution does, and how it enables the EUC vision from VMware.
This is 1-hour 10-minutes. watch all of it…..
Absolutely worth watching if you are VDI or EUC, EMM, MDM, or have a security focus.

Virtual Update 2019-02-04

VMware VCP 2019 Exams Are Released
Karl Childs, our favorite Senior Manager in VMware Education , has release this note last week regarding the availability of the new VCP-2019 exams.
Short post, but it links to each of the VCP 2019 certs available, and their details.

VMware CEIP (Customer Experience Improvement Program)
This was mentioned a few months ago, and it deserves a rehash.
In the past, WEI had kept a neutral stance on this setting (enabled or disabled).
Now, WEI has a recommended stance on enabling this settings.
Why?
They way VMware Support uses CEIP.
How to change the setting via PoweCLI? of course William Lam has the answer in a recent post.

VMware Dynamic Health Check (vSphere 6.7+)
This week’s aggregation seems to have too many links to William Lam’s VirtuallyGhetto, but he is a great source of information….
Select your vCenter object on the left pane, go to Monitor, Health.
That’s it. Read about it here.
You must have CEIP enabled (see above) for this to work.

Virtual Update 2019-01-21

VTUG Winter Warmer 2019
I am sure people are looking forward to this event!
Thursday, January 24 2019
Gillette Stadium, 1 Patriot Place, Foxboro, MA
Register Here!B

Operationalizing VMware vSAN – free book
Hopefully this is still available for you all when you read this (it was available for download still the morning I posted).
This 90 pager covers considerations for staff, process, and tools to own the vSAN solution.
Also linked on that page is NSX day 2 operations.
Get them while you can!

GitHub allows free Private Repos
As well as announcing GitHub Enterprise, which combines a few existing products.
I think the move to allow free Private Repos is move I would not have expected after Microsoft purchased GitHub, but it is appreciated (I can imagine many people don’t want their projects public by default).

Virtual Updates 2019-01-07

VTUG Winter Warmer 2019
I am sure people are looking forward to this event!
Thursday, January 24 2019
Gillette Stadium, 1 Patriot Place, Foxboro, MA
Register Here!B

VMware Certifications VCP-2019
VMware had announced last year that they were attempting to have VCP exams (as well as VCAP exams) released on a more predictive schedule.
Karl Childs announced that the new exams are starting to be released.
His post, and release dates are linked here.

Virtual Update 2018-12-24

VTUG Winter Warmer 2019
I am sure people are looking forward to this event!
Thursday, January 24 2019
Gillette Stadium, 1 Patriot Place, Foxboro, MA
Register Here!B

VMware vSAN Cluster Design – Large vs. Small Clusters
The team at WEI doesn’t just have this conversation around vSAN, but with all of the vSphere clusters that we build.
This VMware Docs page is dedicated to providing the options around sizing decisions for a vSAN cluster, discussing performance, scale, fault domains, and why there is no one right answer for everyone.

AWS reInvent
Finding it hard to find the specific reInvent session for replay?
Found someone who made it easy to search through the entirety.
Its a bit of an overwhelming list, but using Control+F is much easier this way.