Flings – Gabbs' Random Thoughts

Virtual Updates 2021-01-25

ESXi – the importance of patching & upgrading
Ransomware?….on a VMware Datastore?
This Reddit post covers a Ransomware attack that encrypted all files on VMware Datastore…..
PLEASE patch and upgrade your vSphere environments, and have some level of access controls around the management network…..

VMware Management & Adobe Flash
Did you come across an app that you didn’t upgrade by end of 2020?
Adobe Flash is now ‘disabled’ on many browsers.
How to fix it?
This post covers that topic, and links to the appropriate VMware KBs on this topic.

Virtual Updates 2020-11-02

Continuing Education
Most of us who work in IT spend quite a bit of time learning new things.
I can’t remember a year where I haven’t been learning something new.
Wanted to put together a list of good training offerings that are out there, many are free & there are some pay for sites int he list, and keep this list going every week (it’ll be at the bottom going forward).
A Cloud Guru
CodeClouds
HashiCorp Learn
KubeAcademy
Nutanix University
PluralSight
vBrownBag
VMware Hands On Labs

Virtual Updates 2020-09-07

Such a quiet two weeks.
Given I focus a lot on VMware & Nutanix, and the conferences coming up…no surprise there. I expect that to change as these conferences get held this month.

Nutanix .NEXT is this week!
Nutanix .NEXT registration is also free!
Jump in, and spend Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday of this week.
(Thursday is Partner Exchange, meaning for Partners of Nutanix)

VMworld is 3 weeks away!!!
….and it is free as well!
(there is a Premier Pass, which gets you access to a few additional talks).
Get registered here.

Make SURE you have reserved a host for HA
Duncan Epping covers a topic that is important.
Ever had a vSphere HA event (losing a host) effect VM performance?
Probably your own fault.
You never changed this value to 0%
Sounds backwards, but watch this 1 minute video on how to guarantee the performance your cluster was designed for.

Virtual Updates 2020-07-06

VMUG Boston – Virtual Get Together
Trying out a new platform.
Late notice, as this even is today July 6 at 4pm (sorry).
Get registered here.

Nutanix User Groups
I’ve been NUG (Nutanix User Group) Champion for the New England chapter for a few months now.
Started with plans for an in person get together, which got squashed by Covid19
In the interim, we started doing bi-weekly (every two weeks) sessions covering the Nutanix software offerings for our group.
Having discussions with users about them presenting their solutions and such now! That’s what a User Group is all about….not just the vendor’s offerings!
Can’t wait to start hosting the in person get togethers….
Join us every other Thursday until we meet up in person, and focus on networking and having fun!

VMware KubeAcademy
Been a while since I brought this up, but VMware has some free online Kubernetes web-based courses available.
Looks like the list got larger too.
Plus it has CKA exam tips.
This requires a new login (not your MyVMware login).

Virtual Updates 2020-06-22

VMworld 2020 Virtual – Registration Now Live
Given that I have been to every VMworld since 2007….this is a bit of a change.
Now this event is Virtual
Now this event is FREE TO ALL WHO REGISTER!!!!
Registration opens June 23, 2020.
It will not be the same as being there, but it is now accessible to all!

Nutanix Has free NCP Exam Offer
Essentially….you can take this exam for free till 9/20/2020.
And since you can do it from home, no need to travel.
I’ll just post to the Twitter site that has the code here.

Virtual Updates 2020-06-08

vSphere 6.7 End of Support date extended
People were unsure why VMware had vSphere 6.5 and 6.7 with the same end of support date in November 2021.
Well, now vSphere 6.7 has an end of support date of October 15, 2022.
VMware Blog post is here.

vSphere 7 – Kubernetes Pods Explained
I like Mike Foley’s ability to explain nearly anything.
His focus on security over the past years has been awesome.
Now he’s explaining how vSphere Pods work on vSphere 7.
A quick read, and you understand it.
Do you need to know the details of how to run apps in containers?
No (helps, but not required), but as a vSphere Amin (or IaaS provider now), you need to get a good understanding of what you’ll be running.

Virtual Updates 2020-05-25

VMware VCP & VCAP – Around the World
Love this annually released infographic.
VMware Blog post is here.
VCDXs Around the world? VMware Blog post from 2018 is here.

DEMO VCF with vSphere 7 & Kubernetes
This is pretty cool.
On the StorageHub part of the VMware website, you now have a click-through demo of deploying this (on VCF workload domain).
Kinda a Hands on Lab light version…
I like this, as it can show someone how simple it is to use VCF to manage a full SDDC stack, or even one that uses NFS or FC.
Good demo tool for all. 10-15 minutes for your first review.