Day 0 is over and the official first day of VMworld 2010 is upon us. As I type this I’m getting ready to head over to Moscone for the first general session of VMworld 2010 and am excited to see what this day brings.

With that said, I wanted to do a quick recap of the past couple days.  It would be an understatement to say that I’ve been busy. vSpecialist core meetings, tweet-ups, meeting with customers, VCE parties….it’s all in a days work.

The biggest highlights so far have to be the VCDX Appreciation Party where I received my branded VCDX #21 leather jacket, then some private meetings with VMware CTO Steve Herrod (@herrod) and Acadia CEO Michael Capellas……and then there was a gorilla.

Needless to say I absolutely love the team of vSpecialists I work with, they are the most amazing group of people in the I/T industry.  And as the video says….we get the job done!

Posted under VMworld

First off I need to apologize for the lack of content lately.  It goes without saying that becoming a vSpecialist for EMC has definitely filled my schedule more than my previous role. I promise to continue to do my best in providing the latest and greatest virtualization, cloud and general information technology content.

With that said, VMworld always fills my notepads with hot new ideas, strategies, products and futures. Definitely keep an eye on the site the next few days as I will be live blogging as much as possible during Keynotes, Sessions and other events.

Keep an eye on my Twitter, TwitPic, YouTube and UStreamaccount for live streaming of information, pictures and videos! Also included below is my schedule at VMworld 2010, be sure to find me and say hello - I always love meeting readers of my blog.

Sunday
11:00am - Arrive SFO
2:00pm - Private vSpecialists Meeting
6:00pm - Extra Mile Reception
6:30pm - vExtravaganza

Monday
9:00am - Private vSpecialists Meeting

12:00pm - Design Consideration for Migrating to Windows 7
(DV7167 - Moscone West Room 2004)

4:00pm - Welcome Reception & EMC Hands on Lab booth duties
6:30pm - VCDX Special Event
8:00pm - EMC/Cisco Special Event

Tuesday
9:00am - General Session (Keynote)
10:00am - EMC Hands on Lab booth duties

2:00pm - Infrastructure Technologies Purpose Built for Private Cloud
(SS1004 - Moscone North Room 134)

4:30pm - Virtual Data Warehousing – Improving Time to Data Mine!
(SP9667 - Moscone West Room 2002)

6:30pm - EMC Customer Appreciation Party

Wednesday
9:00am - Infrastructure Technologies to Long Distance VMotion – What Is “VM Teleportation”?
(TA8051 - Moscone South Room 104)

10:30am - Best Practices to Increase Availability & Throughput for VMware
(TA8133 - Moscone South Room 302)

1:30pm - Shrinking RTO/RPOs of VM Replication w/ WAN Optimization
(BC7950 - Moscone West Room 2022)

3:00pm - Storage Super-Heavyweight Challenge
(TA8623  - Moscone South Room 301)

5:30pm - VMware CTO Special Event
7:00pm - VMworld Party with INXS

Thursday
9:00am - General Session (Keynote)

10:30am - Modern Networking in a Virtualized Environment
(TA7962 - Moscone North Room 133)

1:00pm - Leaving VMworld for Santa Clara
8:00pm - vDodgeball at vGym

*Breakout Sessions are BOLD

Posted under VMworld

With VMworld 2010 right around the corner we’d love to hear what’s on your mind in regards to virtualization and your environment. We in the vSpecialist organization at EMC would love to hear from you, this survey will be completely anonymous and will possibly help shape the future of virtualization.

• What’s your IT infrastructure look like?
• What do you like about it?
• What frustrates you about it?
• What do you think we should be doing that we’re not (EMC, VMware, or heck, the whole IT industry)?
• What are YOU doing that’s cool?

To complete this survey please click here.

Posted under VMworld

For those of you who haven’t purchased your pass to VMworld yet do I have a surprise for you!  Being an employee of EMC combined with EMC being a great partner of VMware allows me to extend some good perks to my readers.  If you use the following link (http://www.vmworld.com/registration.jspa?sponsorCode=EMC) to register for VMworld and enter in the promotion code EMC_EB_US2010 you will save $300 from the regular admission price (reg $1,795).

VMworld 2010 is going to have some great sessions, including some awesome Ask the Experts sessions as well as the opportunity to meet a good majority of the vSpecialist team. You can even pick yourself up a copy of Mastering VMware vSphere and have it signed by Scott Lowe, Chad Sakac and myself! Or even a copy of the VCP-410 study guide from McGraw-Hill.

I hope to see all of you there, be sure to visit the EMC booth to meet up and chat about all things virtualization.

Posted under Conferences, EMC, VMworld

First of all, thank you to our excellent panel; Duncan Epping, Tom Howarth, Scott Lowe and Chad Sakac.

The response I’ve received from our attendees has been amazing.  It quite possibly was the best session at VMworld 2009!   Don’t worry, I’ll be pushing extra hard to get this session back for 2010!  Perhaps a Super Session?

Amongst the most valuable sessions at VMworld 2009 for me this year was the Ask the Experts sessions.
–ProfessionalVMware.com

One thing that amazed me is how we basically closed VMworld,  our repeat session did not end until 6:15pm on Thursday - pretty much when the union A/V workers started unplugging equipment!

Chad Sakac so graciously posted both sessions in video format on his website, so instead of recapping the entire session (both of them) on here, go check out the videos on his website here.

So thats pretty much it, I had a great time at VMworld and finishing it with the Ask the Experts panel was great!  I’d love to have the other four panelists back next year and don’t forget to look for it on the 2010 schedule!

Also if you haven’t already, check out Duncan’s linkage list.  Tons of great links to VMworld 2009 feedback!

Posted under VMworld

You may have heard me on Friday via Twitter that I’ve passed the VCP4 Beta (along with a list of others). Today I received an e-mail making it official, along with a selection of great goodies!

The list of goodies included a VCP4 Hat, VMware Certified Professional button and some really sweet (sarcastic) light up glasses…which will probably come in handy on Wednesday night!

Well, thought I’d share that with you guys. VMworld so far has been a blast.  Time to sign off and head to the Welcome Reception, where a select few will receive a very special VMwareTips.com polo shirt, button and VMnut sticker!

Posted under Certification, VMworld

Attendees to VMworld 2009 will get to see a make-shift datacenter consiting of 512 Cisco UCS blades and a number of other equipment from major manufactures like EMC, NetApp and HP. Just take a look at what powers VMworld in this video below.

Click to start

Posted under VMworld

VMworld is about to get under way!  This is probably one of the busiest weeks of my year, and the preparation typically takes 1-2 weeks in itself!

I just wanted to share with you my schedule for next week, in the event you might be interested in meeting up with me and possibly getting your hands on some FREE VMwareTips.com swag! (see right).  I’ve got VMwareTips.com buttons, stickers and polo shirts (Special Thanks to VKernel).

For the open times in my schedule, I’ll most likely be browsing the VMworld Solutions Exchange, probably at the NetApp (Booth 2102) and VKernel (Booth 1832) booths. So be sure to come find me and show your support for VMwareTips but wearing a button or sticking a VMnut sticker on your laptop!

Sunday, Aug 30th
9:00pm - Arrive at Thirsty Bear for VM Underground Party

Monday, Aug 31st
7:30am - LAB12 / Scripting vSphere (Powershell/Perl) / Nob Hill C
10:00am - Head to VMware HQ for VMUG Leaders Day
5:30pm - VMworld Welcome Reception

Tuesday, Sept 1st
8:00am - General Session
10:00am - VM3433 / Technical Deep Dive: Host Profiles / Room 120
12:00pm - NetApp Mini-Theater Presentation / Booth 2102 *presenting
12:30pm - VMUG Members Lunch
2:00pm - EA3234 / Virtualizing SQL Server / Room 104 *presenting
4:00pm - TA4060 / The Path to COS-less ESX / Room 123
5:30pm - VMware SoCal VIP Reception
6:30pm - NetApp VIP Dinner Hosted by Dave Hitz
10:00pm - Private Vendor Party

Wednesday, Sept 2nd
8:00am - General Session
9:30am - LAB07 / VMware vCenter Lab Manager / Salon 1
12:00pm - NetApp Reference Roundtable / Room 270 *presenting
3:00pm - EA3347 / Analyzing Application Stack / Room 308
4:30pm - TA2525 / vSphere Networking Deep Dive / Room 120
7:00pm - VMworld Party featuring Foreigner

Thursday, Sept 3rd
10:00am - TA2262 / vSphere Enterprise Stability / Room 306 *presenting
11:30am - TA4341 / Virtual Network Performance / Room 135
1:00pm - TA2259 / Ask the Experts / Room 303 *presenting
3:00pm - TA2650 / Take PowerCLI to the Next Level / Room 304
4:30pm - TA2259 / Ask the Experts (Repeat) / Room 310 *presenting
6:00pm - Private Meeting

Friday, Sept 4th
8:00am - VCDX Defense! / Foothill D

Whew! So that’s pretty much it.  Boy, this schedule is busier than the average work week for me!  Anyways, I hope to see all of my fellow bloggers and readers at VMworld and be sure to ask me for your free swag if you see me!

Posted under VMworld

Just received some inside information from VMware! For those of you that sign-up for the VMware Customer Program during VMworld (Aug 31-Sept 3), you’ll automatically be entered to win a Flip MinoHD portable camcorder! You do not need to be a VMworld attendee to participate, you can either sign-up on site at VMworld or by visiting the VMware Customer Program website.

Remember, DO NOT SIGN-UP UNTIL AUGUST 31st TO BE ENTERED TO WIN THE MinoHD!

The VMware Customer Program is open to all VMware customers willing to share their VMware experience with their peers. It’s easy to join. Simply fill out the registration form and you’re in! In joining, we ask you to share information about your VMware environment, and to share your best practices and experiences with other customers.

As a member, you will receive the following benefits:

• Early registration for VMworld and Lab Sessions
• Access to members-only VIP Lounge at VMworld
• Eligible for members-only contests and opportunities to win vmworld.com subscriptions (a $699 value)
• Access to other members of the program through the online community
• Reports and statistics regarding trends within the membership base
• Opportunities to raise your profile as a thought leader through media and analyst coverage

How to Join

• Complete the VMware Customer Program membership form.
• All members must be willing to accept sales reference calls. Candidates for reference requests will be selected based on the information provided in their profiles.
• Member profiles must be updated annually.

View or print the PDF program flyer.

Apply today!

Posted under VMworld

Attending VMworld 2009? Get you hands on the pocket guide, which is packed with all the information you need to know about VMworld 2009. Including a local area map, agenda at a glance, diagrams of Moscone, Marriott Hotel (Labs) and finally a calendar layout of all the sessions!

If you haven’t scheduled your labs or sessions, I’d strongly suggest you finalize your agenda soon! Labs are first come/first serve and fill up quickly! Use the online schedule builder to create your VMworld 2009 agenda!

Need help choosing some sessions to attend? Check out these hot topics;

Tuesday, September 1st

Wednesday, September 2nd

Thursday, September 3rd

*I will be speaking at these sessions.

Posted under VMworld