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!

Created on August 31, 2009 by Rick Scherer

Posted under Certification, VMworld.

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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

Created on August 28, 2009 by Rick Scherer

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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!

Created on August 28, 2009 by Rick Scherer

Posted under VMworld.

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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!

Created on August 24, 2009 by Rick Scherer

Posted under VMworld.

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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.

Created on August 21, 2009 by Rick Scherer

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Back by popular demand! Oh wait, the event hasn’t even happened yet!

Received final confirmation that TA2259 – Ask the Experts featuring Duncan Epping, Tom Howarth, Scott Lowe, Chad Sakac and myself will be repeated at 4:30pm on Thursday, September 3rd.  Our first session at 1:00pm on Thursday has already filled up! So don’t worry, as of right now we have roughly 200 open seats for our repeat session.

If you haven’t registered for VMworld, I suggest you better get it done now!  This is THE event of the year for all things Virtualization.  The Ask the Experts session is the best place to get your questions answered by the industries top professionals.

Created on August 10, 2009 by Rick Scherer

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So this is it!  Final presentations for VMworld need to be in by August 10th, so this is your last chance to submit an opening question for TA2259 – Ask the Experts (Duncan Epping, Tom Howarth, Scott Lowe, Chad Sakac) at VMworld 2009!

One question that came up was if we were still going to have an open floor portion, and the answer is YES! The majority of the session will be open floor, but we do want to have a handful of good questions to help spin off the session and also for those quiet moments.

Question Submission is Now Closed! Thank you to everyone who submitted their questions.

Created on August 3, 2009 by Rick Scherer

Posted under VMworld.

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If you’re flying into San Francisco on Sunday like many of us are, then be sure to attend the Official VMworld 2009 Sunday Night Extravaganza.  This will be the third year that Theron and crew will be putting on this event and it sure sounds like a good time!

On Sunday, August 30th 2009 from 7-10PM, join this underground VMworld kickoff party and meet up with virtualization bloggers, vExperts, authors, Twitter users, and virtualization enthusiasts (translated v12n geeks).  My flight doesn’t come into SFO until 8:30pm so I will be a little late, however I do plan on buying some drinks for a select few….hopefully they’re still there!

Check out the official site for more details and where to RSVP for this event.

Created on July 26, 2009 by Rick Scherer

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Jon Hall from VMware Certification wrote a post on the VMTN Communities page the other day, which Duncan Epping made me aware of.

VMware will be providing onsite testing services at VMworld 2009. A great deal is available on the VCP exam (see my post at http://communities.vmware.com/thread/222191?tstart=0), but more importantly, the VCDX Enterprise Administration and Design Exams will be offered! You must be pre-authorized to take these exams, so if you are already in process to take the Enterprise Administration Exam, contact certification@vmware.com to inquire about the availability of the exam at VMworld. You can register at Pearson VUE for the Design Exam, but again you must already be in process and have authorization from VMware to take the exam. The link for registering with Pearson for the Design Exam is http://pearsonvue.com/vmware/vmworld/ . For the Enterprise Administration Exam only, you must contact us directly.

This reminded me that I still haven’t heard from VMware on the results of my VCDX Design Exam beta.  I was really hoping that I would receive my passing grade (hopeful huh?) and schedule the defense during VMworld.

Well, I called Tina (she’s so famous now!) at VMware and chatted about this.  She sounded hopeful that the results would be sent out by end of business tomorrow (Friday 7/24).  She also informed me that in addition to VCP and VCDX exams being available at VMworld, that VMware will also be scheduling VCDX Defense sessions during the week.  Great news!

Duncan also had this to say on his blog post,

For those who want to do the Enterprise Exam check the mock exam that has also has just been released: Enterprise Administration Mock Exam.

Dave Convery also posted about discounts for these exams, which might be a nice incentive to get you guys studying!

Created on July 23, 2009 by Rick Scherer

Posted under Certification, VMworld.

This blog has 1,219 views and 3 responses.

Tags: vcdx, vcp, VMworld

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I have received final confirmation, dates and times have been scheduled for the three VMworld 2009 sessions I will be speaking at.

Tuesday, September 1st

Thursday, September 3rd

Be sure to add these sessions to your VMworld schedule!  Also, you can still submit some pre-questions for the Ask the Experts session – visit this blog post to submit your question now!

Created on July 23, 2009 by Rick Scherer

Posted under VMworld.

This blog has 775 views and no responses.

Tags: ea3234, ta2259, ta2262, VMworld

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