vmworld2015

Wednesday I had lined up several sessions so I was quick to get along to my first session - Operational Remediation with vRealize Operations… Tying it All Together - #MGT5735. The session was excellent and gave a great overview and introduction to what is possible with remediation in vROps 6.1. Big thanks to Chima Njaka for this session. Aside from a few other sessions I spent a lot of the afternoon in the VMUG lounge with my colleagues from @xtravirt (see pic below) and meeting lots of other folk from the around the globe (this is what makes this conference so very great for me), putting faces to twitter handles for the first time and so on.

@vaficionado) – if that list of names doesn’t fill you with confidence for vRA.Next, then I suggest you follow them on twitter and trust me that it’s a crack team! So, my highlights: Completely automated deployment…almost. The deployment of appliances and installation of IaaS components and pre-requisites will be wizard driven, the Window Servers will need to exist and have an agent installed, and the MSSQL server will also need to be installed.

The first full day of VMworld after PEX was a busy one. After the keynote (highlights were the docker announcements) I was on “booth babe” duty at the VMUG lounge. It was great to meet so many folk who were existing VMUG members and leaders as well as prospective new members. If you are at VMworld this year you should definitely stop by! After lunch I hit the solutions exchange to catch up with a few vendors whom I had a few queries for also took the time to collect the #vExpert hoodie from @simplivity and the #vExpert tile from Tegile (thank you!

My trip started with a farcical attempt to fly – my 11:50am flight on Sunday didn’t leave ‘til 3:30pm, but in light of William Lam’s travel woes on the same day, I don’t think I’ll complain to heavily. After a quick stop off at the Fira to register and grab my VMworld bag and I headed off to meet DefinIT co-author Simon (@simoneady) at our AirBnB apartment (which, by the way is awesome and a whole load cheaper than a hotel).

It’s PEX (Partner Exchange Day) at VMworld today so its busy but not the Tuesday (first day) of VMworld busy, last night saw a fantastic #vRockstar party and a great chance to meet and have a beer with many vTwitteratti. Today of course has been largely overshadowed by the big new concerning the Dell announcement to purchase EMC which has triggered a great deal of discussion and a healthy amount of banter and snark!