Tag: EMC

Get Ready for the vHunt at VMworld with some bonus prizes

I am very excited this year for VMworld. As is tradition there will be an In-n-Out run. More details on this as my calendar is more packed in previous years. It might need to be a late night run.

One other thing I am excited about is this years vHunt twitter game. In addition to all of the fun prizes EMC will be providing (a new iPad for one). I will be carrying out at the show some very special prizes thanks to VMware Press.

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  • Automating vSphere with VMware vCenter Orchestrator by Cody Bunch
  • The Official VCP 5 Certification Guide by Bill Ferguson
  • VMware vSphere 5 Building a Virtual Datacenter by Eric Maille and Rene-Francois Mennecier
  • Managing and Optimizing VMware vSphere Deployment by Sean Crookston and Harley Stagner
  • Administering VMware Site Recovery Manager 5.0 by Mike Laverick

    • While supplies last and if you find will need to find me OUTSIDE of the EMC Booth to get the prize. Once you find me tweet a picture with me and your new book with the #vHunt hastag and copy @VMwarepress.

    Cisco – EMC Webcast: … An Optimized End User Experience

     

    No matter what you do to accelerate, optimize and transform your desktop environment (physical or virtual) if the presentation is sub-par, no one cares. The common message from any vSpecialist when it comes to EUC (End User Computing, VDI is so 2011) is focus on the end user experience. Make it easy to access my data and applications from anywhere at any time and I am a happy user.

    This is something I really believe in. Having delivered VDI (or TS) solutions in the past, starting as a Citrix Metaframe XP administrator. So when I noticed this webcast I wanted to be sure share it with everyone. EMC is a huge place and there is ALWAYS something going on, but I wanted to take special notice when Cisco, EMC, VCE and VMware team up with a focus on getting the end user experience done right.

    Save the date and sign up! August 22, 2012 11:00 AM EDT / 8:00 AM PDT.

    So sign up now here: http://bit.ly/vdia22

    What to expect?

    When it comes to EUC there are so many “best” practices out there many times you just need someone to tell you what works. I will take a few seconds to detail the high level bullets I always share with customers when speaking about EUC.

    • From the EMC perspective it often relates to putting the right data in the right place. When using Flash drives to lower cost and footprint knowing how VDI I/O works is very important.

     

    • Also from the EMC realm is the amazing impact FAST Cache can have on these deployments vs. trying to account for all unexpected I/O with spinning media. This additionally lowers your cost and spindle count. That is right, someone at EMC saying buy less drives.
    • Use the money you save to put more RAM in your Cisco UCS B – series blades. Memory being the second bottle neck after storage when it comes to your VDI role out.
    • Speaking of memory make sure you use the best hypervisor for consolidation and memory management. vSphere 5 is still years ahead of even the promised products from the other guys. The TCO picture for hardware is ONLY part of the story, so make sure you get every last drop out of those Cisco UCS blades.
    • Lastly, if you want to deliver this in a tested and proven manner AND you realize your time to market is critical, EMC VSPEX and VCE Vblock take the world’s best components and software and make it work for you. No more testing for 9 months before pushing the go button.

    Get to the WEBCAST Already

    Once again, if you are exploring, testing, POC’ing, or running in production VDI in any way shape or form. Join the webcast on August 22 and see when EMC and Cisco have in store.

    Save the date and sign up! August 22, 2012.

    So sign up now here: http://bit.ly/vdia22

    More on VSPEX

    More on VCE and End User Compute and FASTPATH

    EMC Reference Architecture -one of many…

    From the Cisco Site <-Cisco UCS / EMC VNX RA

     

    The VMWorld 2012 Voting Post

    I decided to wait a couple of days after the posturing/begging/campaigning died down. So that I could start it up again!

     

    Shameless plugs are not usually my thing. I have been learning from @vTexan so here goes.

    Make sure you sign in here to vote http://www.vmworld.com/www.vmworld.com/cfp.jspa

    There are literally 9 Billion entries this year. So here are a few I like:

    By the way I am stoked for a joint EMC / NetApp Session that doesn’t have Chad and Vaughn (no offense guys).

     

    Finally, my title didn’t make the cut (View 5.1 and Storage so Awesome you’ll slap yo Mama OR Things only Ninjas know, behind the scenes with View 5.1 Storage Architectures) but here is my session on View 5.1 and Storage Deep Dive with EUC Ninja Mark Ewert.

     

    Title: 

    		  

    View 5.1 Storage Features Deep Dive 

    Subtracks: 

    		  

    Desktop Virtualization 

    Tracks 

    		  

    End-User Computing

    Technical Level 

    		  

    Advanced Technical

    Area of Interest 

    		    

    Abstract: 

    		  

    Presented by VMware and EMC, this session will provide an in depth exploration of the new View 5.1 features related to storage optimization including the View Storage Accelerator (CBRC) and View Composer Array Integration (VCAI). The discussion will also provide detailed results of a joint VMware / EMC study quantifying the benefit of these new storage features and their resulting impact on virtual desktop density and the EMC VNX Storage Area Network used in the testing. To enable attendees to perform their own analysis, an overview of the LoginVSI virtual desktop benchmark system and test methodology used to obtain the results will also be provided.

     

     

    So remember to Vote. Do it for the Children!

    Some Reality for us Infrastructure Peeps or Apps are cool too

    Don’t’ you just love double titles?

    For many years I have been an infrastructure guy. I really liked how the cables, and processors and Memory and blinking lights worked. Applications were often the necessary evil tolerated so that I can play with cool technology. During my own journey toward learning about the cloud it becomes increasingly important to consider the function of the application. Six years ago me would totally punch me in the face right now. Traitor. J

    1 – Don’t get your App messed up in my resource buckets of awesomeness

     

    So the reality check to the Infrastructure geek in me is this: The application teams really think of what you do as the network. That is why when anything is ever wrong it is always “the network’s” fault. What we love to do is getting abstracted more and more. I will still contend that is very important and very hard to do. Whether you are building reference architectures or deploying a converged infrastructure appliance almost no one but us cares. They just want the data to do their jobs. So while we have really great discussions about speeds and feeds, the guy in the picture below just wants the app. From the hypervisor down we need to design with the application in mind or we will risk becoming like that goth dude locked in the server room on IT Crowd.

     

    2 Honey badger don’t care about FCoE

    My next post will get into what I have been researching regarding what is out there and hopefully help us (infra. peeps) understand our App/Dev brothers better.

    You are probably an Infrastructure person if:

    1. You read this blog.
    2. You work mainly with Virtualization
    3. Storage Admin
    4. Network Admin
    5. You like to make fun of DBA’s

     

    Its About the Apps – The Need for Application Modernization Webcast

    As we migrate to Cloud models for Enterprise IT one big need that gets overlooked is how the applications are architected. Modernizing existing apps can be a very scary but a necessary step to taking advantage of what the cloud can offer.

    Just look at this crazy puzzle. As a VMware/Network/Storage geek I spend so much time focusing on the bottom of this picture the “infrastructure” part. I have to admit though without the Applications no one cares about all my infrastructure.

    So what can we do with that middle layer? The legacy apps, Analytics and Cloud applications. Expect more to come from me on this. Don’t worry they won’t be “coding” posts but rather enablement of applications in the world of Private Cloud.

    So where to start?
    I want to create some awareness for this upcoming webcast. Details are here:

    http://www.emc.com/events/2012/q1/01-25-12-application-modernization.htm

    Jan 25, 2012

    Time:
    11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST (Set Time Zone)

    Event Type:
    EMC Live Webcast

    Location:
    Online

    Details: In this session, EMC Consulting will discuss Application Modernization on the road to Platform as a Service.

    Our expertise and experience will help you understand Cloud Application Platform technologies, architectural patterns and practical approaches to a modernization strategy that maximizes long-term benefits.

    Attend this webcast and learn:

    About next generation Application Architectures
    How other organizations have successfully tackled an Application Modernization initiative
    How to develop a strategy for Application Modernization

    First Three Months and the Cloud

    This is the post where people start accusing me of working for EMC. Guess what? I do.

    Now that Geek Week and onboarding are finished and I got my really cool shirt I wanted to spend a few minutes reflecting on the things I learned in the last few months. This post will introduce a few topics and be an overall summary of my first 3 months as a vSpecialist.

    What is great is I didn’t have to be convinced to like or do something I didn’t already think or believe. I am definitely able to articulate my thoughts in a somewhat coherent manner.

    I believe the way we DO technology will need to transform in order compete in the future. If you are doing well now and still spending most of your time and money keeping the lights on the margin for error is shrinking. Your IT needs to be empowered to focus on applications that will give you a competitive edge. I have seen that EMC is going all in to make this vision of the cloud reality.

    Automate – Manage – Self-Service

    We all have a vision of how the “cloud” will help us. For us technical guys our list may look like this:

    1. I want my kids to recognize me.
    2. I want tools that work.
    3. I like sleep.
    4. My Call of Duty Black Ops game needs some work.

    Will we all be able to play golf every afternoon because of cloud? Most likely not. Let me know if it happens for you. It will enable us to provide more meaningful impact on the bottom line of our business. If that means I can spend less time pouring over logs to find errors and fixing them and more time improving the delivery and impact of our applications, I am sold. What I seek is less time fighting fires and more time creating value. I see that EMC is aiming (and currently delivers) to provide tools to make this happen. This will be done with tools to help automate, manage and supply self-service IT.

    It has been a good few months learning. Soon I will have a few more posts about the last few months.

    Coming Soon:

    Everyone has a Shiny Thing

    EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) is really cool.

    You Care about Business Impact

    A Team Makes a Difference