FROM THE EDITORS VIRTUAL DESK
Hi everyone, I hope that you all had a really good 4th of July and did not miss the newsletter too much. Well we are back for the second half of 2015 with so much news from VMware. We are also heading into events season with many local events including VMworld in this quarter. I hope that you have all purchased your tickets for this amazing event (www.vmworld.com).
I wish you a fantastic week and 2nd half of 2015.
NEWS AND DEVELOPMENTS FROM VMWARE
GENERAL NEWS
IDC ranks VMware Market Share Leader, Immidio: The History Behind the Handshake + Why Online Testing is the Future This week, analyst firm IDC has once again ranked VMware the market share leader in cloud systems management and in datacenter automation software based on 2014 software revenues acc...
Jul 10, 2015 5:34:50 PM
By John Worthington I had some interesting discussions with a client about Change Management the other day. There was considerable focus around the risk matrix; after all, the risk of a change dictates approval flow….change is about managing risk right? The change management challenge is about ba...
Jul 10, 2015 3:08:13 PM
VCP6-DCV, VCP6-DCV Delta, and vSphere 6 Foundation Exams Open for Registration Registration opened last month for live versions of the VCP6-DCV, VCP6-DCV Delta, and vSphere 6 Foundation Exams. The exams will be available starting August 30, 2015 at several PearsonVue testing centers around the wo...
Jul 10, 2015 3:00:56 PM
Join us on Saturday, August 29 before VMworld 2015 US, for the VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) Workshop at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront, Burlingame, CA. The Workshop gives you a chance to learn more about the VCDX process and program, and is the perfect way to kick off your...
Jul 9, 2015 4:57:39 PM
Continuing on with our KBTV Webinars series, here we have the thirteenth and final installment of the current series titled vCloud Connector and Datacenter Extension . Note : This video is roughly 35 minutes in duration so it would be advisable to set aside some time in order watch it fully.
Jul 9, 2015 1:47:38 PM
By Ted Spinks Is your OS deployment content locked away in physical-centric systems management tools? Are engrained OS imaging technologies slowing down your organization's adoption of vRealize Automation? Ted Spinks-a VMware Cloud Automation TAM Tech Lead- shows you how you can absorb your exist...
Jul 9, 2015 1:43:43 PM
After upgrading or deploy the vCenter Server 6.0 or vCenter Server Appliance 6.0, some customers are being denied access to some features. Namely- You are unable to access or see the Single Sign-On administration section When attempting to access the System Configuration (located at: Administrati...
Jul 8, 2015 3:59:07 PM
VMware has become aware of situation whereby hard disks and/or nics may be removed from a virtual machine when reconfiguring VM workflows in vRealize Automation. We have identified two distinct scenarios where this might happen and so have create two separate KB articles. Please familiarize yours...
Jul 8, 2015 3:38:22 PM
By Sajai Krishnan, vice president of product marketing, Management Suites Business Unit, VMware They say good news comes in pairs. Today I am elated to announce that IDC has once again ranked VMware the market share leader in cloud systems management (1) and in datacenter automation software (2) ...
Jul 8, 2015 12:00:57 PM
A new section to the public facing Business Critical Applications Homepage was introduced last week. It is called the "Applications-as-a-Service". The section will aggregate collateral from all applications that are considered to be mission critical but do not necessarily fit within the more esta...
Jul 8, 2015 5:38:11 AM
By Spas Kaloferov The increasingly global nature of content and migration of multimedia content distribution from typical broadcast channels to the Internet make Geo-Location a requirement for enforcing access restrictions. It also provides the basis for traditional performance-enhancing and disa...
Jul 10, 2015 5:20:25 PM
On July 9 th 2015, the OpenSSL project released a Security Advisory . This advisory contained 1 security issue (CVE-2015-1793), which was given a severity rating of “high”. The advisory lists OpenSSL 1.0.1n, 1.0.1o, 1.0.2b and 1.0.2c as being affected by this issue. These updates were released in...
Jul 9, 2015 10:17:49 PM
Today VMware has released the following new advisory VMSA-2015-0005 This addresses an issue in VMware Workstation, Player and Horizon View Client for Windows that may lead to a host privilege escalation. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier ...
Jul 9, 2015 10:13:10 PM
by Joanna Guan and Davide Bergamasco This post is the first of a series which aims to assess the performance of the VMware vSphere Content Library solution in various scenarios and provide vSphere Administrators with some ideas about how to set up a high performance Content Library environment. A...
Jul 9, 2015 9:34:20 PM
Introduction to Queues Sizing Proper queues sizing is a key element in ensuring current database workloads can be sustained and all SLA’s are met without any processing disruption. Queues Queues are often misrepresented as the very “bane of our existence” and yet queues restore some order of semb...
Jul 9, 2015 7:02:27 PM
vRealize Automation (vRA) offers built-in integration with a long list of imaging technologies, such as SCCM, BladeLogic, HP Server Automation, and Citrix Provisioning Server, to name just a few. But what if you want to integrate vRA with a different imaging technology, that’s not on this list? W...
Jul 9, 2015 10:00:57 AM
Calling all VMware Service Providers: You’re invited to participate in the vCloud Director 8.0 beta! Beta participation gives you the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the upcoming release of vCloud Director 8.0 before it hits the streets. This beta allows you to collaborate with product t...
Jul 8, 2015 4:00:36 PM
Is your private or hybrid cloud deployment having difficulty delivering on the expectations of the business? Are you using your infrastructure resources efficiently? With new cloud capabilities, do you seem to be always short on capacity? Is it cost competitive and able to scale? In this cloud-mo...
Jul 8, 2015 10:00:43 AM
DESKTOP
Written by Claire Feeney, Product Marketing Apple has released public betas of its latest mobile and desktop software, iOS 9 and Mac OS X El Capitan. In the past, early access has been limited to the developer community, however, today marks the first time the public is invited to test major pre-...
Jul 9, 2015 8:20:03 PM
At the World Wide Developers Conference earlier this summer, Apple developers gathered to learn about the latest iOS and OS X features. See the infographic below to learn about the features that affect the enterprise and register for the webinar on July 21. The webinar will include a panel discus...
Jul 9, 2015 3:38:31 PM
As the community manager for a large enterprise social network (ESN) for a Fortune 100 company, it thrills me when leaders are interested in how they can use our internal network better in their role as leaders. Over the last few years at Humana , we have seen consistent growth in leader involvem...
Jul 8, 2015 5:16:37 PM
By Shawn Bass, senior director, strategy and planning, End-User Computing, VMware With Windows 10 set to release on July 29, it’s a great time to start thinking about Windows 10 adoption in your organization. Listed below are the top reasons why I believe Windows 10 will be the fastest-adopted ve...
Jul 8, 2015 12:00:57 PM
PARTNER
Your partner success depends not only on the use of industry-leading products, but also on having the knowledge and skills required to best extract value from those virtualization and policy-driven automation technologies. Our extensive training and certification programs are integral to the deli...
Jul 8, 2015 7:23:40 PM
Effective July 1, 2015, ELA transactions are eligible for Solution Rewards for all eligible partners. And, Premier Rewards will be transitioning to a Premier Bonus under the Solution Rewards Program. Premier Solution Provider partners will earn an additional 2% Bonus rebate on all of their qualif...
Jul 7, 2015 4:36:31 PM
Visit the VMware Partner Demand Center today to check out all of these new offerings, campaign updates, and more... New Online Advertising Offering Leverage our new SDDC Cloud Management Online Advertising campaign to drive traffic to your site and leads. Currently it is only offered in English. ...
Jul 6, 2015 10:34:06 PM
MORE NEWS AND DEVELOPMENTS FROM AROUND THE WEB
Advertise here with BSA This week someone asked me about an advanced setting to optimize vMotion for VPLEX configurations. This person referred to the vSphere 5.5 Performance Best Practices paper and more explicitly the following section: Add the VMX option (extension.converttonew = “FALSE”) to v...
Jul 10, 2015 12:50:59 PM
This video is the thirteenth in a new series of free Webinars that VMware is releasing in which their Technical Support staff members present on various topics across a wide range of VMware's product portfolio. The title for this presentation is "vCloud Connector and Datacenter Extension". To see...
Jul 10, 2015 7:55:00 AM
A couple of weeks back, I had received a question around backing up and restoring the Embedded vPostgres Database found within the new vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 6.0. At the time, the only thing I had seen was KB 2110294 and vSphere 6.0 Documentation here which recommends that a full VM back...
Jul 9, 2015 4:58:16 PM
Advertise here with BSA Almost a year ago I joined the Office of CTO under Paul Strong. My main focus was SDDC, but I naturally gravitated towards the core platform (vSphere) and software defined storage and topics like availability. Not just my personal preference, but also a common requested to...
Jul 8, 2015 9:19:41 PM
Advertise here with BSA I’d already blogged about this on the VMware blog, but I figured I would share it here as well. The vSphere Metro Storage Cluster with vSphere 6.0 white paper has been released. I worked on this paper together with my friend Lee Dilworth, it is an updated version of the pa...
Jul 8, 2015 9:28:27 AM
VMware vSphere Metro Storage Cluster (vMSC) is a specific configuration within the VMware Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). These configurations are commonly referred to as stretched storage clusters or metro storage clusters and are implemented in environments where disaster and downtime avoida...
Jul 8, 2015 6:08:00 AM
This document provides recommendations about deployment topology, hardware specifications, interoperability, and scalability for the following VMware components: VMware vRealize Automation (formerly vCloud Automation Center) VMware vRealize Application Services (formerly vCloud Automation Center ...
Jul 7, 2015 12:59:00 PM
VMWARE TAM WEBCASTS
On-Demand Webinars:
SDDC:
- On Demand: Troubleshooting Strategies for vSphere 6
- On-Demand: Designing a Virtual Infrastructure Architecture
- On-Demand: Demystifying the Software Defined Data Center
- On-Demand: vSphere with Operations Management
- On-Demand: Troubleshooting VMware vSphere [v5.5]
- On-Demand: vCenter Server (vSphere 6)
- On-Demand: vSphere Security (vSphere 6)
- On-Demand: Examining your Security Posture in the Software-Defined Data Center
- On-Demand: What’s New with vSphere and Operations Management 6
- On-Demand: New Video from HP Discover: VMware and HP’s Global Innovation Center
- On-Demand: VMware vForum Online Spring 2015
- On-Demand: The Software-Defined Data Center: the Future of IT
- On-Demand: A Practical Roadmap to Moving Beyond Server Virtualization
- On-Demand: Datacenter Refresh: Traditional vs Converged vs Hyper-Converged
- Every Wednesday, 3pm EST: VMware Communities Roundtable
- NEW:On-Demand: vRealize Operations v6.0: Installation, Sizing, and Migration
- On-Demand: Using vRealize Automation and NSX to Deploy and Secure Multi-tiered Applications
- On-Demand: Getting More Out of vRealize Automation: Cloud Business Management (vRealize Business)
- On-Demand: Getting More Out of vRealize Automation: Integrate with Anything
- On-Demand: Getting More Out of vRealize Automation: Introduction to Customization and Extending
- On-Demand: Getting More Out of vRealize Automation: 6.2 Installation and Configuration
- On-Demand: Getting More Out of vRealize Automation: No Scripting Required
- On-Demand: Log Insight Deep Dive
- On-Demand: Performance & Troubleshooting – Improving Quality of Service
- On-Demand: Operational Efficiency – Understanding Waste and Rightsizing your Environment
- On-Demand: vRealize Operations 6.0 Installation and the Migration from vCenter Operations v5.x
- On-Demand: What’s New in vRealize Operations 6.0
- On-Demand: vRealize Operations 6.0: Capacity Management and Planning
- On-Demand: Four Ways to Maximize the Value of VMware vRealize Operations Manager
- On-Demand: Take Virtualization to the Next Level with vSphere with Operations Management
- On-Demand: Take control of your vSphere environment with Operations Management
- VIDEOS: 50 new vRealize Operations 6 videos available on the vR Ops product website (on the Resources tab), covering Key Concepts, Use Cases, Installation, Analytics Badges, and How To & Tech Tips.
- NEW: vRealize Operations for Horizon now monitors Horizon and Citrix XenApp v6.5 environments. Morehere.
- NEW: VMware has a new 5-day Performance & Capacity Management Detailed Workshop service to help you transform your operational processes and organizational structures to realize the greatest value from your investments in VMware technology. Ask your TAM if you’re interested in getting more information about this offering.
- VMware ranked #1 in IDC’s Cloud Management and Datacenter Automation 2014 market share reports. Read more here.
- There is a new Health Monitoring tool for vRealize Suite deployments called vRealize Production Test. This is an add-on component to the vRealize Suite that ensures the operational status of vRealize Suite deployments from their initial deployment stages to ongoing Production Testing. Emphasis was placed on vRA and vR Ops. Get latest version 1.1 here. Read more about it here.
- On-Demand: 5 Ways Cloud Automation Drives Greater Cost and Operational Transparency – Led by Kevin Lees, VMware Principal Architect and Lead Architect for Global IT Operations Transformation.
- This infographic shows how automating private cloud infrastructure management can improve the efficiency of cloud operations, resource management, accelerated virtualization, and deliver enormous CapEx and OpEx savings.
- On-Demand: Microsegmentation with VMware NSX
- On-Demand: Using vRealize Automation and NSX to Deploy and Secure Multi-tiered Applications
- On-Demand: VMware NSX for Horizon (video series)
- On-Demand: Learn how NSX delivers a comprehensive security approach for Horizon environments
- On-Demand: Introduction to NSX
- On-Demand: VMware NSX – Technical Overview
- On-Demand: Listen to Martin Casado explain NSX and Microsegmentation
- On-Demand: A 3-minute summary of NSX and Microsegmentation
- On-Demand: NSX Distributed Firewall Deep Dive
- Every other Tuesday, 1pm EST: VMware NSX. Learn how VMware has applied the industry’s leading virtualization operating model to the network through this bi-weekly webinar.
- NEW: How much has VMware Progressed in Network Virtualization? Read about it here.
- NEW: Intel Security Controller taps VMware NSX as first partner. Read more here.
- Product walk-through demo on NSX can be found here.
- There are security threats imminent for customers who will not migrate off of Windows 2003 by mid-July, when support ends. Read more here. You can use NSX help you through this transition.
- On-Demand: Storage Policy-Based Management with Virtual SAN
- On-Demand: vSphere 6.0: All Things Storage! (led by Cormac Hogan)
- On-Demand: Lower Storage Costs with VMware Virtual SAN
- On-Demand: VMware Virtual Volumes and their Impact on the Datacenter
- On-Demand: Managing Storage Policies with VMware Virtual SAN
- On-Demand: What’s All the Buzz about Software-Defined Storage? (Learn about Virtual SAN 6 and vSphere Virtual Volumes)
- On-Demand: What’s New in Virtual SAN v6.0 – Seeing What’s New in Storage
- On-Demand: Overcoming Performance Limitations with Dell Flash Storage
- On-Demand: Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery in Action
- On-Demand: Technical Demo: What’s New with vCloud Air Disaster Recovery
- On-Demand: Not Your Grandfather’s Data Protection
- On-Demand: IT Security does not have to End where the Public Cloud Begins
- On-Demand: Check out VMware and Fujitsu joint solutions that bring a “Hybrid IT” model to optimize the cloud and support innovation and growth.
- On-Demand: Build Development and Testing Environments on VMware vCloud Air
- On-Demand: Set Your Cloud Agenda with VMware vCloud Air
- On-Demand: Scale Your Mobile App Development on vCloud Air
- NEW: VMware was ranked as #1 in Worldwide Cloud Systems Management Sofware Market Share, 2014: Year of the Hybrid Cloud, and also #1 in IDC’s Worldwide Datacenter Automation Sofware Market Shares, 2014: Year of Cloud and DevOps, by IDC. Read more here.
- Learn about VMware’s “One Cloud. Any Application. Any Device” value proposition here.
- On-Demand: What’s New with View: Update on VMware Horizon (with View) [v6.0]
- On-Demand: VMware and NVIDIA: Extending the Power of Virtualization in Higher Education
- On-Demand: Tips and Tricks for Building a Mobile Secure Workspace with VMware Horizon
- On-Demand: Business Mobility: Enabling Business Process Innovation with Mobile-First Strategies (hosted by CEO Pat Gelsinger and EVP Sanjay Poonen).
- On-Demand: VMware NSX for Horizon (video series)
- On-Demand: Deliver High-Performance Graphically-Accelerated VDI
- On-Demand: Extend the Benefits of Workspace Environment Management to Virtual Desktops and Apps Using VMware App Volumes, UEM, vRealize Ops and More
- On-Demand: Learn how NSX delivers a comprehensive security approach for Horizon environments
- On-Demand: VMware Horizon: Transforming Desktop and Application Delivery and Management
- On-Demand: Accelerate Your Desktop Transformation Strategy: Six New Additions to Horizon 6
- NEW: vRealize Operations for Horizon now monitors Horizon and Citrix XenApp v6.5 environments. More here.
- NEW: VMware’s AirWatch named ‘Leader’ in Mobility by Gartner. Read about it here.
- NEW: VMware is ‘getting cozier’ with Apple, AT&T in latest Enterprise Mobility push. Read more here.
- NEW: VMware Eyes Business Mobility as a Way to Gain Momentum. Read more here.
- NEW: VMware May be Going Mobile, but it’s not going Consumer. Read more here.
- NEW: VMware CEO: A Brave New World of Enterprise IT. Read more here.
- Have you heard about the new VMware User Environment Manager (UEM), which offers personalization and dynamic policy configuration across any virtual, physical, and cloud-based environment? Read more about it here.
- On-Demand: Webinar on Troubleshooting VMware vSphere [V5.5], covering SSL certificates, networking, storage, VMware vCenter SSO, and more. Read more about it here.
Scheduled Webinar Events:Jul 14: Web Client (vSphere 6 Webcast)Jul 14: VDI on the Front Lines: One Hospital’s Journey to DeploymentJul 15: A Technical Overview of Virtual Volumes (ViewPoint Webinar Series)Jul 16: Webcast on IaaS with Cloud Management Platform (CMP). Learn more here.Jul 16: Accelerate and Control your IaaS with VMware Cloud Management PlatformJul 21: vSphere 6 Performance (vSphere 6 Webcast)Jul 23: 5 Ways Cloud Automation Drives Greater Cost and Operational Transparency (TAM Customer Webcast Series) (Link forthcoming)Jul 28: Virtual Volumes and Storage Policy-Based Management (vSphere 6 Webcast)Jul 28: IDC MaretScape: Worldwide Virtual Client Computing Software 2015 Vendor AssessmentJul 30: 3 Things You Should Know about VMware Virtual SANAug 11: vCenter Server Availability (vSphere 6 Webcast)
- Aug 30-Sep 3: VMworld 2015
- Registration: here.
- Pricing: here.
- PSO Credits: Use 22 PSO Credits to buy your ticket. FAQ’s are here. 10 ticket limit per organization. Credits must not expire before the end of VMworld.
- TAM Day:Sunday Aug 30th, 10am-6pm. These invitation-only, customer sessions will focus on the most timely and pressing business and technical issues. Read more here. [TAM Day is now sold out. Contact your TAM to add your name to the Wait List.]
- Who should attend: Learn here why all levels of management should go to VMworld, and why you should want your own manager there.
- Training Discount: You can maximize savings on training classes by signing up for pre-conference training courses or discounted self-paced courses during VMworld registration. Get more details here. View more on PearsonVue’s site here.
- See last year’s sessions here.
- Registration: here.
- 100,000 members strong! This vibrant VMware community welcomes you to network, learn best practices, and share ideas about VMware solutions.
- Program for VMUG Advantage subscribers: EVALExperience by VMware – a renewable 365 day, non-production license so that you can access and evaluate the latest and greatest VMware products. Click here for the press release, here for the blog, and here to sign up! NEW: VMware vSphere 6, VMware Integrated OpenStack, and VMware Virtual SAN 6 are now available. Visit here to place an order for the updated products.
- - VMUG Feed4ward mentor program. Learn more here.
- - VMUG eLearning Webcast Page: Click here
- - VMUG eLearning Center: Click here
- - VMUG wiki: Click here
- - Webcast Archive File Library: Click here (Latest additions: Keeping Up with VMware Backup & Recovery Challenges of the Software-Defined Virtual Data Center)
- Scheduled VMUG Webinar Events:
- Jul 16: Architecting the Perfect Virtual Data Center (pernixdata)
- Jul 21: Citrix XenApp Migration to VMware Horizon (VMware)
- Jul 23: Delivering VMware Virtual Volumes on NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP (NetApp)
- Jul 30: Congratulations, You Are Virtualized. What’s Your Data Protection, Backup and Recovery Strategy? (Tintri)
- Aug 4: The Changing Storage Industry and the Impact on Virtual Desktop Solutions (Infinio)
- Aug 6: Ensuring Security is Never a Burden in the Software-Defined Data Center (TrendMicro)
- Aug 12: Overview of EVO:RAIL and Deep Dive into Version 1.2 Features (VMware)
- VMware Education:
- If you have any questions regarding virtualizing your Business Critical Applications, check out VMware’s vision, best practices, social communities, and related products here. And here’s a link to our blog on the subject.
- HANDS-ON LABS! A new HOL was recently added:
- EUC-MBL-1560: Introducing Dynamic User Configuration with VMware User Environment Manager
- EMC just completed their acquisition of Virtustream. Read more about ithere.
- VMware is angling for control of containerized applications. Read about ithere.
- Read here about Server Virtualization Technologies being under Siege.
- NEW FLINGS!
- VMware previewed Project Bonneville, a Docker runtime that works with vSphere. Read more here.
- FREE VMware Integrated OpenStack training is here.
- Certifications/Free Education:
- New VMware Certified Associate (VCA) level certifications.
- VMware Certified Associate 6 – Data Center Virtualization (VCA6-DCV) - click here
- VMware Certified Associate 6 – Desktop and Mobility (VCA6-DTM) - click here
- VMware Certified Associate 6 – Cloud Management and Automation (VCA6-CMA) - click here
- VMware Certified Associate 6 – Hybrid Cloud (VCA6-HC) - click here
- VMware Certified Associate 6 – Network Virtualization (VCA6-NV) - click here
- New VCP 6 certifications. (Read about the new classes here. Watch this video to review program changes.)
- MORE FREE EDUCATION!
- High Level Overviews of VMware Solutions:
- High Level Feature Walkthroughs:
- Free Self-Paced Training:
- Hands-On Labs:
- http://labs.hol.vmware.com/HOL/catalogs/
- (Search: vSphere 6, vCAC 6, vCO, etc..)
- Link to TONS of VMware vSphere v5.5 and 6.0 information in one spot:
- New VMware Certified Associate (VCA) level certifications.
- VMware offers many ways to get trained in VMware products and solutions. These include Classroom, Live Online, Online self-paced, Lab Connect, On Demand, Instructional Videos, ViewPoint Webinar Series, VMware TV on YouTube, Partner University, Hands On Labs, The Learning Zone, SolutionTracks, Demos on Demand, Online Events, Local Events, Beta classes, VMworld, Partner Exchange, Partner Library, vBrownbag, and VMUGs. If you’d like to learn more about any of these, please reach out and let me know.