VCP-DCV and VCP-NV: AKA What I did on winter vacation.

Just kidding, but it makes for a good title.  Seriously though I am taking the VMware NSX: Install, Configure, Manage [V6.0] course this week.  As usual I am taking it live online.  I am always a skeptic, but this course has been good.  I have to admit, I cheated and read most of Networking for VMware Administrators, an exceptional read, which helped since my networking background is pretty light.  I will post a final opinion this weekend, but so far the course is far better than I expected.  I am planning to write the VCP-NV exam mostly because I think it is an important technology, and the cert forces me to study, plus it lends credibility in some circles.

Since I have so much free time, I have also decided to take the VMware Certified Professional 5 – Data Center Virtualization (VCP5-DCV) Delta exam which was re-released here.  From what I can tell, this appears to be the same VCP550 exam, which seems strange for a delta exam, but it is online which saves me a trip.  I am mostly taking it so I can maintain my streak, and to prove to myself I can pass it again.  I am going through the blueprint at length and reading everything I can find.  I will put up some thoughts once I complete it, but I suspect it will be similar to previous ones.

One final thought, if your doing the delta exam to get it done soon, it is only available until March 10, 2015.  Best of luck and if I can help study let me know.

VCP-DCV and VCP-NV: AKA What I did on winter vacation.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

It occurs to me one of the most underutilized resources at VMware is our Online Hands On Labs, https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/resources/how.  Anyone who has been to VMworld should be familiar with the hands on labs, a few years ago the team at VMware decided to make this publicly available online at no charge.  So that being said, I wanted to dig into the labs a little, and talk about some uses, and some of my personal favorites.

Use cases

Cert Prep

Often I get asked about how to pass a VMware exam.  I always suggest hands on experience.  In my opinion, the classes, while valuable, do not prepare you for the test in any way.  In order to be successful you need actual stick time on the system.  In the early days many of stood up labs either with salvaged equipment, or more recently with Mac Mini’s and Intel NUC boxes.  This is still a viable option, but not cost effective for everyone.  This is a perfect way for anyone who wants to get some hands on time with the product, and get comfortable with what you are working on.

Product Knowledge

When I started working on VMware products there were 3 products, Workstation, GSX, and ESX.  It was pretty easy to be good with everything VMware did.  Today, things have changed, both the acquisitions, and organic growth.  Thankfully, the general concepts are similar, but the company has grown.  That being said, so have most of our jobs.  We are expected to get deeper on more products both on the SE side here at VMware but even more so on the IT admin/engineer side.  Having a full lab to walk through and understand is immensely valuable.

Personal Growth

One of my goals is to read one non-fiction book a month.  I try to exceed that, but somehow I am lucky to get through the one.  I find though, most of these books, technical or not, inspire me to want to go deeper into the technology I am talking about.  The more time I spend digging into the labs the more curious I get, and the more questions I take to VMUG members, product teams, or anyone who is interested in discussion.  The best way to get better is to keep pushing yourself and to keep learning.

Personal Favorites

HOL-SDC-1401 – Cloud Management with vRealize Operations

I have found this one to be incredibly helpful since it goes over the newer features in vRealize Operations, formerly vCOPs.  There are significant changes coming, and this tool is proving to be incredibly helpful for a number of users I have spoken with recently.

HOL-SDC-1403 – VMware NSX Introduction

Having very little networking experience outside of architecture, this has been a life saver.  I have decided to work on my VCP-NV, so this lab has been a lifesaver.  Not only have I learned about NSX, but it has helped me to dig deeper into vSphere networking.

HOL-SDC-1408 – VMware Virtual SAN 101

I have been working with VSAN since the early Beta.  I am a huge fan, coming from a storage background, although I am always cautious with the use cases.  Using the Lab helped me to become more successful with my demonstrations, and with my conversations.

I do want to try more of the labs, there are so many, and they are quite well done.  One final tip, I use multiple monitors when I am in my home office, or my iPad when I am not.  I prefer to put the lab in full screen and use the second screen for the lab guide.  It makes things so much easier.

I encourage you to use these labs, not because I work here, but because I think that knowledge is power.  Get familiar with the products, challenge your self, your peers, your VMware sales teams, or just grow professionally.  There are so many valuable tools out there, but there is nothing like hands on experience.  It is your career, use the resources available to you and get better at what you do.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Changing bad organizational behavior

DISCLAIMER:

As always these are my opinions, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.  This post is not directed at my current employer, I am very happy with my job, this is more a broad look at the industry.  I work with customers on a daily basis who are in these types of situations, and hear the complaints about turnover, unproductive employees, etc.  This is my thoughts on how to make things better.  This is not a new concept, I am not the first one to say this, but because this is becoming more of a conversation, I feel it is worth bringing up again.

 

For many of us who came up through the ranks of IT, we were taught that you had to specialize, pick an area of focus, and then become the master in that area.  That was the way of IT.  This has led to our current environments where it is assumed that hiring the best administrator/engineer in the field will somehow bring a greater value to IT.  Of course virtualization has changed the dynamic, but we don’t seem to have kept up on the structure of the organization.

Break the siloed model

We really need to look at the model we use now for IT organizations.  As in the diagram, many enterprises separate out their major roles, some use more, but generally this model helps the discussion.

 Screenshot 2014-11-29 at 15.44.05

The biggest challenge is a process flow issue.  Since everyone is an expert in their field, cross functional teams tend to be created for projects, but are not incentivized to work together on a regular basis, and indeed in many cases have their own agendas, the primary being to protect their territory.

To resolve this issue, in the past many of us have advocated for splitting into cross functional teams split out as Architects to design, Engineers to build, and Administrators to manage, much like the diagram below.

Screenshot 2014-12-01 at 17.29.31

This seems to make sense, but then we start to find the vision of architecture is an ideal, but is not followed by engineering and administration, and we suffer from a serious disconnect.

In the software defined datacenter, it makes sense then to have hybrid teams of each discipline working together, but also defining architecture and design.  I am a firm believer that architects, engineers, and admin’s have very different skill sets, and even personalities, but at the same time, I think there needs to be some cross pollination of the teams.  I think the model above works, but there should be bleed over between groups.

By using cross functional teams, it is then much simpler for the architecture team to work with the deployment/engineering team to put the product into production.  It also allows engineering teams to have input into design.  Administrators as well should be involved not only in the deployment process, but also in the design.  This ensures their feedback is considered, and allows them to buy into the architectural vision.

Recruit the right people

Enough cannot be said about the value of having the right people in the right positions.  It pains me to see people who have been with a company for 10+ years, in the same position, or similar ones, who are there because they have been around and know the processes.  Turnover is a necessary part of any business.  Businesses, even non-profit ones, exist to make money, whether for the shareholders, or for those they serve, it is necessary for them to ensure their employees add value.  It should not be a negative thing when someone moves on, process should be such that when someone leaves the company, they are missed, but it is not catastrophic.  Organizations should be able to recruit quickly, and find good people who are suited to their environments.

When recruiting, we need to stop looking for someone who’s resume meets the job description.  Personality, diverse experience, and future potential should be considered.  Organizations should also consider candidates with a different background.  A software developer might be the perfect enterprise architect, if he has the right personality.  A project manager might be an exceptional engineer if he has the technical proficiency, and might bring a fresh approach.  It isn’t always about the resume, sometimes it is about the fit.

Train people for success

Training is a huge expense, there is no doubt about it, but it is an investment.  Even with higher turnover rates, you are contributing to a future.  Certainly that person may leave after you train them, but the next person you hire may bring those skills or others.  By training your people, you elevate the entire team.  You encourage them to move up within the organization.

Training is not just about technical training either.  Internal training programs, preparing individuals for leadership roles, program management roles, or even just to be better communicators are critical.  If you want people to stick around, develop them, make them better, contribute to their sense of value, and make them important to the companies future.  Make them directly responsible for the companies wellbeing, show them a path to being the best they can be.

Pay people like you want them to stay

Finally pay, that ever painful discussion.  For most of us, there comes a point in our careers that money is not a primary motivator.  That being said, I have been in 1 organization in the past 11 years where I received a pay raise that was above the cost of living index, without having to threaten to leave.  I love what I do, and if I were independently wealthy I would probably do my job for free.  Money has not been a primary motivator for some time.  That being said, I am not independently wealthy, and while money is not a primary motivator, it is a measure of what a company thinks of my performance.

My advice to managers, pay your good employees enough to keep them happy, and keep raising the bar.  If they aren’t worth more money to you, someone else will happily take them.  There is no more work for a single company for 40 years and retire with a pension for most of us.  Loyalty is a two way street, and we are mostly all at will employees.  No hard feelings, if your employees aren’t worth giving raises on a regular basis, you should probably find new ones.

It is really all about a better state of being for companies.  As we automate more and more, IT employees are going to need to develop further skills, and as such are going to become more valuable.  I am very much pro business and capitalism, and I think that individuals should be paid based on their skills.  As many of us continue to develop new skills, and work hard to be the best we can, I think it makes sense to create environments where we can thrive, and where those who choose not to develop their skills can be moved to roles they are better suited for.

Changing bad organizational behavior

VMware User Groups: Not for just for VMware employees and Vendors

A couple weeks ago we had our annual Portland VMUG User Conference.  First of all, big Kudos to the local VMUG leaders, and a big thank to the VMUG National Headquarters, and the vendors who sponsored us.  A reoccurring theme with all of these events I participate in is the number of vendors and VMware employees presenting.  I say this not to be critical but to encourage a different mindset.  I am hesitant to say this, because I love getting up in front of the VMware users and talking about what we are doing, and getting their feedback and questions.  That is one of my favorite parts about being here is talking to our customers.

Something which has made the rounds with the usual suspects is the concept of mentoring customers to speak at the VMUGs.  Mike Laverick wrote this article last year, and I think we need to keep pushing this concept forward.  The VMUG has a program called Feed Forward, to make this a reality.  Now I am not the foremost expert on presenting, but the VMUG is something I consider personally important to me, especially in Portland.  I have been a member for 4 years now, and I have been presenting for 2-3 of those years as a partner and VMware employee.  I have met more cool people, and had more amazing conversations through the process.

The VMUG is not about me, it is not about vendors, it is absolutely all about the customer.  It does very little good to have our partners and employees present every session.  Of course there are some customers who do present, but as a VMUG member, and someone who cares deeply for what we do, I would encourage you to get out there and speak up and get involved.  There are literally hundreds of us who are willing to help you and encourage you.  Most of us are not perfect presenters, but we just want you to be successful.  I encourage you to start small, but let us help you start being more involved and grow your personal brand at your local VMUG.

VMware User Groups: Not for just for VMware employees and Vendors

Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80.

Last month marked 20 years since I first enlisted in the military.  While I was in just short of 9 years, being a soldier changed my life, and taught me so much about relationships, leadership, and life in general.  To that end, I wanted to share my thoughts in context of what I do now, and what we do as a community.

Things I kept:

Integrity

One of the most important lessons I recall was as a young soldier in basic training.  A couple of recruits had gotten into a fist fight in the barracks.  Of course being the great leaders we were, none of us broke it up, or tried to stop them.  Naturally the Drill Sergeants found out, and spent hours giving us some extra PT to remind us fighting was not to be tolerated.  One of our Drill Sergeants, who tried to pretend he couldn’t stand us, lectured us for 30 min or more about the importance of integrity.  I will never forget that moment, it stuck with me through my military career and through civilian life.  You can win or lose a thousand times, but at the end of the day all you have is your integrity.

Sacrifice

An early lesson as a young soldier was that leaders never eat until their troops have eaten.  We always lined up in order of rank at meal times, and when I moved up the ranks, I always put my soldiers needs first.  This wasn’t limited to just eating though, it applied to everything, a good leader is one who is willing to sacrifice for the team.

Communication

I will never forget having to memorize mission briefings.  Everyone, down to the lowest ranking private knew the mission, and was prepared to complete it even if they were the last one left.  Many times a leader would be taken out, and it was up to the next one to step up.  A few times that was me.  I remember how it felt to realize that the weight of the entire mission was on my shoulders, and there were several soldiers looking to me for guidance.  A company, much like a military unit, is only successful if everyone is part of the team and knows the company mission and is executing on it.

Things I left behind:

Everyone is a leader (Manager)

One of the worst ideas ever was that everyone needed to progress into a leadership position.  Now I think we all need to be leaders in the sense of community, but there are many of us who are individual contributors and that is great.  Not all of us are cut out to be in charge of our peers, it is just not our strong suite.  As a soldier I watched more exceptional individuals forced into leadership and end up failing.  It is ok to be amazing as an individual contributor, do what you love and be amazing at it.

Mandatory Diversity

I know this one probably won’t make me very popular, but I am not a big fan of forcing people together from different backgrounds.  I respect pretty much everyone, but I don’t think that forcing people to work together or to get along is productive.  Put people together with similar interests and backgrounds.  Offer them the opportunity to work with diverse groups, but don’t force them, it is their loss if they chose not to, but given a choice most people will make the right one.

Needs of the Army

This is a phrase which was familiar to most of us who served, and it basically means that you do what is best for the government.  One of the best lessons I have learned since joining VMware is that if you do your day job well, and work on side projects, you are going to get moved into what you love.  Doing what you love will make you awesome, doing what your told will make you average.

I am thankful to have served, it was an honor.  I have learned so much, but mostly questioning why we do things and adjusting as we go is the only way to be successful.

Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80.

The universe is big. It’s vast and complicated and ridiculous.

As I was meeting with a customer recently, we got onto the topic of workload portability. It was interesting, we were discussing the various cloud providers, AWS, Azure, and VMware’s vCloud Air, primarily, and how could they, a VMware shop, move workloads in and out of various cloud providers.

Most industry analysts, and those of us on the front lines trying to make this all work, or help our customers make it work, will agree that we are in a transition phase. Many people smarter than I have talked at length about how virtualization and infrastructure as a service is a bridge to get us to a new way of application development and delivery, one where all applications are delivered from the cloud, and where development is constant and iterative. Imagine patch Tuesday every hour every day…

So how do we get there? Well if virtualization is simply a bridge, that begs the question of portability of workloads, virtual machines in this case. Looking at the problem objectively, we have started down that path previously with the Open Virtualization Format (OVF), but that requires a powered off Virtual Machine which is then exported, copied, and then imported to the new system which creates the proper format as part of the import process. But why can’t we just live migrate workloads without downtime between disparate hypervisors and clouds?

From my perspective the answer is simple, it is coming, it has to, but the vendors will hold out as long as they can. For some companies, the hypervisor battle is still waging. I think it is safe to say we are seeing the commoditization of the hypervisor. As we look at VMware’s products, they are moving from being a hypervisor company, again nothing insider here, just review the expansion into cloud management, network and storage virtualization, application delivery, and so much more, but more and more they are able to manage other vendors hypervisors. We are seeing more focus on “Cloud Management Platforms”, and everyone wants to manage any hypervisor. It has to follow then that some standards emerge around the hypervisor, virtual hard drives, the whole stack so we can start moving within our own datacenters.

This does seem counter intuitive, but if we put this into perspective, there is very little advantage in consolidation at this point. Most companies are as consolidated as they will get, we are now just working to get many of them to the final 10% or so. It is rare to find a company who is not virtualizing production workloads now, so now we need to look at what is next. Standards must prevail as they have in the physical compute, network, and storage platforms. This doesn’t negate the value of the hypervisor, but it does provide for choice, and differentiation around features and support.

I don’t suspect we will see this happen anytime soon, but it begs the question of why not? It would seem to be the logical progression.

The universe is big. It’s vast and complicated and ridiculous.

Bow Ties are cool!

Now that I am past my first 90 days here at VMware, I consider myself something of an authority on absolutely nothing. Thus I feel it incumbent on me to post a semi serious post about life, liberty, and the pursuit of virtualizaiton.

Since coming here I get the question at least once a month about how to get hired at VMware. The truth is there is no secret formula, no one trick that will get you an interview, or past the interview. The truth is that you just have to stand out and bring something unique to our growing team. I have seen many of my friends go through interviews, some get hired, and some not make it. It is not that they aren’t good enough, but there has to be something which sets those who make it apart from those who don’t. What follows may or may not make sense, be true, or be helpful, but it is my attempt to shed some light into what it takes to be a part of our team and a part of changing the technology world.

Flexible

Working at a company growing as quickly and disrupting the technology world the way VMware has requires flexibility. Being amenable to change on a moments notice is a requirement here. Every day we wake up and have a new requirement, a new idea, a new challenge. No day is ever dull or the same as the last, and just when you think you have it figured out, there is a new strategy, or a new solution for our customers.

Humble

This one caught me by surprise too. The best people at VMware are the most humble. They are the types who are willing to sweep the floors, talk to the new hire class about how great VMware is, or talk to our largest customers about how we are taking responsibility for something that may not have gone as well as we thought it would. Being here means remembering that it has nothing to do with me, it is all about the cool technology and the team. Imagine walking around the Palo Alto campus and bumping into the guy that literally wrote the book on VMware storage or networking, and talking to them as a team member.

Curious

Everyone I meet here, well almost everyone, has a love for learning. Since joining the team, I have spent most of my time asking questions, reading, studying our roadmaps, and debating strategy, technology, and ideas with some incredibly smart people. I have found that most of the people here want to know what others think, they are well read, and generally trying to absorb as much information as they can. It is hard to be around and not get motivated to read the latest white papers, learn a new programming language, or grab someone who has been here a while and ask them questions.

Being Awesome

We are a team of winners. That isn’t me being prideful or putting anyone down, we just love to win. We love bringing amazing ideas to life, everyone on the team, at least everyone I have met so far, is all about teamwork. That being said, we all work for a greater good, we are executing on a vision, not for ourselves, but to make our little section of the world a better place. Nowhere is this more evident than in the commitment to giving back. We are encouraged to volunteer, not because it makes the company look good, but because it is part of the culture. We are encouraged to be involved in things we believe in and to make a positive difference wherever we are.

Where do I sign up?

So really the best way to join us is to be involved in the community. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my current manager began to screen me at the VMUG User Conference. Since moving to Portland, I have done my best to get involved in the local tech community and help out where I can. I have volunteered to speak at the conferences, work the booth for my employer, evangelize the various user groups, and just show up to support friends. Get your name out there as someone who is willing to do what ever is needed. Be active, be sincere, and be present. VMware is a great place to work, but only because we have an awesome community, awesome partners, and awesome users. Whether you want to work at VMware, or just be involved, this is an amazing place. Get out there and be involved in the community. The Portland VMUG Conference is November 4th this year at the Oregon Convention Center. Come by and check it out, learn more, and find a way to pitch in. We are all about community, and that is the best way to find out about working here.

Bow Ties are cool!

EVO Rail, is technology really making things easier for us?

This week at VMworld, the announcement of what had been Project Marvin became official.  I wanted to add my voice to the debate on the use case for this, and where I believe the industry goes with products like this.  To answer the title question, EVO is a step in the right direction, but it is not the end of the evolution.  As always I have no inside information, I am not speaking on behalf of VMware, this is my opinion on where the industry goes and what I think is cool and fun.

To understand this, we need to consider something my wife said recently.  As a teacher, she was a bit frustrated this week to return to school to find her laptop re-imaged, and her printer was not configured.  I tried to help her remotely, but it is something I will need to work on when I get back.  Her comment was, “Technology is supposed to make things easier”.  This stung for a moment, after all technology is my life, but when I thought about her perspective, it struck me just how right she is.  Why afterall shouldn’t the laptop have reached out, discovered a printer near by and been prepared to print to it, afterall, my iPhone/iPad can do that with no configuration on the device itself.

So what does this have to do with EVO?  If we look at EVO as a stand alone product, it doesn’t quite add up.  It is essentially a faster way of implimenting a product which is not too complicated to install.  I have personally installed thousands of Nodes of vSphere, hundreds of vCenters, it is pretty simple with a proper design.  The real value here though, the trend, is simplification.  Just because I know how to build a computer, doesn’t mean I want to.  Just because I can easily impliment a massive vSphere environment, that doesn’t mean I want to go through the steps.  That is why scripting is so popular, it enables us to do repetetive tasks more effeciently.

The second part of this though really comes down to a vision, where are we going.  If you look at where we are going as an industry, we are moving to do more at the application layer in terms of high availability, disaster recovery, and performance.  We see this with the openstack movement, the cloud movement, docker, and so many others.  At some point, we are going to stop worrying about highly available infrastructure.  At some point our applications will all work everywhere, and if the infrastructure fails, we will be redirected to infrastructure in another location without realizing it.  

That is the future, but for now we have to find a way to hide the complexity from our users, and still provide the infrastructure.  We need to scale faster, better, stronger, and more resilient, without impacting legacy applications.  Someday we will all be free from our devices, and use what ever is in our hand, or in front of us, or just get a chip in our brains, someday HA won’t be an infrastructure issue, but until then projects like EVO will help us to bridge that gap.  Not perfect arguably, but this is a bridge to get us a step closer to a better world.  At the end of the day the more complexity we hide with software, the better we are, provide that software is solid, and we can continusiouly improve.

EVO Rail, is technology really making things easier for us?

VMware, come for the people, stay for the vision

As I approach the end of my second month here at VMware, having had this conversation with some friends, I thought it would be valuable to talk about the reasons why I chose to join, and what it looks like from this side of the fence. As a disclaimer, what I am disclosing is all public knowledge, nothing untoward here, I am speaking for myself not VMware, and this is intended as a larger statement on careers and where we choose to go.

When I made the choice to join VMware I was very happy at HP. I was looking for a new position within the company to align with my career goals, but I was very happy. HP is a great place to work, my peers, management, and teams were amazing. When VMware approached me I was very adamant that I was not interested, even though I was helping to lead the VMware Champions team within HP, and have a great love for all things virtual and cloud related. What finally convinced me was the people. Everyone I talked to, both during interviews, and friends who worked there, was excited. Everyone had the vision and was on fire to change our industry for the better. There were many conversations around products, around culture, and around where the company was headed.

When I got here, I couldn’t help but be sucked into that culture. I was excited, and every day I get a little more excited. We are doing amazing things here. When I go talk to customers I am sharing the vision with them. Where we see the industry going, how we are improving businesses, simplifying them. This is my dream job…well for now. Next week VMworld 2014 kicks off, and we share a little more of the dream with over 20,000 of our friends, customers, and partners. We have a vision and it is so awesome.

So what is the point of all of this? Choosing a career is tough, but finding the right company is tougher. One of the things I have learned the hard way has been finding a company with a vision that I can really believe in. I don’t just work for VMware, I believe we are changing the industry. I came here because there are some really amazing people and products, but I am here now because I believe in our vision. It doesn’t matter if you are an entrepreneur, or a plumber, if you don’t believe in what you are doing it shows. Life is short, and if you are not sold out for your job, you need to ask yourself why. I am not saying go out and quit your job because you don’t like it, but take a long hard look at yourself and ask why you aren’t passionate about it. No matter what you do, it is up to you to make it awesome. VMware is awesome because I believe in what we are doing. Do you believe in what you are doing?

VMware, come for the people, stay for the vision

I am definitely a mad man with a box!

So in keeping with the theme of Dr. Who quotes for the titles of my posts, I think this is a good topic to discuss.

When I started virtualizing servers, vMotion was still a roadmap item, HA was still a frightening concept that we were only comfortable using in test environments, and iSCSI was not quite ready for the enterprise. At that time, we were convinced there would be no more datacenters built, everything would be virtualized, and we would just buy cheap commodity servers and storage.

In this utopia, hardware companies would become software companies, and all our applications would become more and more advanced, hardware would be built from parts or purchased from the lowest bidder. Interestingly the past few weeks I have had the privilege to meet with a number of my customers in the Enterprise Health Care space. Most of the conversations have been around the Software Defined Data Center, and the concept of driving more value to the business. Many of these customers want to get out of the datacenter business, they don’t want to manage boxes. The challenge for many of them though is getting their applications to come along.

To solve this, many of these types of customers are looking at implementing SDDC solutions, and treating their hardware as a commodity, purchasing servers from the most cost effective source, while storage and networks still seem to come down to the teams preference. As we observe this shift in strategy, it is time for the applications to catch up. Hardware is a dying business, customers need to get out of the business of managing boxes, it is time to shift and realize what matters. Drive value to the business, or become obsolete. We are in a software world, the age of hyper convergence through software.

This is an exciting time, but we have to move with the times. We can no longer be tied to legacy hardware architectures, we must move forward, faster, better stronger, and stop worrying about the box.

I am definitely a mad man with a box!