TheSaffaGeek

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Author Archives: Gregg Robertson


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vSphere 5.1 Announced with Distributed Switch Enhancements

With the release of vSphere 5.1, VMware brings a number of powerful new features and enhancements to the networking capabilities in the vSphere platform. These new features enable customers to manage their virtual switch infrastructure with greater efficiency and confidence. The new capabilities can be categorized into three main areas: operational improvements, monitoring and troubleshooting enhancements, and improved scalability and extensibility of the VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) platform. Following are some of the key features:

1)Network Health Check support – helps detect mis configurations across physical and virtual switches

2)Configuration Backup Restore – Allows vSphere admins to store the VDS configuration as well as recover the network from the old configurations

3)Rollback and recovery – Addresses the challenges that customer faced when management network failure caused the Hosts to disconnect from the vCenter Server

4)Port Mirroring enhancements – New troubleshooting capabilities are introduced by supporting RSPAN and ERSPAN

5)Netdump – Provides the ESXI hosts without disk (stateless/Autodeploy) the ability to core dump over network

6)Improved Scaling numbers

Network Health Check

Network Health check prevents the common configuration error such as Mismatched VLAN, MTU and teaming configuration.

This tool is very helpful in an organization where the network administrators and vSphere administrators respectively take the management ownership of physical network switches and vSphere hosts. In such organizations vSphere admins can provide the network related warnings to the network admins and help identify issues quickly.

Configuration Backup and Restore

VDS configuration is managed through vCenter Server and all the virtual network configuration details are stored in the vCenter database. Previously, In case of database corruption or database loss events, customers were not able to recover their network configurations and had to rebuild the virtual networking configuration from scratch. Also, there was no easy way to replicate the virtual network configuration in another environment or go back to the last working configuration after any accidental changes to virtual networking settings.

All of the above concerns are addressed through the VDS configuration backup and restore feature.

Backup a VDS Configuration

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Restore a Port Group Configuration

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Rollback and Recovery

The management network is configured on every host and is used to communicate with vCenter Server as well as to interact with other host during vSphere HA configuration. This is critical when it comes to centrally managing hosts through vCenter Server. If the management network on the host goes down or there is a misconfiguration, vCenter Server can’t connect to the host and thus can’t centrally manage resources.

If there is any issue with management network the Hosts can’t reach the vCenter server. And thus vCenter server can’t make any changes to the network and push to the hosts.

In such situation, The only way for the customer to recover is to go to individual hosts and build a standard switch with proper management network configuration. Once all the hosts have their management networks attached to a standard switch, vCenter Server can manage the hosts and re-configure the VDS.

With Rollback and recovery option customers don’t have to worry about going to standard switch route to recover from any mgmt. network failure scenario.

The Automatic Rollback and Recovery feature addresses all the concerns that customers have regarding the use of management network on a VDS. First, the automatic rollback feature automatically detects any configuration changes on the management network and if the host can’t reach the vCenter Server, it doesn’t allow the changes to take effect. Second, customers also have an option to reconfigure the management network of the VDS per host through DCUI. Customers have to connect to each host and through DCUI can change the management network parameters of the VDS

LACP

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) is a standard based link aggregation method to control the bundling of several physical network links together to form a logical channel for increased bandwidth and redundancy purposes. LACP allows a network device to negotiate an automatic bundling of links by sending LACP packets to the peer. As part of the vSphere 5.1 release, VMware now supports this standard based link aggregation protocol.

Single Root IO Virtualization is a standard that allows one PCI express (PCIe) adapter to be presented as multiple separate logical devices to the VMs. The hypervisor manages the physical function (PF) while the virtual functions (VFs) are exposed to the VMs. In the hypervisor SR-IOV capable network devices offer the benefits of direct I/O, which includes reduced latency and reduced host CPU utilization. VMware vSphere ESXi platform’s VM Direct Path (pass through) functionality provides similar benefits to the customer, but requires a physical adapter per VM. In SR-IOV the pass through functionality can be provided from a single adapter to multiple VMs through VFs.

SR-IOV

Single Root IO Virtualization is a standard that allows one PCI express (PCIe) adapter to be presented as multiple separate logical devices to the VMs. The hypervisor manages the physical function (PF) while the virtual functions (VFs) are exposed to the VMs. In the hypervisor SR-IOV capable network devices offer the benefits of direct I/O, which includes reduced latency and reduced host CPU utilization. VMware vSphere ESXi platform’s VM Direct Path (pass through) functionality provides similar benefits to the customer, but requires a physical adapter per VM. In SR-IOV the pass through functionality can be provided from a single adapter to multiple VMs through VFs.

BPDU Filter

BPDUs are data messages or packets that are exchanged across switches to detect loops in a network. These packets are part of the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and are used to discover the network topology. The VMware virtual switches (VDS and VSS) do not support STP and thus do not participate in BPDU exchange across external physical access switches over the uplinks.

The BPDU filter feature available in this release allows customer to filter the BPDU packets that are generated by virtual machines and thus prevents any Denial of Service attack situation. This feature is available on VMware vSphere Standard and Distributed switches, and can be enabled by changing the advanced “Net” settings on ESXi host.

Port Mirroring and NetFlow Enhancements

To address the network administrator’s need for visibility into virtual infrastructure traffic, VMware introduced port mirroring and NetFlow features as part of the vSphere 5.0 release. These features provide necessary and familiar tools to network administrators that help them in monitoring and troubleshooting tasks. In vSphere 5.1, the port-mirroring feature is enhanced through the additional support for RSPAN and ERSPAN capability.

IPFIX or NetFlow version 10 is the advanced and flexible protocol that allows customer to define the NetFlow records that can be collected at the VDS and sent across to a collector tool. Following are some key attributes of the protocol:

Customers can use templates to define the records

Template descriptions are communicated by the VDS to the Collector engine

Can report IPv6, MPLS, VXLAN flows.

VDS Management Plane Scalability

Following are the scalability numbers for VDS management plane

  • Static dvPortgroups goes up from 5 K to 10 K
  • Number of dvports goes up from 20 K to 60 K
  • Number of Hosts per VDS goes up from 350 to 500
  • Number of VDS supported on a VC goes up from 32 to 128

Netdump

Netdump is a vSphere ESXi platform debug feature that helps dump the vmkernels core dump to a server on the network. In this release of vSphere 5.1 the netdump support is extended to the ESXi host without local disks or also termed as stateless ESXi or Auto deploy environments.

In vSphere 5.0, enabling netdump on an ESXi host with the management network configured on a VDS was not allowed. In vSphere 5.1, this limitation has been removed. Users now can configure netdump on ESXi hosts using management network on VDS.


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vSphere 5.1 Announced with Enhanced vSphere Web Client

Another of the new features of vSphere 5.1 is the Enhanced vSphere Web Client. The web Client was already part of vSphere 5 but now it is the Primary client for administrators in vSphere 5.1. Some facts

Enhanced vSphere Web Client:

The NEW virtual infrastructure client

  • Primary client for vSphere administrators in vSphere 5.1
  • Matched functionality to legacy vSphere Client
  • Additional vCenter 5.1 functionality, only available through the vSphere Web Client

Browser based

  • Internet Explorer / FireFox / Chrome fully supported (Rumours are Chrome is the fastest)
  • others (Safari, etc.) are possible (But without VM console access)

vSphere Web Client – Installation

Installer located on ISO image

Install on vCenter Server or separate server (recommended)

Login using

  • https://<FQDN or IP Address>:9443/vsphere-client/
  • Install Client Integration Plugin for console access

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  • vSphere Web Client included with vCenter Server Appliance

vSphere Web Client – Object Navigator

Breaks the traditional hierarchy view of an object

  • Objects linked and displayed by relationships

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Conventional top level hierarchy view maintained on HOME screen and links to object navigator

  • Allows an admin to view objects by solutions
  • But maintains global perspectives

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  • Allows an admin to jump to the crucial element faster via object relationships and object search
  • Reduces client clutter and repetitive information by simplifying display of objects
  • Displayed objects are all that is communicated between server and browser

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vSphere Web Client Interface

The new interface has the look and feel of vCloud Director but with loads of new features and goes to the same layout that vCenter Operations Manager for example has already.

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vSphere Web Client – Plugin’s

Plugins are now server based

•Recreated in FLEX

•HTML Plugins (temporary work around)

VMware Plugins (90 Days post GA)

•vSphere Update Manager (VUM)

•vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM)

•vShield Manager

All VMware Solutions will integrate as they get updated

Third Party Plugins

•EMC, NetApp, HP, Dell etc

Centralised Log Browser

Proven framework to provide rich troubleshooting tools

vSphere Web Client plugin

Takes snapshot of specified host / vCenter logs

Provides rich user interface to review log data

  • search
  • filter by name / event / keyword
  • compare multiple logs
  • highlight key words

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Simplifies Troubleshooting

The new vSphere Web Client looks to be a great replacement for the viclient and with SRM and other tools tipped to integrate it should provide every vSphere administrator an easier way to manage and administer their environments and give them all the stats and tools needed.

There are going to be a whole bunch of web based tutorial’s for people to learn how to use the new vSphere Web Client on

http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/vcenter-server/

I’m really looking forward to learning how it all works and being able to integrate all the new and existing plugins into it.

Gregg

Note: Screenshots thanks to VMware.


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VCDX Spotlight: Tom Ralph

Name: Tom Ralph

Twitter Handle: @tomralph

Blog URL: http://www.virtualserverguy.com

Current Employer: VMware, Inc

VCDX #: 51

How did you get into using VMware?

I first started by purchasing an IBM xSeries 1U rack mount server off eBay to try out this new product from VMware. I fired up the server in my home office, installed ESX 2.53, and started to learn about virtualization. After the first 20 minutes, I could see that VMware and server virtualization was the future.

What made you decide to do the VCDX?

As soon as I learned of the VCDX certification, I made it a goal to achieve the VCDX certification and a number under 100.

How long did it take you to complete the whole VCDX journey?

I had already had my VCP from 2007, I first took my VMware Design Exam in March of 2010, with the Administration shortly after that. I then defended my design in August of 2010. I then paced around VMworld awaiting my results, which finally came 2 weeks after the show ended.

What advice would you give to people thinking of pursuing the VCDX accreditation?

If you want it, go for it! I learned more about technology, enterprise architecture, and process than I ever thought I would have. During your defence know when to say ‘I do not know’, it is a hard skill to master but a critical one. Know the smallest details of your design and know them through and through.

If you could do the whole VCDX journey again what would you do differently?

When I first attempted the VCDX certification, I was newly married to a wonderful woman that allowed me to focus 100% on the process. Now we have a 1-year-old child, I am not able to devote the time needed. I would take more time to thoroughly understand and complete my design.

Life after the VCDX?  How did your company respond?  Was it worth it?

My previous company did not know what to make of the certification or what it really meant. It wasn’t soon after I got the VCDX certification that I made the choice to leave that company and move to VMware. From there, my career has blossomed and continues to do so.


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VCDX Spotlight: Michael Webster

Name: Michael Webster

Twitter Handle: @vcdxnz001

Blog URL: https://longwhiteclouds.com

Current Employer : I own IT Solutions 2000 Ltd

VCDX #: 66

 

How did you get into using VMware?

In 1998 I started with the first early versions of VMware workstation on Linux while I was working at a large ISP. This allowed me some great options for supporting customers on multiple OS’s without having multiple machines. I started using ESX in 2002, and even with the very early versions could see the potential.

 

 

What made you decide to do the VCDX?

I wanted to achieve VCDX as a competitive differentiator from other consultants and consulting businesses and I wanted to prove to myself that I could be one of the best in the world at what I do. I also wanted to prove to VMware that I was a serious partner.

 

 

How long did it take you to complete the whole VCDX journey?

At least 10 years, if you include the work experience that leads up to it. I think the previous work experience I had was one of the factors that helped me be successful the first time through. If you’re just interested in the certificate path it took about 12 months in total from the time I passed VCP4, VCAP4-DCD, VCAP4-DCA and VCDX defence. Most of the time was spent waiting for the exams to become available.

 

 

What advice would you give to people thinking of pursuing the VCDX accreditation?

Read the blueprints and application documents very carefully and do exactly what they say. Re-read them multiple times and make sure you cover everything. Make sure you know your design inside and out like the back of your hand. Be prepared to answer any questions on any aspect of it. Make sure you know where you made mistakes and can point them out and make sure you know where you deviated from best practices and why. Read all of the blog posts from the other VCDX’s about their journey and the tips that they give. Everything you need to know to be successful in VCDX is already publically available if you’re ready. Be prepared to invest hundreds of hours and a significant amount of money (yours or your companies). Do a mock defence with people that can ask pointed questions as a customer would so you have to explain and justify everything. Make sure you are comfortable presenting and can think and design and troubleshoot on your feet.

 

If you could do the whole VCDX journey again what would you do differently?

I don’t think I’d change anything.

Life after the VCDX?  How did your company respond?  Was it worth it?

 

Regardless of how my company and customers responded the process was definitely worth it. I loved the process and I learned a lot from it. Even if I wasn’t successful at the defence it would still have been worth it, just for the learning experience alone.

It has opened a lot more doors since I achieved VCDX and I have had the opportunity to work on a few more exciting projects that I may not have had otherwise. Some customers are specifying a requirement for VCDX in their RFP’s. So being one of such a small group really is worth it.

I get the opportunity to contact and work with quite a few other VCDX’s and this is very valuable, as everyone has different experience and there is always opportunities to learn more.

One thing that I constantly have running through my mind is “With great power comes great responsibility.” I think with having achieved VCDX people pay a lot more attention to what I say and do and I have to be a good role model. The number of followers and connections I have has certainly increased a lot. So there can be a lot greater consequences for what I say in public and I try to be mindful of that. But it’s not going to stop me speaking my mind. But I do consider the impact a lot more before I take a position on something.

But everybody is human, even VCDX’s. We can’t know everything, but we do try and know what we don’t know, and if we don’t know something say so. Integrity is of the utmost importance.

This is always nice also:

IMG_3437


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SQLXML 4.0 SP1 10.0.1600.60 for VMware vCenter Configuration Manager

A very quick posting to maybe save someone some time while trying to get this component installed and for vCenter Configuration Manager’s system checks to verify it.

One of the components required for the installation of the collector and web server for VCM is SQLXML SP1. The installation documentation from VMware states the below in relation to the requirement:

Verify the SQLXML Version
Verify that SQLXML 4.0 SP1 is installed. Version 4.0 SP1 is installed with SQL Server 2008 R2.
Procedure

  1. Click Start and click Control Panel.
  2. Click Programs and select Programs and Features.
  3. Verify that SQLXML 4.0 SP1 appears in the list of installed programs.
  4. Verify that the version is 10.0.1600.60 or later.
  5. If the version is not SQLXML 4.0 SP1 10.0.1600.60 or later, or only an earlier version of SQLXML is installed, install SQLXML 4.0 SP1.

Firstly, I did not have it installed so searched for SQLXML SP1, downloaded, and installed it. I then checked the version and I had downloaded a newer version than the 10.0.1600.60 version mentioned in the installation documentation but as shown above they said that would be fine. As you can see below my version of SQLXML SP1 was 10.1.2532.0

clip_image001

My problems came about when i ran the installation and the checker would run through but fail giving me an error for SQLXML SP1 even though I had it installed. It seems despite the documentation saying versions newer than 10.0.1600.60 work it seems the checker doesn’t like it and won’t allow you to carry on. Therefore, I had to download the 10.0.1600.60 version and then the checker passed clip_image002

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The path to the “correct” version is http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8824. Obviously, you have to download the instructions and then do the installation from there. SQLXML is near the bottom of the page.

Gregg


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VCDX Spotlight: Chris Colotti

Name: Chris Colotti

Twitter Handle: @CColotti

Blog URL: http://www.chriscolotti.us

Current Employer: VMware, Inc.

VCDX #: 37

How did you get into using VMware?

This is actually a long story, but I will try to keep it brief. Back in late 2003, I began playing with ESX 1.5 in a home lab for my own personal education. At the time I was a business analyst working for the office of the Executive Vice President at PC Connection in NH, helping create a new custom application for the sales team. However, I really wanted to work in the IT department. I started to learn as much about VMware and virtualization as I could as part of the project. Once the project needed to move into implementation I saw my opening to pitch the use of VMware. I also knew that nobody in IT at the time even heard or it, so I ended up being the VMware expert and was moved into IT to run the implementation of the systems. I deployed PC Connection’s first groups of clusters on IBM hardware and storage with good success. At the time we were one of very few companies using VMware 2.x in Production at the time and we were a great story for IBM and VMware.

What made you decide to do the VCDX?

I’d like to say it was for career advancement, or recognition, but really the main reason was personal growth. As a VMware PSO employee at the time it was harder to find the time and the support from some managers back then to take the tests, let alone the defence. Like many things I do in my life, I do them just to see if I can and to help myself grow to a new personal level. It’s a challenge to myself to learn new things and VCDX was one I wanted to see if I could get. I simply wanted to be one of the first people in VMware PSO to achieve the certification and my mission was accomplished.

How long did it take you to complete the whole VCDX journey?

This for me took almost 2 years. I started the process by taking the original tests once they were released. Getting support from managers as a PSO person on delivery engagements was always a challenge, but there was also delays in the early stages of the tests and defences. Once I passed the tests, there were not many defences available to get into at first. I think I recall there only being ones at PEX and VMworld at that time. If memory serves there was not any outside of corporate events like the big two. I also think the limited spots were being given to VMware employees at fist in order to get the word out on the program for non VMware people. Travel budgets and other restrictions got lifted and finally made it possible at Partner Exchange in Las Vegas.

What advice would you give to people thinking of pursuing the VCDX accreditation?

I think the best advice I can give is like any challenge, do it for you. Not for you’re company, your boss, the hope of a raise, or jumping ship with a shiny new certification to get you a new job. If you go into it with goals that are not for personal growth, it’s not going to be fun or rewarding. You should WANT to get your VCDX, you should not feel like you HAVE to get it. The other things may or may not come, but nothing is ever guaranteed except personal satisfaction. Prepare for the defence properly. It’s a conversation between you and the panel. It’s not a grilling session of you by them, or a 90 minute PowerPoint by you. Have fun with it and I say these days, enjoy the journey. I think the best part for me was the defence itself, and that is where most people freak out. I actually had fun talking about the solution and admitting where things were not really great in the design. Those areas gave me talking points for the panel. No design is perfect, you should admit where you made mistakes, and why they may have been bad decisions. Lastly, too many people worry about the names of the panellists and who they will get. Don’t worry about it, frankly it does not matter who you get on your panel.

If you could do the whole VCDX journey again what would you do differently?

 I’m not sure really. I passed the defence on the first attempt, so I really have nothing to look back on and change. Personally the written exams are tough for me. If I could change anything it would be to study for those more. Even today I have trouble with the exams to maintain my upgrade status. I cannot even say I’d want a different group of panel members as a joke. I liked having both Frank and Duncan in the room for my defence. We have all three been friends really ever since and found mutually newfound respect for one another. My journey led to many projects with both of them. I can’t say I’d personally change anything, I’d do it the same a second time around.

Life after the VCDX?  How did your company respond?  Was it worth it?

Trick question since I work for VMware. At the time it was so new and not well known so there was not much response to be honest. I think now as people pass it there is more visibility to it, so there may be more recognition internally. For me being #37 and the fact it was so new made it hard for people to understand what it meant. Life is the same as it was before for the most part. I’d say it was worth it for my personal growth like anything else I do, but for me it has not change anything in what I do or how I do it. Back then I wish it had more recognition, but as they say, it is what it is.


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Deploying an Isolated Update Manager Download Service Architecture

During a recent customer engagement for a Virtual Infrastructure build out I was tasked with deploying an Isolated/Air Gap Update Manager Download Service architecture. If you do not know what an isolated Update Manager Download Service is then read this article first before carrying on. I came across a few hurdles during this deployment and so i waned to create a quick reference of what I followed for my future reference and to hopefully help anyone who gets the problems I was getting during the setup

  1. For this setup, I got a service account created that would be used for the installation of VUM and the UMDS.
  2. For my setup I setup VUM and UMDs on their own dedicated servers as you obviously have to do as the UMDS has to be in the DMZ.
  3. For the installation of UMDS I followed the following steps from the vSphere 5 Documentation Center.
  4. Next I installed VUM following the steps detailed from this vSphere 5 Documentation Center article.
    1. Note: The first hurdle I hit in this installation was that the SQL Client for SQL 2012 doesn’t work for the ODBC connections so I had to install the SQL 2008 Client from here for it to show the ODBC configuration when I went through each of the installations.
  5. Next was the configuration of UMDS and I followed this vSphere 5 Documentation Center article.
  6. Next was the creation of the IIS server for the UMDS so that VUM can contact and download the patches. I followed this vSphere 5 Documentation Center article.
  7. Next was the exporting of the downloaded patches to the UMDS folder under the IIS website (for mine I did a virtual directory to a folder on my data drive so that the c drive was not filled up with patches.)
    1. Note: For the exporting, I kept getting an error as detailed in this VMware Communities discussion I created. As detailed in the discussion the problem was I had to set the folder location as my default export store by running vmware-umds -S –default-export-store <your path to the UMDS folder>.
    2. Then you can export the patches to the folder location by running: vmware-umds –E <your path to the UMDS folder>.
  8. Now you can go into your vCenter and setup the UMDS as your shared repository location by pointing to the IIS website you created for the UMDS folder

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    1. Note: For the downloading of the patches I kept getting a failure where the downloading patches task would get stuck at 50% for a few minutes and then fail stating “Cannot download patch definitions” as shown below.

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2. The problem here was that the service account running the VUM service on the VUM server did not have full permissions to the folder. After reapplying the patches the downloading of the patches worked clip_image003

After going through all of the above steps, my air gap Update Manager Download Service was now setup clip_image004[1]

I hope that this saves someone the headaches I had along the way

Gregg


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VCDX Spotlight: Mike Brown

Name: Mike Brown

Twitter Handle: @vMikeBrown

Blog URL: www.mabrown.net

Current Employer : VMware

VCDX #: 71

 

How did you get into using VMware?

It was in 2007 and I just started working for an oil company in Houston TX. They had all of test/dev in ESX 2.x. The one guy who managed it all showed me vMotion and I was hooked. I managed to get on the “team” as Virtual Infrastructure 3 was being rolled out to production and the company adopted a Virtualization first policy. From there I got my VCP 3 and just read all I could find online and basically decided this technology is where I wanted to focus.

 

What made you decide to do the VCDX?

To be honest, it started as an ego thing. I thought I knew it all and that I would breeze right through the process. When I got to my first defense in November of 2010 I was handed a serious reality check. After that failure I re-evaluated what I was trying to achieve by obtaining VCDX certification. To me VCDX means you’re in the top of the field for architecting virtualization solutions, you know the platform like the back of your hand and why you would chose to do something one way instead of another, this is what I was missing.

 

How long did it take you to complete the whole VCDX journey?

From the time I took the VCDX 3 pre tests, enterprise administration and datacenter design (there were no VCAP’s then) till the time I obtained VCDX was close to 2 years. I ended up defending four times before I was successful. I really struggled in the defenses, my designs were good or I wouldn’t have been invited to defend so many times but I struggled with the justification of why I chose one way over the other and once I figured that out and really concentrated on explaining the pros and cons of each way and why it worked for this particular design I was successful.

 

 

What advice would you give to people thinking of pursuing the VCDX accreditation?

Be prepared for the commitment and sacrifice that goes into a certification like this. This is hands down the hardest thing I’ve done in my 14 year IT career.

After you’ve passed the VCAP’s and are gearing up to start the VCDX application and design, get the blueprint and read it a few times. Just like with other VMware certifications the information you need to be successful is in there. Remember the journey whether you pass or fail is a great learning experience. And lastly don’t get discouraged, this is a hard certification to obtain and you may not be successful your first time through but remember the experience and improve upon what you just went through and you’ll be that much closer next time.

 

 

If you could do the whole VCDX journey again what would you do differently?

Nothing. Even though I spent close to 2 years trying to obtain this certification, flying across the world for defenses, the experience and knowledge I obtained was worth all the time I invested.

 

Life after the VCDX?  How did your company respond?  Was it worth it

Shortly after I obtained my VCDX I took a hard look at the career path I was going down where I was currently working. I was a Senior Virtualization Consultant for a VMware Partner but most of the projects I was working on and saw coming down the pipeline weren’t VMware or even Virtualization focused, they were Cisco UCS/Nexus and NetApp focused. While I love those technologies I really wanted to focus solely on VMware products. In April of 2012 I joined VMware’s Professional Services Organization as a Senior Consultant on the Cloud Infrastructure and Management team. My first official job was to go to Toronto to be a VCDX panelist which was awesome and a relief to be sitting on the other side of the table. I love my job and while I could have joined this team without a VCDX, it certainly helped having it so yes it was definitely worth it.


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VCDX Spotlight: Brian Smith

Name: Brian Smith

Twitter Handle: @bsmith9999

Blog URL: bsmith9999.com

Current Employer: VMware

VCDX #: 91

How did you get into using VMware?

I started using workstation in 2001, but the real work began in 2006 with GSX (now called VMware Server) and ESX. We had a lab full of software development and testing servers, out of Power, Space, & Cooling. We needed consolidation and test automation that included full OS re-installs multiple times daily, virtualization was the only solution. At the time I worked for a Microsoft gold partner we were pressured to use their solutions, but they were weak. VMware’s platform was/is robust and solid, we made the obvious decision. A year later we added Lab Manager to assist with the automation, now we use vCloud Director for the same functionality.

What made you decide to do the VCDX?

I have spent a lot of time creating and implementing vSphere designs the past 7 years, this certification seemed like a worthy challenge. I began blogging about my IT experiences in 2008. I created a couple of popular posts, one of them about VMware Lab Manager best practices that gained a lot of traction in the community. I hoped VCDX certification would add to my credibility.

How long did it take you to complete the whole VCDX journey?

I have had a current VCP since 2008. I really started considering VCDX and passed my VCAP4 exams in Sept & October of 2011. I then passed on my first paper/defence attempt in May of 2012 gaining VCDX4 certification. After passing the VCAP5-DCD exam I now have VCDX5 certification as well.

What advice would you give to people thinking of pursuing the VCDX accreditation?

It’s a very positive life changing experience, it will vault you into an impressive peer group that I doubt I will ever feel worthy of. Be sure to allocate plenty of time for preparation, know your design and be ready to explain why you made every decision you did and why you didn’t make the other choices.

If you could do the whole VCDX journey again what would you do differently?

One thing I never read anywhere else is not only that you should do practice defence of your paper, but also do some mock design problems. I posted some thoughts about the defence before I got my results http://bsmith9999.blogspot.com/2012/05/vcdx-thoughts.html

Life after the VCDX?  How did your company respond?  Was it worth it?

I have already been given more opportunities to work on bigger and more visible projects. I now enter any situation with more confidence and my ideas are worth a lot more than just another suggestion in the room. Meeting other VCDX candidates was a great experience; I have a few new friends and a lot of new career networking options. It was definitely worth it. The only change I would make is to have pursued it earlier.


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VCDX Spotlight: Lane Leverett

Name: Lane Leverett

Twitter Handle: @wolfbrthr

Current Employer: Enterprise Networking Solutions Inc.

VCDX #: 53

 

How did you get into using VMware?

I first started using VMware Workstation and ESX in 2005 while working at JTS Communities as a Network Administrator. As I worked with ESX and saw the isolation/encapsulation capabilities I could see just how disruptive virtualization would be for the technology industry and that it would enable and usher in so many new capabilities that were either very difficult and/or costly to implement and manage. I also liked the fact that in order to do virtualization well it would require me to be well rounded in Server Operating Systems, Networking, and Storage as well as virtualization itself. I liked that challenge and saw this as the career path I wanted to target. So I then looked for employers where I could design and implement virtualization solutions or where I could manage and administer large and complex virtual environments.

How long did it take you to complete the whole VCDX journey?

I started in November of 2009 taking the VMware Administrator and VMware Design exams (now the VCAP-DCA and VCAP-DCD exams). VMware was still working out kinks in the communication process for how you were enrolled for those exams, and then getting back to you on when you could schedule the next step. I then took the first VCDX Boot Camp at Partner Exchange in Vegas in 2010. I sat in the back of the room and started to soak in the information. I ended up sitting next to Frank Denneman (VCDX#29) and he was giving his VCDX defense the very next day. He was SO gracious and helpful pointing me in the right direction giving me a heads up that I would need to spend a good deal of time and attention on the application and design documentation. I then ended up filling out the application and augmenting and providing the necessary required documentation from my real world design in May and submitted all of that information right before the deadline (Like I think I maybe had an hour to spare). That was really the most gut wrenching part of the entire process, and in my opinion the most difficult. I got the thumbs up that my application and documents had been accepted and that I would be defending my design the Thursday before VMworld. I then spent the remaining time till then reviewing my design and based on the advice from the VCDX boot camp, going over not only why I had made certain design decisions, but also why I chose not to make different design decisions. Was it because of a constraint, a customer requirement, or perhaps even preference towards a certain hardware vendor on the customers end. For me, the defense, while nerve wracking, was not actually the most difficult portion of the entire process. I am pretty good at thinking on my feet, I have excellent communication and soft skills, and I’ve had plenty of experience delivering designs and doing presales sessions in front of customers. Doing the defense was really no different. I just had a VERY well educated and technical astute customer. Smile It was nice to be done with the defense and enjoy VMworld, but it wasn’t till almost a month later that I got the e-mail with the good news.

What advice would you give to people thinking of pursuing the VCDX accreditation?

First off, the VCDX isn’t for everyone. It really is for those that are currently VMware design architects or that aspire to that kind of position. This certification is really geared for folks that understand how to take a customer’s business requirements and can turn that into a technical solution given all the potential risks, requirements, and constraints for that particular customer.

If you do feel this is the right path for you then I first of all recommend that you use a real customer design. Even though a fictitious customer is acceptable, it will drive you crazy having to create from scratch a whole customer scenario (this would be analogous to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien coming up with the entire history of Middle Earth, legends, the Elvish language, etc. – you don’t want to really do that unless you’re a glutton for punishment).

Another item of advice is to make sure you’ve given yourself enough time to put together the application and documents. Don’t put it off or procrastinate. You’ll be sorry if you do.

Also, keep your design simple. Your design doesn’t have to be a 500 page multi-site international design complete with VDI, every hardware vendor under the sun, etc. The cleaner and simpler you can make your design, the better off you’ll be. Don’t hand in a five page design doc – that would also be hurtful to your chances of passing. But remember, you’re gonna need to know this design like the back of your hand when you give your defense, so do yourself (and the VCDX application review board) a favour and keep it short, but also complete (DO NOT leave out anything that they ask you in the application to have included in your documentation).

And finally get peer support. Get advice from folks on twitter or the community forums. Have people review your design and folks you respect watch your mock defense sessions.

If you could do the whole VCDX journey again what would you do differently?

Have given myself more time on the application and design documentation.

Life after the VCDX?  How did your company respond?  Was it worth it?

Life is good. I feel truly honoured (and still quite shocked) to be in the company of some truly amazing people. I actually ended up changing jobs weeks before I found out if I had gotten the VCDX. But that was really just a chance for me to move back home from Kansas to Northern California. That in itself has been a true joy. I’m working at a small integrator out of Sacramento, CA and I have the privilege to work alongside some truly fantastic peers. I know I could have my pick of several great opportunities out there, but for now, the ability to stay close to home with almost no travel allows me to spend quality and quantity time with my son and daughter.