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On the 28th of June the event Containers Today is being organized by Amazic. My employer, KPN ICT Consulting is one of the gold sponsors of this event and I will be one of the speakers during one of the breakout sessions. Hope to see you there or on the booth. Containers Today - Experience the exciting world of containers While digitization is more important than ever before and many professionals work with an innovative portfolio to realize this progress - think of clouds, data centers and application architectures - progress is being countered at the same time by existing applications and related infrastructure (legacy). The solution? With container technology, you can run applications without depending on the underlying servers and software versions, both on-premise and in the cloud, managed and secured from a single platform. Do you want to know what containerization can mean for your organization? On June 28 a.s., we will talk about containerization in one day: how does your organization benefit from container technology? What is the difference between containerization and virtualization? How do you save costs? How do you manage a hybrid infrastructure and containers in the cloud? To answer all questions as well as possible, we divide the day into three different tracks: Business Track - Developer Track - Operations Track For whom On this day we expect more than 300 Dev / DevOp’s, ITDM’s, Architects, Project Managers, CTO’s & CIO’s. There is something for everybody ...

This morning, very early I received the e-mail that I received the vExpert award. This was for me the 2nd time that I got this award. The first time I applied in December 2016 for the vExpert 2017 award, which I got. Last year I also succesful applied for the vExpert Cloud 2017, one of the three sub awards. Happy to be a part of the vCommunity and looking forward to again participate in the community and share information and knowlegde. Thanks to Corey Romero and his team for his efforts for making this possible. ...

Today I passed my VMware Certified Professional 6 -Network Virtualization 6.2 certification. Last year I already took the course but at that moment I was too busy with other stuff to also take the exam. Now after reading again the course material, the online training Clear and Simple VMware NSX 6.2 and vSphere Virtual Networks from Rick Crisci via Udemy.com and the use of hands on labs I felt up to the exam. ...

Yesterday was the third and last day of VMworld 2017 Europe. I had two sessions scheduled. Both were VMware Cloud on AWS related. First session was: Protecting Virtual Machines in VMware Cloud on AWS. In this session, VMware and Dell EMC also presented their capabilities for this subject. Interesting solutions in which you see the added value of AWS as an endpoint for storing backups on S3 for instance. My second session was VMware Cloud on AWS: An Architectural and Operational Deep Dive. This session was about the architecture of the environment, the vCenter permissions of the customer and how the host remediation process on AWS works. After the sessions I had lunch and had a last quick walk over the solution exchange. Before I went to the airport I spend time on filling out the surveys that I had not processed. If I summarize my visit to VMworld 2017, I think it has been an interesting event. My focus in the sessions was mostly with VMware Cloud on AWS. I had some nice discussions with employees of VMware, peers and vendors and I have gotten a lot of useful info. For me the highlights were: ...

Today I decided to not go to the general session but instead follow it on the big screen in the VMvillage. This gives you the possibility to get coffee during the keynote :). The keynote started with Pat Gelsinger, Sanjay Poonen and Ray O’Farell answering questions that the VMworld attendees could submit yesterday. After that Ray O’Farrel, Chris Wolf and Purnima Padmanabhan went more into depth about VMware HCX, Wavefront, NSX-T, VMware Pulse IoT Center and Functions as a Service (FaaS). After the keynote I attended two sessions. Both were around VMware Cloud on AWS. The last two sessions, Service Overview for VMware Cloud on AWS and VMware Cloud on AWS: A Technical Deep Dive, were really interesting. The first session was focussed on service, the support and separation of the responsibilities between the customer and VMware. They also showed the online support that was available for this product and the automatic actions that VMware takes to keep the customer environment healthy. The second session showed in more detail the components that made the VMware Cloud on AWS product. The session touched on compute, storage, networking and security. After the sessions I went back to the solution exchange and visited several booths and also spent time on networking with the vendors, colleagues and other attendees. In the evening I went to the VMware Customer Appreciation Party featuring the Kaiser Chiefs. I think it was without a doubt the best band and the VMworld party.

For me VMworld already started on Monday with the Partner Exchange and the TAM day. It started today with the keynote by, amongst other speakers, Pat Gelsinger and Sanjay Poonen. They talked about the strategy for VMware. Pat was saying that tech was breaking out of tech. Alan Renouf was, together with Pat Gelsinger, a way of managing your environment via VR. Following announcements were done: VMware Integrated Open Stack 4.0 vSphere Integrated Containers 1.2 VMware HCX After the keynote I had no session scheduled so I made a short visit to the solution exchange. Lot of interesting vendors and of course also the usual suspects. Also got some of the swag from some vendors. ...

Today VMworld 2017 started for me. Yesterday I flew in to Barcelona and got my badge and the backpack with, amongst other things, the water bottle and the shirt. Today is the partner exchange and the tam day. I had only sessins in the partner track scheduled. My first two sessions were about VMware Cloud on AWS. The first session was less technical but the second session went into more depth about the technology behind VMware Cloud on AWS. After that I attended the general partner sessions. Amongst the speakers there were Pat Gelsinger, Maurizio Carli, Ross Brown and Brandon Sweeney. The told us about the strategy and the partner organisation. After the keynote it was time for lunch. While not everybody who will be attending VMworld was already there, it was still very crowded. ...

This year VMworld Europe will again be held in Barcelona, but unlike previous years it will not be in October but already in the second week of September. Just as last year, my employer made it possible for me to attend VMworld Europe. I have to finalize my schedule but as it available, I already started planning which sessions I would like to attend. When I have finalized my schedule I will also post it here. As my interest are shifting to the public cloud, I’m really looking forward to the session around VMware on AWS. So mostly my schedule will filled with that as there are many sessions around VMware on AWS. Next to that I’m still interested in devops and container related sessions. Interesting links: VMworld parties, gathering and events Sneak peek VMworld bag Content builder VMworld Europe First-Timer’s Guide to VMworld

AWS offer a range of certification types including Associate, Professional, and Specialty. The certifications focus on gaining technical knowledge on the AWS Platform across several roles and specialties.We offer associate certifications covering the roles of Solutions Architect, Developer, and SysOps Administrator. Once you have completed an Associate Certification in any of these roles, you may progress to a Specialty in Advanced Networking or Big Data, or a Professional Certification in Solutions Architect or DevOps Engineering.Specialty Certifications offer advancement for someone interested validating their expertise in a specific area. Professional Certifications are our highest role-specific certification. ...

Yesterday VMware published the list of vExperts for 2017. This is the first time that I applied for the VMware vExpert program and I’m honored to have been chosen as one of the few vExperts this year. What is the vExpert program? The VMware vExpert program is VMware’s global evangelism and advocacy program. The program is designed to put VMware’s marketing resources towards your advocacy efforts. Promotion of your articles, exposure at our global events, co-op advertising, traffic analysis, and early access to beta programs and VMware’s roadmap. The awards are for individuals, not companies, and last for one year. Employees of both customers and partners can receive the awards. In the application, we consider various community activities from the previous year as well as the current year’s (only for 2nd half applications) activities in determining who gets awards. We look to see that not only were you active but are still active in the path you chose to apply for. ...