With VMworld US started and VMworld EMEA just around the corner, I thought I would share my top tips for those people attending their first VMworld in Barcelona!
Travel
Getting to / from the Airport
- VMware put on air conditioned coaches to and from the airport.
- Check the VMworld pages for the times they run in between. Most people arriving Sunday or Monday and leaving Thursday should be covered.
Metro
- Download the Barcelona Metro Map in PDF or JPG and save it on your phone.
- Don’t forget to ask for the free metro travel pass - I didn’t spend anything on metro travel last year because of this!
- Fira Europa (L9 or L8) is slightly further away from the venue than the Fira Metro station but both are within walk-able distance.
- If you are staying along L9 then go to Fira, if you are staying at Placa D’Espanya (L8) or anywhere else that means you want to change at Fira Europa to go one stop to Fira, then don’t bother.
Taxi
- There is a taxi rank outside the conference venue, but queues form quickly.
- Taxi’s are good value, but not as cheap as the metro.If you are out and about prefer to get around by taxi, then try downloading the Hailo App which was used by a few people last year.
Conference
General
- Download the VMworld 2017 App!
- Bring comfortable/worn in shoes for the days - last year I clocked up ~40k steps in 4 days.
- If you insist on wearing swanky new shoes,** bring lots of plasters**!
- If you want to buy VMware merchandise, go get it early in the week. I left it to the last day and there wasn’t much of a selection left!
- Last year food queues were a little silly. They have changed the layout this year to make that better. There is normally plenty of food though so don’t worry!
- VMware HOL are an** #awesome** way to spend your time if you want hands on experience. The majority of the HOL staff are also experts and consultants too (and some are even human!).
Sessions
- Don’t worry if you don’t make it to all the sessions you have booked into. Last year, by Wednesday afternoon I was worn out and wanted to just chill a bit, so I skipped a couple of the sessions and hung out in the hang space.
- Remember that most, if not all, of them will be recorded and you can download them to watch at your leisure after the event.
- Remember to ask questions - sessions should be interactive and you don’t normally get the opportunity to meet with these titans of the industry very often.
- If you want to change your session last minute because something else takes your fancy, then do it. It’s your time, use it as you want to. There is always an overflow queue for all the top sessions, so join the queue and you may just get in. (if you don’t see previous point)
- If you didn’t get booked into a session you wanted to because it was full, turn up a little early and get in front of the queue for overflow. I got into every session I wanted to last year, even when I didn’t book up front.
Solutions Exchange
- Take time to talk to the vendors you want to. That’s what they are there for!
- Some of the people on the booth will be titans of their field and you wont get the opportunity to talk face to face with them very often!
- Grab as much swag as you want, but remember you will have to carry it! Last year I tended to collect a solid carrier bag and fill one up a day then filter the stuff I want to keep back at the hotel!
- If you get your badge scanned, you will more than likely get a follow up phone call!
The Tourist Thing
Barcelona is a wonderful city with so much colour and beauty. If you’re staying around after VMworld, then be sure to check out the following:
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 29, 2017 .
As VMworld US kicks off in Las Vegas, it reminds that I didn’t make it to Las Vegas this year (which is disappointing), but it also reminds me that I need to start preparing for my trip to VMworld EMEA in Barcelona. Given the fact that the two VMworld’s are so close together this year, that means there is less than 14 days to go!
This will be my second VMworld and I am looking forward to catching up with people I haven’t seen IRL for the last year. I have already written a post about why I am excited to be going this year.
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 27, 2017 .
The 2nd half vExpert announcement just dropped into my inbox and I’m extremely humbled to be added to the growing list of ~150 people worldwide that have been awarded the vExpert subcategory accolade of VMware vExpertNSX.
The vExpert award is a acknowledgement of the contributions made by individuals to the VMware community. It is not too ealy to start working on building your content for the vExpert 2018 submission which will be later this year!
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 16, 2017 .
The Top vBlog 2017 results are out and I am pretty chuffed that I managed a healthy new entry at number #136 out of** 273** in the overall Top vBlog listings.
I also managed to place in the following additional vBlog categories:
- #10 in Favourite Scripting / Automation Blog
- #7 in Favourite New Blog
- #30 in Favourite Independent Blogger
Not bad for my first year of blogging, seems my hard work maybe paying off!
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 10, 2017 .
On Friday I took the VCAP6-NV Deploy exam. I didn’t manage to get a passing score this time, but that wont stop me from studying some more and taking it again. Given work commitments and holiday, this will probably now be at VMworld in Barcelona.
How does it compare to the other VCAP exams?
Like with all the VCAP6 Deploy exams, the exam is based on the “improved” VMware HOL interface. I personally never took the VCAP5 exams so, I have no opinion on whether it is “improved” or not. One thing is for certain, like the other VCAP6 Deployment exams, time is not your friend. In fact, for this exam, I would go so far as to say that time is you nemesis.
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 6, 2017 .
Skills and Abilities
Objective 3.3 - Configure and Manage Additional VMware NSX Edge Services
- Configure DHCP services according to a deployment plan:
- Create/edit a DHCP IP Pool
- Create/edit DHCP Static Binding
- Configure DHCP relay
- Configure DNS services
- Configure NAT services to provide access to services running on privately addressed virtual machines
Objective Prerequisites
The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:
- A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment.
- A working VMware NSX 6.x environment.
Objective Breakdown
Enabling DHCP
Note: These steps assume you are not even logged into vCenter Server. Skip the first few steps if you are!
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 2, 2017 .
This post is one of a number of posts created as part of the VCAP6-NV Deployment Study Guide ,
Overview
There are multiple component steps in configuring NSX Load Balancing:
- Deployment of an VMware NSX Edge Service Gateway (ESG).
- Enabling Load Balancing on the ESG.
- Creating Application Profile(s)
- (optional) Create Service Monitors
- Creating Server Pool(s).
- (optional) Create Application Rules.
- Creating Virtual Server(s).
In this example, we’re going to use the Load Balancer configuration for deploying VMware vRealize Automation following the Load Balancing Guide .
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 2, 2017 .
Dynamic Routing provides the necessary forwarding information between Layer 2 broadcast domains. There are 3 types of Dynamic Routing supported by VMware NSX OSPF, BGP and IS-IS.
In this post, as part of the VCAP6-NV Deployment Study Guide , we will be covering the configuration of BGP.
Prerequisites
The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:
- A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment.
- A working VMware NSX 6.x environment.
Configure a Router ID for each NSX Edge
To configure BGP, each NSX Edge must have a Router ID configured. The steps to do this is covered in HOWTO: Configure the Router ID for a VMware NSX Edge .
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 1, 2017 .
Dynamic Routing provides the necessary forwarding information between Layer 2 broadcast domains. There are 3 types of Dynamic Routing supported by VMware NSX-V: OSPF, BGP and IS-IS.
In this post, as part of the VCAP6-NV Deployment Study Guide , we will be covering the configuration of OSPF.
Prerequisites
The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:
- A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment.
- A working VMware NSX 6.x environment.
Configure a Router ID for each NSX Edge
To configure OSPF, each NSX Edge must have a Router ID configured. The steps to do this is covered in HOWTO: Configure the Router ID for a VMware NSX Edge .
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 1, 2017 .
- Operating a Private Cloud - Part 3: Creating a Pricing Card in VMware Aria Automation
- Operating a Private Cloud - Part 2: Creating a Pricing Card in VMware Aria Operations
- Operating a Private Cloud - Part 1: Understanding Pricing Cards in VMware Aria
- Zero2Hero - Using Aria Automation to Deploy Multiple Machines with Multiple Disks - Part 5
- Zero2Hero - Using Aria Automation to Deploy Multiple Machines with Multiple Disks - Part 4