Joe Kelly said it himself…it’s cliche to say “It’s that time again!” but here we are. It’s that time again! VMworld 2013 session voting is now open. These votes help the content committee gauge interest in different topics so it’s important for you to vote and get your voice heard.
Last year was a great year for us (Varrow). I couldn’t be prouder of what we did. We had three groups presenting last year for a total of four different topics. This year we hope to beat that number! Varrow has a total of 10 submissions for VMworld sessions this year (Note that one of mine isn’t in the public voting list due to possible NDA content). We’d greatly appreciate your support and votes during this part of the selection process.
To vote just go here. I know, I know..you need an account but it’s a simple registration and we’d really appreciate it. We present on the topics we’re passionate about. Our goals are to educate and provide real world results from the lessons we’ve learned from the field.
Unlisted vSphere Distributed Switch Deep Dive
Jason Nash, Varrow
This will be a revised version of my highly rated session from last year. It is not in the voting list right now due to possible NDA content. But wanted to send out a note that I hope to have a revised version for this year.
4570 Ask the Expert VCDXs
Jason Nash, Varrow – Matt Cowger, EMC – Chris Colotti, VMware – Chris Wahl, Ahead – Rick Scherer, EMC
One of the highest rated sessions at VMworld is back for its sixth year.
Come get interactive with a panel of five VMware Certified Design Experts, they’ll answer your questions live.
Experts in Cloud, Application Modernization and End User Computing are here to help.
4969 Understanding vSphere Physical Connectivity – Deep Dive & Recommendations
Jason Nash, Varrow
This session will provide an in-depth look at your options for physically connecting vSphere hosts to the network. The discussion will focus on common question areas that come up during knowledge workshops and customer design sessions. Throughout the session videos and animations will be used to help attendees easily see the expected result from many of these configuration options. The presentation will focus heavily on the different hashing types and traffic control, especially the more advanced options such as Load-Based Teaming and Network I/O Control. Other areas of focus include physical separation of traffic, networks of differing security requirements such asDMZs, and suggested NIC configurations for both 1Gb and 10Gb environments. Finally, recommendations for physical switch configurations will also be covered. Throughout the session best practices, recommendations, and lessons learned from many production deployments will be shared. Attendees should expect to walk away with a deep understanding of the physical connectivity options available with vSphere, how they can be utilized in their environment, and the best methods for deploying them.
5038 Achieving High Availability with vSphere Storage Metro Clusters and EMC VPLEX
Joe Kelly and Martin Valencia, Varrow
High Availability in todays datacenters stretch beyond a single or multi host failure. Increased visibility and mobility across datacenters is quickly becoming a must have for all workloads. With the introduction of Active/Active Storage solutions to the market, VMware has begun to support these SVD’s or Storage Virtualization Devices for qualified products. vSphere Metro Storage Cluster (vMSC) is a configuration option that allows for stretched clusters between two synchronous joined datacenters. Providing these cluster capabilities, that are distributed in nature, allow for fluid VM mobility using vMotion between datacenters. This session will focus on the benefits and challenges of such a solution based on front line field experience using VPLEX 5.X and vSphere 5.X. Multi-site vSphere cluster designs just got better.
NOTE: Chad Sakac of EMC lists this session in his favorite picks. Chad is a great friend of Varrow and says “Varrow has some of the best cross-domain experts I’ve seen at a VAR. They’ve had a lot of experiences with a lot of technology – so I would expect that this would be a very balanced and deep session.”.
4809 SQL Virtualization – How to bring Tier 1 SQL workloads into an optimized vSphere environment
Tony Pittman and Kyle Quinby, Varrow
Drawing from real-world experiences, Kyle Quinby and Tony Pittman will be going through some accumulated knowledge on tips and tricks to squeak out every last bit of power of your SQL VMs. They will be focusing on how to lay a solid foundation for SQL for both performance and high availability.
Tier 1 Database workloads truly have a home in modern virtual infrastructure. Consolidation ratios are finally what they should be, and bookkeeping aspects such as licensing and backup/DR have finally become relatively simple to achieve.
This session will be appreciated by,
1. SQL admins or developers that are looking for insight into how their virtual admins can help them
2. Virtual infrastructure administrators, that are unsure what steps they should be taking for their SQL workloads
3. Long-term planners (architects/CIO) looking to get some “best practice” information to create a virtual SQL strategy
5053 Cloud Continuity: How does the Cloud fit into your Business Continuity Plan?
Tom Cornwell, Varrow
Today cloud is becoming ubiquitous. However, it can be utilized in many different ways. Whether you utilize cloud for your production environments or not, cloud can play a part in your business continuity plan. This session describes different business continuity strategies utilizing cloud. Topics include: cloud as a source, cloud as a target, and cloud to cloud DR. In addition, we will discuss mixed strategies and different types of cloud implementations including Platform-as-a-Service, Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Storage-as-a-Service, and DR-as-a-Service.
5158 How High Point Regional deployed a secure, feature-rich resilient desktop to their users
Dave Lawrence, Varrow. Adam Flowers, High Point Regional Health System
Come hear how High Point Regional Health System implemented Horizon View using the latest technologies such as HTML Access, Persona Management, ImprivataOneSign, Trend Micro Deep Security and Zero and repurposed clients all on a vSphereStreched Cluster with EMC VPLEX. Come hear the lessons learned during this dynamic deployment and how to integrate all of these great solutions together.
5296 Hypervisor-Based Disaster Recovery: The Missing Link forVirtualizing Mission-Critical Applications
Jason Nash, Varrow. Shannon Snowden, Zerto.
Mission-critical, tier-1 applications such as database and transactional applications are often the last to be virtualized. Despite the many benefits of virtualizing these applications, some companies still question the ability to protect and recover these applications in virtualized environments. Most likely, each application is on a different type of storage, so having one solution across the environment is not possible – driving up complexity and costs. Traditional BC/DR technologies are built for physical environments, requiring manual and complex processes to utilize these systems forvirtualized applications, and each type of hardware has its own type of replication – so there is no consistency.
New disaster recovery technologies are filling this gap for large and small enterprises alike, delivering all the flexibility customers expect from a virtualized environment, with the aggressive RPOs and RTOs that mission-critical applications require. In this session, we will show how hypervisor-based replication solves these critical DR issues, clearing all barriers to virtualize tier-1 applications.
5470 The seven things you need to look at in your environment BEFORE installing Horizon View!
Dave Lawrence, Varrow
Ready to install Horizon View? Have you checked your DHCP scope? Is your version of vSphere supported? Are you using Group Policy loopback processing mode? Should you? There are seven main components of your environment that you should review BEFORE installing Horizon View. Come to our session and find out what the seven components are and how to avoid the most common environmental pitfalls that our engineers have come across during hundreds of View deployments.
5553 Cloud Bursting: Strategies to overflow into the cloud
Tom Cornwell, Varrow
Cloud bursting is a concept that to many sounds like a pipe dream. However, by looking at IT from a service perspective rather than from an infrastructure perspective, the tools exist to adopt this radical idea. This session will discuss how tools from VMware can help you make the cloud bursting dream a reality.
