VMworld 2018 is here!

Here we go again

Its the week before VMworld 2018.  The time when everyone is finalizing their plans for what should be another great week of innovation, learning, networking and reconnecting with friends, old and new. This will be my 7th consecutive year at VMworld and I must say it never gets old. I always look forward to the opportunity to be inspired by all the awesome companies out there bringing their best to this event. VMworld is the place to catch up with old friends from around the world as well as meet new friends.  It never fails though, every year I leave having missed out on something, whether a specific session or meeting with someone I’ve been interacting with on social media. This year I want to be proactive and share my activities for the week.  If you plan to attend VMworld and want to meet up, here are a few ways we can make that happen.

The Virtually Speaking Podcast

John and I were thrilled to be invited back to the HCI Zone to record podcast interviews and meet and greet listeners. If you listen to the Virtually Speaking Podcast we hope you’ll make time to come say to us.  We love chatting with listeners and hearing feedback. If you do come, you won’t leave empty-handed.  We’ll be sure to shower you with vSpeaking swag in the form of stickers and fancy t-shirts.  I know I know, just what every VMworld attendee needs…. more swag to take home. 🙂 but wait… there’s more. As we rapidly approach the 250K download mark, John and I thought it would be a good time to show some true vSpeaking appreciation.  So IF you are a subscriber to the podcast, and IF you are attending VMworld 2018, and IF you listen to a special episode that will air during VMworld, you will find out how to win a very nice prize.  I won’t spill the beans just yet but trust me, we’re not talking about a fidget spinner. So stay tuned and be sure to come and say hi at the HCI Zone in the solutions Exchange.

Podcast Interviews

If you’re interested in joining us on the podcast this week be sure to follow us on twitter and send us a message @virtspeaking.

Sessions

I will present four sessions at VMworld that I am truly passionate about. I hope to see you at each of these.

• HCI2810QU Virtual Volumes Technical Deep Dive: VVols is a technology that is near and dear to my heart.  It radically changes the way storage is managed in the data center from a storage-centric approach to an application-centric approach.  In this session, Patrick Dirks and I will walk you through why VVols is simpler, smarter, and faster than the traditional approach. We’ll also cover what you need to know to have a smooth migration experience.
• HCI1768BU – What’s New in vSAN: This is a session you won’t want to miss.   There is a new version of vSAN about to be announced and my fellow podcast co-host and dear friend John have the privilege of sharing all the details with you. If you’ve ever listened to the Virtually Speaking Podcast you know that John is going to dive deep on this one.  You will leave fully informed and inspired. Extra credit for listeners of the podcast that heckle John with show quotes. Hope to see you there.
• HCI1272BU – vSAN Data Placement and Availability: This is a session that I absolutely love presenting. Jeff Hunter and I will focus specifically on how VMware vSAN distributes data across drives and hosts to ensure availability. You will get a quick explanation of how vSAN stores virtual machine objects such as virtual disks, as well as a look at storage policy-based management, which is the primary method for managing vSAN objects. Whether you are new to HCI or already a vSAN customer this is a session not to be missed.
• HCI1769BU – We Got You Covered: Top Operational Tips from vSAN Support Insight:  Long title but another really interesting session. VMware vSAN customers enrolled in the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) can utilize their deployment data with vSAN Support Insight. vSAN Support Insight extends the vSAN health checks and enables support and engineering visibility into your cluster. Learn what the most common health checks are, how to resolve issues, and make sure that your clusters are ready for anything! John and I will again be co-presenting this session so all podcast heckling is welcome and possibly even rewarded (hint)

Parties

I probably won’t be attending many parties this year as my schedule is pretty full with customer meetings, podcast work, and sessions, but one party I will definitely be attending is the vSAN Customer Appreciation party on Monday evening. Hope to see you there.

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