Eric Sloof

The VMware Certification team is implementing a new certification name change, where the year will be used to identify when the certification was earned. This change is intended to make it easier for certification holders and potential employers to immediately identify how current a holder’s certification is.

This also allows the certification holder to validate the currency of their certified knowledge. The new naming will eventually apply to all VMware certifications and select badges. For example:

• Former naming: VMware Certified Professional Desktop Mobility 8 (VCP8-DTM)
• NEW naming: VMware Certified Professional Desktop Mobility 2018 (VCP-DTM 2018)

We are changing the way we name VMware certifications. The Year Makes It Clear.

The next generation of Onyx is here and it’s called Code Capture, which is only available in the vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling! Using the start and stop button on the main menu bar, Code Capture allows you to take your actions in the vSphere Client and output them to PowerCLI code.

The code output can also easily be copied and/or downloaded from your browser session using the dedicated buttons in the Code Capture area.

Those who earn the VMware Practitioner in NFV Operations badge have demonstrated their knowledge and understanding of network modernization challenges facing Communications Service Providers.

They understand the concepts behind Network Functions Virtualization and the use of VMware vCloud NFV to automate service deployment, manage operations and secure multi-tenant environments.

What to do?

Finish this free online VMware vCloud NFV Foundations with vCloud Director [V8.x] training course. Thanks for the heads-up Ross Wynne.

Pass the free "VMware vCloud NFV with vCloud Director [V8.x]" Test.

This paper shows how VMware is helping advance PMEM technology by driving the virtualization enhancements in vSphere 6.7.

The PMEM feature in VMware vSphere supports both newer and legacy applications. This paper gives a detailed performance analysis of using PMEM technology on vSphere using various workloads and scenarios.

The pfSense Book is written by pfSense project co-founder Chris Buechler and coreteam member Jim Pingle. This book covers topics ranging from the installation process and basic configuration to advanced networking and firewalling using this popular open source firewall and router software distribution.

This book is designed to be a friendly guide to common networking and security tasks along with a thorough reference for the capabilities of pfSense software.

Is this finally the year of the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)? There doesn't seem to be a straight answer to that question. A VDI can be designed to work perfectly in your environment, but could also be a big pain in the butt.

This guide written by Johan van Amersfoort will help you design a VMware Horizon VDI, based on the VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) methodology. It will help you understand what steps need to be taken to bring a project to a successful result.

It contains examples of real-world design projects, requirements & constraints which will help you make the right decision in a great variety of scenarios. As sizing does matter, you will also be guided through the complete sizing process.

Other topics that will be covered: Windows 10, multi-site architectures, NSX, vSAN, profile strategies, application delivery strategies, assessments, monitoring, security, GPUs, and remote protocols.

NSX Multi-site Solutions and Cross-vCenter NSX Design Day 1 opens with an outline of several NSX solutions available for multi-site data center connectivity, then digs deeper into the details of the Cross-vCenter NSX multi-site solution.

Cross-vCenter NSX use cases, architecture, functionality, deployment models, design, and failure/recovery scenarios are discussed in detail.

This document is targeted toward virtualization and network architects interested in using VMware NSX network virtualization solution in a VMware vSphere environment to provide multi-site solutions.

VMware NSX Automation Fundamentals written by @oliveirac_caio and @thikoga offers guidance to help organizations automate their environments, leveraging familiar tools including VMware vRealize Automation, OpenStack, and PowerNSX. It speaks to engineers and technical decision makers responsible for selecting different sets of tools to automate their infrastructures, helping reduce the manual operation associated with each task.

VMware NSX Automation Fundamentals provides specific details on automation projects while removing removes hurdles and misunderstandings that are the primary roadblocks for organizations seeking innovation and automation for their environments. 

The VMware vSphere 6.7 Clustering Deep Dive is the long-awaited follow-up to best seller vSphere 5.1 Clustering Deep Dive and zooms in on the critical components of every VMware based infrastructure.

It provides the knowledge and expertise needed to create a cloud infrastructure based on the solid foundation of vSphere HA, vSphere DRS, vSphere Storage DRS, Storage I/O Control and Network I/O Control. It explains the concepts and mechanisms behind these features that enables you to make well-educated decisions.

The book contains a stretched cluster use case section that contains all necessary settings for creating a fully-functional stretched cluster and reviews all failure scenarios and their effect on the existing workload. This book takes you into the trenches of HA, DRS, Storage DRS, SIOC and NIOC and gives you the tools to understand and implement, e.g., HA admission control policies, DRS resource pools, Datastore Clusters, network resource pools, and resource allocation settings.

Each section contains basic design principles that can be used for designing, implementing or improving VMware infrastructures. Combine this book with the vSphere 6.5 Host Resources Deep Dive book, and you have an in-depth and comprehensive set of books that deliver the information you need to design and administer vSphere in the enterprise.

Often referred to in the virtual community as the vSphere Resource kit, the Host Resource Deep Dive zooms in on hardware resources such as CPU and Memory and covers how the vSphere 6.5 resource scheduler manages these. The Clustering Deep Dive builds on top of that and zooms in how a group of ESXi hosts work together and provide clustering services.