VMworld 2017 Roundup: Day 0

VMworld Day 0. A day of anticipation, travel, and preparation for the wonderfully exhausting week ahead (feet don’t fail me now!). While I’m here cranking out some drafts behind-the-scenes to capture the week’s news, discoveries and mild manias, let’s check out a few of the things I’m looking forward to.

Sessions

Yes, the sessions get recorded. However there’s nothing like taking in a few anticipated sessions in person. Here are a couple I’m looking forward to catch live.

vSphere 6.5 Host Resources Deep Dive: Part 2 [SER1872BU] – Frank Denneman and Niels Hagoort presented Part 1 last year, which was well-received and packed with deep technical knowledge. Apparently demand for this session is high enough that it’s already been moved to a bigger room! If you’re the kind that likes to read the book before you see the adaptation, you only have a few days to go…

Upgrading to vSphere 6.5 the VCDX Way [SER2318BU] – For a lot of organizations, upgrading to vSphere 6.5 is long overdue (vSphere 5.0 came out over six years ago; just saying…). Two VCDXs, Rebecca Fitzhugh and Melissa Palmer, take us through the upgrade process including design and planning. It sounds like it’s not simply the old step 1, step 2 procedural approach. I expect to take away plenty of useful notes and tips.

Hackathon

Monday night marks the return of the VMware {code} Hackathon to VMworld US. I’ve gushed before about how this was my favourite thing of VMworld 2016, so expectations are set dangerously high already. My team this year is Need for Speed, captained by the venerable Luc Dekens. Our goal: to bring speed improvements to the legendary vCheck PowerShell script (and maybe a few other tweaks and adjustments…). Tune in later this week to see how well we make out in the scant hours available.

Data Centre Tour

I’ve been lucky enough to be invited by a cadre of companies to tour the Switch data centre here in Las Vegas on Thursday. It might not get everyone excited, but I’m looking forward to seeing how a larger American data centre compares to the Canadian DCs I’ve toured. There’s also just something about the hum of a data centre that fills me with a sense of endless possibility… and cat memes… but mostly possibility.

Last, But Not Least…

Of course what would VMworld be without a visit with the vCommunity. VMvillage, Opening Acts, informal hallway tracks, after hours gatherings, bonding at the Solutions Exchange; what ties it all together are the people. Passionate, friendly, learned and ready to learn. The real gems that make VMworld shine.

As always, please stop and say hi.