NSX

2018 Personal Objectives (a bit late)

~ Chris Storrie

It’s now 6 weeks into the year and i figure it’s finally time to do something that i’ve been meaning to do since late last year… And that’s to to publish my personal objectives for 2018. For me it should be two fold it means they’re publicly out there so i can judge (and be judged) how the year went for me. Secondly i’m sure a lot of my objectives cross over with others in this community so i’m hoping it may spark some conversations and debates as the year goes on.

Certifications:

  • VCAP-DCV – So as posted last year (actually oops, that’s still in draft!) well spoiler alert on the 2nd attempt i got my VCAP-DCD, so it’s high on my list to aim for the 2nd VCAP which would of course unlock VCIX for me. This has to be my #1 goal for the year
  • About a year ago, like so many others i decided to embark on some AWS certs. I started working through the training but then it totally stalled. As i had an expiring exam voucher i forced issue and its scheduled for 3 months time. I need to set aside sufficient time between now and then to give myself any chance. I’m going for AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

New Technologies:

  • Ansible and SaltStack . The scale of things at my new job compared to my old one is staggering. Everything is multiplied by 10x. Therefore it’s going to be essential for me to get much more familiar with configuration management

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VMware {code}

~ Craig Dalrymple

As relative new comer to the world of coding and in an attempt to rectify this situation I started looking about for good, reliable sources for all things Powercli/API related to VMware. My 1st thoughts were to try the usual suspects like blog posts from Alan Renouf, William Lam and Chris Whal.

During my numerous searches I discovered that If you’re looking for an API, powercli example or guidance for design standards etc then https://code.vmware.com should definitely be your 1st place of call.

code.vmware.com

The VMware {code} website is a one stop shop for all things code related. From API information, to Powercli snippets and even guidelines on UX design standards , it really has something for everyone.

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VCAP-NV (3V0-643) Exam Experience

~ James Cruickshank

I have been working with NSX everyday for the last year or so and decided it was time to get the VCAP-NV (3V0-643 exam) out of the way, unfortunately I decided to put myself under a load of time pressure as I booked the exam for about 3 weeks after I started to study… hence the multiple blog posts every night!

I have already sat and passed the VCAP-DCA so had a reasonable idea what the format of this exam might be like i.e. too many questions and not enough time ? The exam system is based on the familiar VMware Hands on Lab interface which is a huge improvement over the last setup in my opinion. There are a couple of tips that are called out at the start of the exam which are well worth doing (setting the manual to float, changing the screen resolution, maximising the screen real estate as much as possible etc.) as the exam kit, at least in the exam centre I was, is still a single tiny monitor! Not what I am used to!

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NSX-T – Physical Requirements

~ James Cruickshank

I’ve been really lucky over the last few weeks getting to do some deep dive workshops on NSX-T and will be blogging a lot about the good the bad and the ugly over the next few weeks (really good timing for “Blogtober” right?!)

First things first the documentation, for the moment at least, is a little bit on the light side. VMware are obviously working on the documentation as I am starting to see some more become available in the public domain but it certainly wasn’t as well documented as other GA products.

This leads onto my first topic, as I think it’s quit a big one!

I’m going to post about the new routing and switching technologies/methodologies used in NSX-T as they are VERY different from NSX-V in the next few days but for now let’s assume there is a need to move away from the well known and loved Distributed Switch (start looking up the Opaque Switch). Put simply you can’t run a vSphere Distributed Switch on a KVM host, the price for delivering a Hypervisor agnostic SDN solution means we need to introduce a new type of virtual switch.

No big deal right?

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