Newb to VMware

I have a View project that will be hopefully getting signed off on soon. A contractor is going to stand up a VMware View 5 starter kit in our office. It will also be using Netapp. Goal is to service about 30 virtual desktops for secure remote access....initially. We may expand that and also use it for servicing thin clients next year if all goes well.

Anyway, I plan to spend a lot of time with the contractor for some knowledge transfer so I can at least manage everything to some extent and do some basic tasks. But I wouldn't be opposed to learning more. Obviously VMware can be a valuable skill in IT and I think there is only a handful of state guys around here that are really good at it.

What are some recommendations for a newbie? I do have the Mastering Vsphere 5 book already, but haven't opened it up yet. I was thinking if requesting money be set side for some advanced formal training this next fiscal year. If I remember correctly, VMware is tight on all of their training and only they host it or something? Wondering what a course on Vsphere and View would run me and where I might have to travel to take it.

Thanks.

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dave330i

There are 2 books coming out relating to View 5. I'd probably get VMware View 5 Desktop Virtualization Solutions. Trainsignal has a pretty good video series for VCP5. I haven't watched their View series.

The only exam that requires VMware certified training is VCP.

jmritenour

I highly recommend this book as well for VDI. Don't be fooled by the seemingly negative title - it's actually pro-VDI, it just goes over some of the common pitfalls and ways to mitigate them.

ChooseLife

SteveLord wrote: »

If I remember correctly, VMware is tight on all of their training and only they host it or something? Wondering what a course on Vsphere and View would run me and where I might have to travel to take it.

VMware has Academy program for schools and training centers that pass a certain set of requirements and become authorized partners.

An online program from UCSC Extensions is a popular choice for "vanilla VCP", i.e. VMware vSphere. The course is ~$1000 and I would recommend it as a training option over a standard 5-day / $3500 class. I don't know much about View training though.

thsouthern

I like VMware that the virtual servers provide benefits in several fields for example higher availability, faster deployment, lower cost, lower energy use, and simpler upgrades.

SteveLord

I can't wait to get my feet wet with Vsphere and View this summer. Trying to get the office to set aside some funds for formal training.

SteveLord

Probably another dumb question...

For someone being so green to this, is it recommended that I take a VSphere course first? Then View? (Pending office approval for both.) I noticed VMware recommends Vsphere experience/course completion as a prerequisite to the View course.

(I do not have VCP in my forecast anytime soon if that helps. Probably go a year before thinking of that.)

sratakhin

Managing vSphere is much easier than View.

dave330i

SteveLord wrote: »

Probably another dumb question... For someone being so green to this, is it recommended that I take a VSphere course first? Then View? (Pending office approval for both.) I noticed VMware recommends Vsphere experience/course completion as a prerequisite to the View course.

(I do not have VCP in my forecast anytime soon if that helps. Probably go a year before thinking of that.)

View is built upon vSphere, so some knowledge of vSphere is required.

scott28tt

SteveLord wrote: »

Probably another dumb question... For someone being so green to this, is it recommended that I take a VSphere course first? Then View? (Pending office approval for both.) I noticed VMware recommends Vsphere experience/course completion as a prerequisite to the View course.

(I do not have VCP in my forecast anytime soon if that helps. Probably go a year before thinking of that.)

You'll get much more out of your View training the more you know about vSphere.

tprice5

^ guy's VM cert list is impressive.

dave330i

jmritenour wrote: »

I highly recommend this book as well for VDI. Don't be fooled by the seemingly negative title - it's actually pro-VDI, it just goes over some of the common pitfalls and ways to mitigate them.

Should get it this Friday. Looking forward to reading it at the end of the month.

onesaint

ChooseLife wrote: »

VMware has Academy program for schools and training centers that pass a certain set of requirements and become authorized partners.

I start this class (ICM) at my local JC in the Fall. It's your standard in-class 16 week course, although I'm hoping to get a voucher out of it for the VCP. The plus side, the class only costs 130.00. The down side, it's 3 hours, 1 day per week, and 16 weeks long. I'd much rather bang that out in 4 weeks or so.

Stevelord, you might consider looking into the JC or UCSC course if your company doesn't spring for the ICM training.

Essendon

Yeah I'll second using UCSC for the training. $1100 for the training and they give you a discount voucher at the end of it. I'm going through the training and it hasnt been bad, but I reckon they should've made the labs harder. Still, worth it.

SteveLord

They'll spring for the classroom training. And what's nice is they are done allover country so I can get something in the midwest that, in theory, should be cheaper as far as travel.

Tricky part will be finding a week to do the VSphere and then the View training hopefully not too long afterward. My biggest obstacle is going to be my real boss (the wife) in all of this.

dave330i

After your training, you'll want to check out vBrownBags. Good prep videos for the exams.

SteveLord

Anyone familiar with VMUG? Subscribing to this looks like it would pay for itself with the class discount alone.

scott28tt

VMUG is great for a number of reasons, the Advantage may pay for itself if you're planning on spending on the things they discount - the training discounts only apply in North America I think, as it's only VMware themselves and Global Knowledge in the US who honour the discount from what I remember...

VMUG events are great too, I go to the London one whenever I can

dave330i

VMware View 5 Desktop Virtualization Solutions is available for purchase. I should have my copy this Friday.

dave330i

Just finished reading VMware View 5 Desktop Virtualization Solutions. It along with The VDI Delusion & VMware .pdfs should enable a successful VDI deployment, I think.

SteveLord

What would you say is adequate bandwidth for 15 virtual desktops? (Win7, Adobe Acrobat, MS Office and .ISO viewing being the main functions)

Down/Up
5/1
10/1
15/2
20/2
50/5

sratakhin

Dave, what are your thought about the VDI delusion book?

jasonboche

Understanding vSphere is going to be fundamental to managing a VMware View environment so I'd get some solid vSphere skills in the books first. The "Mastering vSphere 4/5" book mentioned earlier in this thread is among the best and a solid read.

Next you'll need to dig into VMware View and all of its componenets, especially if you plan to utilize Linked Clone pools and View Composer. I don't know how large your environment is but if possible, consider separate vSphere infrastructure for View. It tends to make things easier down the road when it's time to upgrade infrastructure or troubleshoot, particularly when other bolt-on products exist such as vCloud Director (vCD) or Site Recovery Manager (SRM) just to name a few examples.

Lastly, and maybe most important, managing desktops and the users entitled to said desktops is both an art and a science and can require a different style, skills, and tools than managing datacenter infrastructure. If you already manage desktops today, this isn't news for you. They key to successful VDI deployment is keeping the end users happy. They may already be on edge due to losing their desktop or experiencing a shift in EUC technology so your soft skills go a long ways with keeping things positive. Don't dive in head first and expect to deploy a 500 seat environment in 2 weeks. VDI is a garbage in=garbage out proposition. Storage I/O profiles are quite different in the VDI world so understand your current desktop image, optimize your desktop image for VDI, and be sure you have the spindles to deliver IOPS required for VDI. A VDI infrastructure is READ I/O heavy on desktop boot up (you may need to manage boot storms). However, after boot and logon, steady state I/O throughout the course of the day is WRITE I/O heavy (80-90% write). Spindle count and RAID levels to satisfy both reads and writes will make you a rock star or a goat. Often with VDI you only get once chance at success so don't rush it and blow it, ruining the reputation of VDI along the way with your users. Before going to production, you have got to go through a pilot phase with your users, perhaps multiple phases ramping up desktop count and watch the load on the infrastructure and storage.

Good luck

dave330i

sratakhin wrote: »

Dave, what are your thought about the VDI delusion book?

I enjoyed it. It went over many of the pitfalls you can run into. Very quick read. Easy to digest.