Chicago VMUG UserCon Session Recap "Virtualization and Small Business"

I had the privilege of making my VMUG speaking debut at September's Chicago VMUG UserCon. It was an honor to be asked to speak at the same event as some of the people I've looked to for
information and guidance throughout my career. I am glad I've got my first session under my belt, as I'm scheduled to present at November's North Central WIVMUG Super Meeting.

My community session, co-presented with +Brian Kirsch, was on the use of virtualizaiton in the small business environment. You can find our slide deck here.

What I noticed, after attending numerous VMUG meetings, is that no one is really focusing on the small portion of the SMB market. When I say small, I'm referring to 200 or less employees, 1 - 2 ESXi hosts. There are plenty of great resources out there if you're working with a few hundred VMs, but what if the company only requires 5, 10, or 20 guests? Given that's the size of the market I have most experience with, and also, community resources for the admins of these smaller IT departments is largely overlooked, I decided that I could share my experiences and help others along the way.

Now, rather than write a lengthy blog post recapping our entire session, I felt I could better share my knowledge by breaking the session down into each topic covered.

Over the next few weeks, watch for posts on the following topics:

• Virtualization Architecture for Small Business
• VMware & Other Vendor Licensing in the Small Environment
• Techniques for Small Business Virtualization 
• Tools for the Small Business VMware Admin

In closing, Brian offered the following thoughts:

"The success of the SMB is depended on the needs of today and the growth of tomorrow. Architecture has to be planned out carefully as growth is not hoped for but expected. It becomes a question of how much growth and how quickly all while balancing costs and profits. Understanding the various options and how they translate into the future with design, storage and licenses is a complex undertaking but having that established path which will translate into less obsolesce. Technology for the SMB cannot be a throw away resource as you grown, it has to be a carefully planned base that allows you to expand at a moments notice without breaking your budgets."

If you've got any questions, would like to chat, or would like to suggest any other topics, feel free to contact me via Twitter, @ExploreVM, LinkedIn, or in the comments section below.