ExploreVM Podcast Season 3 Episode 5: VMware Project Pacific & Tech Field Day Short

In this ExploreVM Podcast short we discuss VMware Project Pacific with Tech Field Day's Ken Nalbone.

Listen to "Season 3 Episode 5: VMware Project Pacific & Tech Field Day Short" on Spreaker.

Links
Ken Nalbone - Twitter
Tech Field Day - Twitter
TFDx Video - VMware Introduction to Project Pacific
TFDx Video - How Project Pacific Was Created for vSphere
TFDx Video - VMware Project Pacific Architecture

Do you have an idea or a topic for the show? Would you like to be a guest on the ExploreVM podcast? Or just keep up the conversation about VMworld 2019? If so, please contact me on Twitter, Email, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

ExploreVM Podcast Season 3 Episode 4: VMworld 2019 Pt 2

In a two part series, we take a look at VMworld 2019, some of the announcements, and the community around the convention.

Part 2 features discussions around attending a large conference, interacting with the community, and how to get involved both before and at the conference.

Listen to "Season 3 Episode 4: VMworld 2019 Part 2" on Spreaker.

My Guests:
Sean Massey - Twitter
Tim Smith - Twitter
Eric Stacey - Twitter
Tim Smith's Website
Sean Massey's Website
Eric Stacey's Website


Do you have an idea or a topic for the show? Would you like to be a guest on the ExploreVM podcast? Or just keep up the conversation about VMworld 2019? If so, please contact me on Twitter, Email, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

ExploreVM Podcast Season 3 Episode 3 - VMworld 2019 Pt. 1

In a two part series, we take a look at VMworld 2019, some of the announcements, and the community around the convention.

This episode features return guests to the show with some hot takes around recent announcements, acquisitions, and products.

Listen to "Season 3 Episode 3: VMworld 2019 Part 1" on Spreaker.

My Guests & Links:
Twitter - Angelo Luciani
Angelo's Blog
Twitter - Josh Fidel
vBeards.com
Operation Underground Railroad
Morpheus Data
Damn Near Kiltem
Twitter - Sean Thulin
Thulin' Around

Do you have an idea or a topic for the show? Would you like to be a guest on the ExploreVM podcast? Or just keep up the conversation about VMworld 2019? If so, please contact me on Twitter, Email, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

ExploreVM Podcast Season 3 Episode 2 - HCI Series: Simplivity

Hello and welcome to the ExploreVM Podcast.
Today we continue our series on Hyperconverged infrastructure.

Once again, The goal for this series is to help build an understanding of hyperconverged infrastructure, it's place in the datacenter world, and spotlight the various ways that vendors are deploying HCI.

As a reminder, my guests for this series work for the vendors, but these episodes are not sponsored.
I am not receiving any sort of compensation for these appearances.
And all vendors appearing have had a strict set of rules laid out for their appearance.

1) No Bashing other HCI Vendors
2) Keep it technical, this is a technical podcast
3) This is NOT a free commercial for your product
4) No bashing other HCI Vendors

Alright, let's begin
Next up in the HCI Series, we have HPE Simplivity.


Listen to "Season 3 Episode 2: HCI Series - Simplivity" on Spreaker.

Today's guests come to us directly from HPE.

My Guests:

Charles Wood - SDCG Product Marketing
Chuck on Twitter

Vinay M Jonnakuti
Vinay on Twitter

HPE Simplivity
Simplivity Twitter
Simplivity Site
Simplivity on YouTube

To continue the conversation on hyperconverged infrastructure, or if you're an HCI vendor and would like to be a guest on the ExploreVM podcast, please contact me on Twitter, Email, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

ExploreVM Podcast Season 3 - HCI Series: VXrail

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages!
It's the moment you've all been waiting for!
Season 3 of the ExploreVM Podcast starts now!

Before we do, I want to say thank you to my listeners.
In 2018, the ExploreVM podcast received more than a 50% increase in downloads than 2017, and ExploreVM.com saw a greater than 300% increase in hits.
Its always great when someone messages me or approaches me at an event and says how much they enjoy the show.
I appreciate everyone's continued support, and look forward to providing quality content that I hope you all enjoy.

As for season 3, we are going to dive head first into the Hyperconverged Series that I discussed at the end of last season.

The goal for this series is to help build an understanding of hyperconverged infrastructure, it's place in the datacenter world, and spotlight the various ways that vendors are deploying HCI.

Now, we are going to approach this series a bit differently as I've reached out to the vendors directly to appear on the show versus the usual community members that I have on as guests.

That being said, this is NOT a sponsored series.
I am not receiving any sort of compensation for these appearances.
And all vendors appearing have had a strict set of rules laid out for their appearance.

1) No Bashing other HCI Vendors
2) Keep it technical, this is a technical podcast
3) This is NOT a free commercial for your product
4) No bashing other HCI Vendors

Alright, with the ground rules out of the way, let's begin.

We start the HCI series discussing VxRail.


Listen to "Season 3: HCI Series - VXrail" on Spreaker.


My Guest:
https://twitter.com/sthulin
https://www.thulinaround.com/

I'd like to take a moment to thank those of you who voted for ExploreVM.com and the ExploreVM Podcast in the 2018 Top vBlog polls. With your help, we were named #10 Favorite Podcast, and #34 on the favorite independent blogger list. I am honored and humbled to be listed among so many great contributors in our community.

Thank you for your support. Let's see if we can climb higher for 2019!

To continue the conversation on hyperconverged infrastructure, or if you're an HCI vendor and would like to be a guest on the ExploreVM podcast, please contact me on Twitter, Email, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

Troubleshoot & Assess the Health of VMware Environments with Free Tools - VMworld 2018

I had the opportunity to present my first VMworld breakout session at this years conference in Las Vegas. Below are the videos of the demos provided during the session, as well as links to the tools discussed. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information!

Session Description 

Based on his highly popular VMUG session, Paul Woodward Jr. (@ExploreVM) will review some of the tools he's used in his career to assess the health and troubleshoot issues with VMware environments. Paul will provide demonstrations and real world examples on how these tools have helped him solve problems that plague every VMware admin. And the best part, these tools are free!

vCheck

 Links

vCheck Website 
vCheck Github

RVTools

Links

RVtools Website 
Yellow Bricks - New Version Available 

ESXTOP

\

Links

Yellow Bricks 
vFrank - ESXTOP 
Virten - ESXTOP

vRealize Log Insight

Links

VMware - vRealize Log Insight 
vRealize Log Insight - End of Availability

Other Session Links

vDocumentation 
Vester
Veeam One Free Edition
Top 21 Must Have VMware Admin Tools 
101 Free VMware Tools 
Free VMware Tools 

 If you have suggestions for tools that should be added to the above list, do not hesitate to contact me via any of the channels provided below.

Do you have an idea or a topic for the blog? Would you like to be a guest on the ExploreVM podcast? If so, please contact me on Twitter, Email, or Facebook.

ExploreVM Podcast - Nutanix .Next 2018 Review

On this episode of the ExploreVM podcast, we take a look back at the Nutanix .Next conference. New Orleans played host to the 2018 Nutanix .Next conference. This year marked my 3rd consecutive year attending, and 2nd as a Nutanix technology champion. Communities manager Angelo Luchiani had plenty of surprises lined up for us, including having myself and other NTCs arrive at the Opening Keynote in a Mardi Gras float. He's also done an excellent job expanding a communities area, creating lightning tech talks, and providing an area for podcasters. I made sure to take full advantage of the space and pin down a few interviews for a short wrap up podcast.

In the first two segments, I chat with Angelo and Mike Gelhar about what's going on in the world of Nutanix followed by a discussion on Nutanix certification. The final segment is a bit of a one off, but it's relevant to those of us who do a lot of travel for work. There were several major product announcements made at the conference. My personal favorite is Beam. I've linked a few blog posts from fellow NTCs about these announcements in the show notes, and I will have my own post up in the near future. I hope you enjoy.


Listen to "2018 Nutanix .Next Wrap Up" on Spreaker.

Here I am giving my Lightning Tech Talk. 

My Guests:
Angelo Luciani
Mike Gelhar
René van den Bedem
Ken Nalbone
Brandon Graves

NTC Nutanix .Next Announcement Posts
https://vcdx133.com/2018/05/09/nutanix-next-us-announcements/
http://www.techspresso.com/nutanix-next-2018-summary/
https://www.racscale.com/2018/05/09/next-2018-xtract-x-ray-updates/
https://www.racscale.com/2018/05/09/next-2018-nutanix-flow/
https://alarasheedblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/09/next-experience-day-1/


Blog: www.ExploreVM.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExploreVM
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explorevm/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-woodward-jr


Do you have an idea or a topic for the show? Would you like to be a guest on the ExploreVM podcast? If so, please contact me on Twitter, Email, or Facebook.

ExploreVM Podcast Short - Camp Rubrik: Insiders Edition

This special episode of the ExploreVM Podcast was recorded live at Camp Rubrik - Insiders Edition at the Rubrik Headquarters in Palo Alto, California. I was one of 15 influencer "Campers" to participate in this day long event featuring unprecedented access to the Rubrik Staff. In this round table discussion, I am joined by Byron Schaller, Brett Guarino, and Matt Crape as we chat about the day's events. Watch for a full blog post about the event to follow soon!



Listen to "Camp Rubrik: Insiders Edition" on Spreaker.

Photo Courtesy of Sean Massey

My Guests:
Twitter: Matt Crape
Twitter: Brett Guarino
Twitter: Byron Schaller

Blog: www.ExploreVM.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExploreVM
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explorevm/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-woodward-jr


Do you have an idea or a topic for the show? Would you like to be a guest on the ExploreVM podcast? If so, please contact me on Twitter, Email, or Facebook.

Top 3 Features of Nutanix AOS 5.6

On April 16th, Nutanix released it's newest version of AOS (Acropolis Operating System). The 5.6 release has 9+ new features. But rather than cover them all, I wanted to call out what I consider the top 3 features of this release.

One or Two Node Deployment for Remote / Branch Office

Many businesses face the challenge of maintaining IT resources in remote locations. Whether it be a branch office or retail outlet, choosing the right solution to provide infrastructure which is easy to deploy and manage can prove difficult. Enter AOS 5.6. With this release, Nutanix now offers a single or dual node solution for ROBO deployment. The single node deployment can support up to 5 VMs, with disk level resiliency. The two node option supports up to 10 VMs and offers node level resiliency. Both options are managed centrally via Prism Central, allowing admins to administer the nodes alongside their on-premises data center. ROBO sites can also utilize cross hypervisor DR between the remote site and the DR location. And with all other Nutanix, the ROBO sites can be remotely upgraded using the same 1 click upgrades as the local site, saving the complexity of keeping a remote office up to date.

Microsegmentation hits GA

AHV users can now benefit from the GA release of Microsegmentation. Built into 5.6 and managed via Prism, application centric policy models can be deployed using a stateful distributed firewall. Single virtual machines or groups of VMs can all be protected, including blocking east/west traffic between them. Microsegmentation offers granular application isolation and zoning without configuring VLANs.

Volume Group Load Balancing of vDisks 

For users with high IO VMs, AOS 5.6 includes the ability for AHV to load balance vDisks in a volume group. CPU and memory resources are pulled from multiple CVMs (Controller VMs). This distribution across CVMs helps to improve the performance of the virtual machine and reduce bottlenecks.

Related links

What's New | AOS 5.6 - Nutanix
VCDX133.com - Nutanix AOS 5.6 Released
VCDX56.com - Nutanix AOS & Prism Central Version 5.6 & Much More Released

Do you have an idea or a topic for the blog? Would you like to be a guest on the ExploreVM podcast? If so, please contact me on Twitter, Email, or Facebook.

That's a Wrap: An ExploreVM Look Back at 2017

One word comes to mind as I sit here and look back at 2017 and the adventures I've had with the ExploreVM blog/podcast - Growth. I am thankful to be part of a great community that has provided new opportunities, new ventures, and new experiences. I haven't been nearly as productive on the blog/podcast front in November and December of last year due to some personal matters, getting slammed with work, and the holiday. So, let's kick off 2018 with a review of 2017, and a preview of things to come.

Community Recognition

 

For the second year in a row, I was privileged enough to be part of the VMware vExpert program. I often tell people that just because I am a "vExpert", it doesn't mean that I know everything about VMware. And man is that true when immersed in the vExpert Slack channels or conversating with vExperts at events. I've learned so much from fellow vExperts in the past year that I couldn't begin to thank everyone who's knowledge I've grown from.

I also took a crack at applying for another community program, and to my surprise I was accepted. I was named one of the 150 Nutanix Technology Champions for 2017. What I like about the NTC program is that it is smaller than similar groups which gives individuals a better experience. There are a great group of technologists in the NTC program which have helped me grow my skill set immensely since I joined. Angelo Luciani runs a great program at Nutanix!  

Blogging and Podcasting

 

As an accompaniment to the blog I've been running for four years, I dove into the world of podcasting. The first season of the ExploreVM podcast launched in February with15 episodes focusing on various topics in the datacenter realm. It's been great to follow the career journey of my guests after their appearance on the show.

In January I will begin recording episodes for Season 2, which I plan on kicking off in February. The goal is to publish an episode every two weeks. I'm looking for guests, so please do not hesitate to reach out on Twitter or drop me an email if you want to appear. I'd like to bring on some new voices and perspectives in the next season. Let's explore the datacenter world together!

On the blog front, 2017 marked my most productive year with 14 posts. The vExpert and Nutanix NTC program provided lots of great access to products and announcements, which in turn lead to numerous posts. With added posts, comes added readership as well. A bit of a humble brag, but ExploreVM.com saw a 325% increase in hits from EOY 2016 to EOY 2017. If everything I've got lined up works out as planned, including a new website design, 2018 should see the same growth!

As we look forward into 2018, I have several posts lined up as a result of Tech Field Day. As we go forward, I see the ExploreVM blog taking more of an analyst route.. However, that does not mean that my event recaps or technical posts are going away, they will just occur a bit less often. Diving into technologies, learning what makes them work, and figuring out where they fit in the datacenter world has become not only beneficial to my professional life, but a very enjoyable aspect of my writing.

I have also launched a YouTube channel which I will be publishing videos on various topics. I expect these videos will parallel some of the podcasts, or be informative similar to VMUG sessions. This will be a new venture for me into 2018, but all of my previous podcasts are available there currently for review.

One more thought on the content creation front. As growing the blog and podcast is starting to incur some costs, namely hosting, software, and recording equipment, I am considering doing some sponsored content. This would be done in lieu of running ads. I find sponsored content to be less intrusive than ads on sites and podcasts, and when done properly, the posts can have quality content. If your company or product would like to sponsor a post or episode, please email me, or message me on Twitter.

Speaking and Events

  

The core of my community involvement has always been attending and speaking at VMUG meetings, and 2017 was no different. This year I added Keynote Panel speaker to the resume on top of my usual community sessions. Indianapolis, Chicago, and Wisconsin VMUGs were all gracious enough to allow me to speak at their UserCon's this past year. I take so much joy in giving back to the community that has helped my career explode. 

If you have never spoken at a VMUG meeting, please consider doing so. Community generated content is always in demand. Many people out in the vCommunity, myself included, are more than willing to coach you on your session. Like I mentioned before, everyone has useful experience, don't be afraid to share. 

This year had two new speaking firsts. March led off with a pre-recorded webinar that was sponsored by Intel and Nutanix. The recording experience was a touch nerve racking as I had no idea how I looked or sounded until the webinar aired. That being said, I would absolutely do it again. Community involvement led to speaking at two conferences during the summer of 2017. 

My final event for 2017 was an invitation to Tech Field Day 15 in San Jose, California. What's unique about the TFD15 experience versus my other events for the year is that the delegates get to grill the vendors and learn about products rather than having to speak on a topic. We were either  brought to the offices of the vendor, or they came to our location, and we were granted access to everyone from engineers to CEOs. While I am slipping a bit in the timeliness department, look for blog posts about these vendors in the coming weeks. Outside of the Tech, I got to meet, chat with, and learn some amazing folks in our industry. They certainly lit a fire underneath me to do more with myself after spending just a few days in their company. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get on to writing other blog posts and working on the website redesign. One last bit of info, I've included some of my goals for 2018, as well as some blog and podcast stats for last year. 

Goals for 2018

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate & Professional
• VMware VCIX
• Attend/speak at 3 conferences
• Speak at a VMUG in a state that I have not spoken in before
• Hit 2000 Twitter followers (currently at 940)

Podcast Stats

• Number of Podcast Downloads: 1149
• Number of Plays on ExploreVM.com: 288
• Listeners on 5 Continents 

Top 3 Downloaded Episodes

1. Making the Move to a Pre-Sales Role / VMware 101 (tie)
2. IT User Groups
3. Microsoft Azure

Top 3 Played Episodes (on the blog)

1. A VCDX Discussion
2. Making the Move to a Pre-Sales Role
3. On-Premises Datacenter is Dead, Long Live On-Premises Datacenter

Blog Stats

• 325% increase in views in 2017
• Readers From 6 Continents 

I hope everyone had a great holiday, and has an amazing 2018. I welcome any feedback on my previous posts, podcasts, or any of the upcoming ideas I've mentioned in this blog. And as always, if you'd like to be a guest or have an idea for an episode of the ExploreVM podcast, reach out to me on Twitter, Facebook, or Email.

ExploreVM Podcast - Episode 15: Mathematics of Dataloss with Dr. Rachel Traylor

Today we take a look into a world that I find fascinating and have limited experience with: Mathematics. Specifically the math behind some datacenter functions. We even brought in a real live doctor of mathematics to talk about it!  Let's take a listen.


Listen to "Mathematics of Dataloss with Dr. Rachel Traylor" on Spreaker.


Watch for some upcoming videos done in conjunction with The Math Citadel about various tech topics and the mathematics behind them.

To Contact Dr. Traylor
Personal Twitter
The MathCitadel Twitter
TheMathCitadel.com
The Article Discussed in this Episode


If you'd like to join the conversation about the show's topic, have any show ideas, or would like to be a guest, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM), Email, or on Facebook.

#Blogtober - A Thank You to Tech Field Day

Welcome to #Blogtober!

With my first post for #Blogtober, I wanted to take a moment to thank the folks over at Tech Field Day for a great experience. But before we dive into TFD, a bit about Blogtober. If you're not familiar, it's a movement started by Matt Heldstab to encourage members of the vCommunity to generate more blogs, increase their visibility in the community, and share what they have learned at conferences. As of writing this post, there are currently 56 bloggers signed up for this years Blogtober, with VMUG contributing prizes to random bloggers. For a full list of the blogs participating, check out the Blogtober Website.

Now, on to Tech Field Day! 

Last week I had the distinct privilege to participate in Tech Field Day 15 in Silicon Valley. Over the course of 3 days, we received demonstrations from 7 different vendors across the IT spectrum. What makes this a unique experience is that, in most cases, the delegates get the opportunity to pick the brains of the engineers, CEOs, or owners who are presenting their product. We have a 2 hour window to learn about the product and deep dive into the nuts and bolts of what makes it work.

The eleven delegates, myself included, came from a range of backgrounds and nationalities. Outside of the United States, Canada, England, Italy, and the Czech Republic were represented. This dynamic provided for some unique perspectives when it came to discussions with the vendors, and discussions among the delegates as we traveled between sites. 

Tech Field Day could not be a success without the hard work of the staff from Gestalt IT. Stephen Foskett was our ringmaster and the face of TFD. Off camera, Nikki made sure all of the delegates had everything they needed during each recording session and beyond. I owe many thanks to both of them, as well as the staff behind the scenes that I have not yet met. Kudos on a well ran event! 

As for the 7 vendors, keep an eye on ExploreVM.com for posts about each of them over the next two months. I'm looking to do a review of the each session and a deep dive into the products. I already have some post TFD follow up meetings with a few of the vendors to get more information, so these posts will have a lot of content. 

If you'd like to get caught up on Tech Field Day 15 before then, search #TFD15 on Twitter, or check out session recordings at the Tech Field Day YouTube Channel.

Final Thoughts.

I had originally planned on writing and posting this blog on Monday. Waking up to the tragic news out of Las Vegas took a lot out of me these past few days. Many of us in the tech industry are very familiar with the area that the massacre occurred. Even during the shooting, many of our colleagues were at the Mandalay Bay preparing for another conference. As far as I am aware, no one in the vCommunity was harmed during the shooting, but that is of little solace to the families of those 58 killed and 527 injured. Hundreds, if not thousands of people had their lives changed forever that day.

But, we can NOT let fear and hate win. I believe there is far more good in this world than there is evil. We saw it with the long lines of people waiting to donate blood on Monday. We saw it in the millions of dollars raised to help hurricane victims in Texas and Florida. And we see it every day in ourselves and our lives. Stand up to fear and continue to live your life. Keep helping those in need whether it be from natural disaster, a hungry family in your community, or as simple as helping a stranger in a store reach that top shelf. Let's continue to be the good, be the change in the world.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled technical content...

If you'd like to join the conversation about Tech Field Day 15, Blogtober, have any podcast/blog ideas, or would like to be a guest, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM), Email, or on Facebook.

"You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one"

-John Lennon

ExploreVM at VMworld 2017: Blogging, Podcasting, Speaking, & More!

The Summer is winding down, football season is closing in fast, and the days are getting shorter. It's that time of the year again: VMworld! Once again, I will be headed to the desert wasteland that is Las Vegas, Nevada to join a few (tens of) thousand(s) of my closest data center gurus for the conference of the summer! For the first time I will be attending as a blogger, which means I should be kicking out lots of content around announcements and products. Keep an eye here on the blog and Twitter for updates. I also have plenty of ExploreVM pins and stickers to hand out!

This year I will be presenting at the vBrownBag Tech Talks. These talks will be broadcast live Here, and posted to their YouTube channel shortly thereafter. The schedule for my sessions is as follows:

Two and a Half Free Tools to Help Troubleshoot vSphere Problems

Monday 08/28 1:30-1:45 Pacific

From CNC to VCP: A Journey of Professional Growth

Tuesday 08/29 1:30-2p Pacific

 I will also have my trusty Tascam audio recorder with me at all times looking to lock down some interviews for future episodes of the ExploreVM Podcast. If you see me at any time and would like to chat, feel free to stop me! I've also signed up for 2 blocks of time in the VMworld Community Podcast Booths and would welcome anyone to join me for some sessions:

Tuesday 08/29 @ 2:00 - 3:00p Pacific

Thursday 08/31 @ 12:00 - 1:00 Pacific

Finally, for those attending VMworld and will be in town Sunday, I am running vHoldem Sunday night. The location is currently in limbo as I need to find a casino willing to work with our numbers, but follow vHoldem on Twitter as well as the vHoldem Eventbrite Page for updates. 

And as always, if you'd like to join the conversation, have any show ideas, or would like to be a guest on the ExploreVM Podcast, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM), Email, or on Facebook.

ExploreVM Podcast - Episode 9: Microsoft Azure with Thom Greene

So we've discussed making the move from VMware to AWS, but it seems we have forgotten about our friends over at Microsoft. Let's take a look at what its like to dive into the world of Microsoft Azure

Listen to "ExploreVM Podcast" on Spreaker.


To Contact Thom:
https://www.thomgreene.com/azure
https://www.thomgreene.com
Twitter: @tbgree00
Twitter: @LexingtonVMUG
https://vbrownbag.com/
www.openedx.microsoft.com

If you'd like to join the conversation about the show's topic, have any show ideas, or would like to be a guest, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM), Email, or on Facebook.

Nutanix Next 2017 Wrap Up: Adding Google Cloud & Veeam to the Party!

As the Nutanix Next conference wrapped up for another year, there were a few more announcements since the Wednesday evening keynote, which I originally wrote about HERE. Attendance numbers looked to be around 3800 or so. In 2018, .Next will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana on May 8-10th.

Nutanix & Google Partnership

Nutanix and Google Cloud announced a strategic partnership at Next 2017. The primary focus of this partnership appears to be application mobility and the integration of hybrid cloud solutions. The Nutanix features which will first be available with this partnership include Xi Cloud Services for GCP, Calm for GCP, and Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS with Kubernetes. 

This partnership allows users to traverse data stored in GCP,  Xi Cloud Services Disaster Recovery, and locally without the need to migrate to one location. Using Calm for GCP, administrators could have one-click deployment of applications across both in house Nutanix environments and Google Cloud Platform locations using application blueprints. Enterprise Cloud OS will be able to utilize Acropolis Container Services (ACS) & Google Container Engine (GKE) to deploy Kubernetes workloads, using Calm Blueprints, either locally or in Google Cloud.

Veeam & Acropolis Hypervisor Integration

Adding another vendor to it's backup and recovery space, it was announced Friday that Veeam will now support the Acropolis Hypervisor. Veeam will utilize a virtual appliance to call AHV APIs. This will allow for agentless backups, as well as application consistent backups utilizing Nutanix Guest Tools. Veeam will utilize native AHV snapshots, and AHV Change Block Tracking (CBT) for periodic image level backups. Veeam Explorers will also be able to be utilized in an AHV environment.

Nutanix X-Ray

Nutanix X-Ray has been introduced as benchmarking and testing tool for on site and cloud based workloads. Some of the initial use cases being proposed by Nutanix include: workload simulation, node failure simulation, snapshot impacts over the long term, and database workload interference. A trial download of X-Ray can be found Here. 

If you were not able to make it to the conference this year, several videos have already been uploaded to YouTube. There will also be an Online .Next airing some of the breakout sessions which were recorded during this years conference. That should be live in the next month or so, keep an eye on the Nutanix social media accounts for updates. 

For more details on the major announcements from .Next 2017, take a look at the Nutanix News page. 

The Nutanix & GCP press release can be found here

If you'd like to join the conversation about Nutanix's new offerings, have any show ideas, or would like to be a guest on my podcast, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM), Email, or on Facebook.

Announcements from Nutanix .Next 2017: Here comes Nutanix Cloud Services

Three New Offerings From Nutanix announced at .Next

Officially announced today at the .Next Keynote, Nutanix is entering the realm of cloud services providers with their newest product Xi. Xi will come in two offerings: Xi Cloud Services, and Xi Disaster Recovery Service. Early indications on positioning for Xi Cloud Services appear to be a native cloud extension to the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Platform, while Xi Disaster Recovery Service looks to leverage rapid and intelligent protection of your Nutanix environment without the need to purchase and maintain separate infrastructure. Nutanix looks to offer these products for early release in November 2017, with GA coming in 2018.

Nutanix will start out with 4 data centers across the United States and expand over time. Long term plans include sites globally as well

Management of the solutions will be done through Prism. Nutanix has stated their goal is to offer an "iCloud like ease of use" when it comes to disaster recovery and Xi given that there is no new software to install and clients can experience "instant" provisioning of a recovery site. Enterprise Cloud OS will act as the go between for the local sites and Xi DR hosted locations.Xi DR also offers non-disruptive fail over testing for readiness & compliance purposes, as well as site to site encryption of data. Subscriptions will be available based on RPO, with RPOs as low as 1 hour.

Coming off of last year's acquisition of Calm.io, Nutanix also announced Nutanix Calm. Rather than just re-branding Calm.io, the product has been integrated into Prism. Much like Xi, calm has two initial offerings. Nutanix Calm provides application automation and life cycle management for the Nutanix Cloud Platform as well as public cloud offerings. Nutanix Marketplace allows organizations to fully automate the provisioning of hybrid cloud architectures, scaling both multi-tiered and distributed applications across different cloud environments.

Blueprints will be offered against varying cloud providers, and will also be managed through Prism. Pricing & licensing is currently being worked out, but early indications are that will be be on a per VM basis and scale out. To start out it's life, Calm will exist next to Marketplace, but eventually will be merged. Calm 1.0 will be released summer of 2017, with a 1.1 & 1.5 release expected about every 8 weeks respectively. 1.0 is going to offer support for AWS & AHV, with ESXi being added in 1.1. Look for Hyper-V, Azure, and Container support with Calm 1.5.

The final major announcement coming from .Next is Xtract. Xtract is a one click experience to simplify the on-boarding of VMware VMs to AHV. Xtract for VMs will be made public beta on June 30th, with full GA expected in Q1. Xtract for DBs will go GA on Friday June 30th as well. Nutanix states that Xtract offers agentless migrations with near-zero downtime. The migration will retain network configurations and automatically insert AHV drivers into the VMs.

If you'd like to join the conversation about Nutanix's new offerings, have any show ideas, or would like to be a guest on my podcast, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM), Email, or on Facebook.