What it Means to be a VMware Pro

What does it mean to be aVMware pro?A look at the evolution of the role of the VMware professional

Scott Lowehttp://blog.scottlowe.org

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❝The only thing that is constant is change.❞—Heraclitus

What would you say was VMware's major value proposition in the early years?

Consolidation

What would you say is VMware's major value proposition today?

It's about speed,flexibility,& agility

VMware's value proposition has evolved

VMware's technologies have also evolved☞ It's not just about VMs anymore

☞ Multiple forms of virtualization: not just compute, but storage and network virtualization as well

☞ Products to help with management/operations, automation/orchestration, and security

☞ It's about the software-defined data center

So what makes VMware pros think we don't have to change and evolve?

❝If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more.❞—Eric Shinseki

It's time for therise of thedata centerarchitect

The data center architect is the next step☞ Just as VMware's value and technologies are evolving, so too do

VMware professionals need to evolve

☞ VMware professionals are well-suited to evolve into the data center architects

☞ VMware sits at the center of the software-defined data center and touches almost every other area

❝The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.❞—Socrates

We must constantly be learning☞ Business drivers and business value

☞ Storage

☞ Networking

☞ Security

☞ Automation/orchestration

Practical steps to getting started➀ Model some DevOps principles

➁ Expand your technical horizons

➂ Think systems, not components

➃ Talk to the business

DevOps? What does that have to do with this?

Model some DevOps principles☞ Look beyond the hype (DevOps isn't just for Dev and Ops)

☞ A key tenet of DevOps is breaking down barriers between groups to improve the business value of IT

☞ DevOps principles are valuable to any IT pro

☞ CAMS (Culture, Automation, Measurement/Metrics, Sharing)

Expand your technical horizons☞ Linux

☞ Automation/orchestration tools

☞ New storage architectures

☞ Network virtualization

☞ Don't get distracted by the new shiny!

Think systems, not components☞ Think at a systems level: your data center is a system, not a

bunch of individual technologies

☞ Compute affects storage which affects networking which impacts security which has an effect on operations...

☞ Everything is interrelated and connected

Talk to the business!☞ Understand the business of your business

☞ Think about how the work of IT (your work) affects the business

☞ Talk in their language

☞ Focus on requirements, not solutions

☞ Say yes, not no

Q&A

❝No man steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.❞—Heraclitus

Thank you!Be sure to provide feedback to the VMUG leaders regarding this session.

Blog: http://blog.scottlowe.orgTwitter: @scott_loweGitHub: https://github.com/lowescottLife: Colossians 3:17