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Category Archives: Virtual Infrastructure

vCloud Suite Beta

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vCloud Beta nominations are now open. Participants in the vCloud Suite Beta will work with Product Management and Engineering teams to help define the direction of the world’s most complete, trusted, and robust virtualization platform.

The vCloud Suite includes, among other products, vSphere and vCloud Director.

Overall Information

  • Private invitation-only Beta program
  • Highly confidential – Master Software Beta Test Agreement online acceptance is required prior to visiting the Beta Community
  • TAP Partners are eligible for Beta nominations
  • Beta code drops at scheduled intervals throughout program to include new feature functionality

Technical Requirements

  • General requirements:
    • vSphere 4.x or 5.x deployed
    • At least 2 server machines and one client machine
  • Storage-specific requirements:
    • At least 3 servers:
      • on vSphere HCL
      • Storage/server (note that SSD is only necessary to test some features, not required for all):
        • at least 1 SSD + 1 HDD per server that contributes storage to VSAN;
        • by quantity: total # of HDD’s >= total # of SSD’s;
        • by capacity: SSD capacity is ~10% of total HDD capacity (best practice)
    • Storage Controller: RAID controller/HBA, if present, supporting JBOD or pass-thru mode
    • Network: 10G NIC (best practice) or 1G NIC
  • Networking-specific requirements:
    • vCenter (Beta program version)
    • ESXi (Beta program version)
    • Four 10GB NICs
    • One switch with LACP supported (Cisco switch preferred)

As a TAP member, to get nominated for vCloud Suite beta, fill this form – http://short.solutionexchange.us/vsbnf

NDA Roadmaps at PEX for TAP Members

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Understand the evolving VMware technology landscape – don’t miss the NDA Roadmap sessions at PEX held exclusively for TAP members.

  • TEX1236 - NDA Roadmap Update: Cloud Infrastructure and Management (TAP only)
    Feb 26 at PEX – 12:30 – 3:00 PM in Jasmine A,B, third level.

    Eddie Dinel, Director of Product Management will lead this Roadmap session – A software-defined datacenter is where all infrastructure is virtualized and delivered as a service, and the control of this datacenter is entirely automated by software. VMware is making the software-defined datacenter a reality, starting with solutions announced at VMworld 2012. This session builds on that momentum with a NDA Roadmap look at VMware’s plans for 2013, 2014 and beyond in the areas of vSphere, software-defined networking and security, software-defined storage and availability, interacting with the virtual datacenter as an IT provider and IT consumer, infrastructure management, and extensibility.

  • TEX1907 - End User Computing, Mirage and Horizon NDA Roadmap (TAP only)
    Feb 27 at PEX – 2-4 PM in Jasmine A,B, third level.

    Robert Baesman, Director of Product Management, will lead this Roadmap – If you’re a VMware Technology partner who has any involvement whatsoever with End User Computing, this is THE must see session of the week.  We all are excited by the challenges and opportunities of user-centric computing and the consumerization of IT.  With this as a backdrop, we’ll dive into the NDA product road-maps for all three pillars of the VMware Horizon Suite, comprised of Horizon Mirage, Horizon View, and the new Horizon Workspace.  These are the facts you’ll need to plan and align your own business to meet the needs of our mutual end-user-focused customers

  • TEX1940 - Cloud Applications and Big Data Roadmap (TAP only)
    Feb 28 at PEX – 9-11 AM in Jasmine A,B, third level.

    Fausto Ibarra, Sr. Director of vCloud Application Services and Killian Murphy, Director of Product Management will lead this session. The session will cover two areas: The first, Cloud Applications, will cover VMware’s roadmap to support new types of applications on virtualized infrastructure. This will include a discussion of Cloud Foundry along with additional services supporting scale out and mobile applications. The second, Big Data, will address VMware’s roadmap for Big Data applications, including a discussion of Project Serengeti, how we are making vSphere the best platform for multi-tenant and elastic Hadoop, and our plans to support new workloads like Hadoop 2.0, HBase and Hadoop analytics.

Exciting Bootcamps & Workshops at Partner Exchange 2013

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TEX1150 @ PEX – Workflow Development with vCenter Orchestrator -Wed  Feb 27, 1 PM – 6 PM PT

Watch TEX1150 Session promo video now!  |   Session Details  |  Register Now

Use what you already have! Automation and Integration are key needs when implementing a Software Defined Data Center. With VMware vCenter Orchestrator you (and your customers!) already have a reliable Workflow Engine installed in your (their) environment (it’s included in every vCenter installation).

This Boot Camp gives you the know-how needed to activate this powerful platform. You will learn the architecture of vCenter Orchestrator, how to develop custom workflows, and how you can use Orchestrator to integrate all your IT Infrastructure. In lots of hands-on labs you will develop workflows based on real-world examples and use-cases.You will experience the Power of vCenter Orchestrator when we integrate vCloud Director, vCenter, vCloud Automation Center and components of the vCloud Suite with external systems. Even if the Workflow Library and the many Plugins allow to develop workflows mostly in graphical drag-and-drop style, experience in scripting or software development (no matter what programming language) is helpful for this Boot Camp. At the end of this Boot Camp you will be able to provide additional value to your services directly by automating and integrating your customer’s Infrastructure – without the need to sell additional products&licenses upfront!

Joerg Lew – Senior Consultant, VMware, Inc. & Brian Watrous – Technical Trainer, VMware, Inc.

CI1282 @ PEX – Delivering PCI Compliance on vCloud Suite – Tue Feb 26, 1 PM – 5 PM PT

Session Details  |  Register Now!

VMware and our Qualified Security Assessor partners have produced an Architecture Design Guide and Validated Reference Architecture for PCI. In this session we will look at an overview of this ongoing program to deliver evolving content for PCI and other compliance initiatives, such as healthcare and government. This content enables our partners to deliver services that facilitate our customers running applications subject to these compliance audits as part of their overall Business Critical Applications strategy.

Partners will learn details about what they can expect from VMware and Technology partners for turnkey approaches in the delivery of these solutions and also how to build service offerings that fill the gaps specific to customer environments and individual workloads.

VMware PEX 2013 Technology Exchange Track (TEX)

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Technology Exchange track at VMware Partner Exchange (PEX) 2013 has been organized by the TAP team – We have exciting and informative sessions lined up for you. Content catalog and the Schedule builder, both are live.

To help you choose which TEX sessions to attend, we have made great promo videos for some sessions!!

WATCH PROMO VIDEOS NOW!

Cloud Infrastructure

  • TEX1159 – Validating Your Business Critical Applications – Learn to better understand VMware’s validation services for partners
  • TEX1539 – TEX1539 VMware Network Security Partner Ecosystem Product Roadmaps
  • TEX1496 – What’s New – Storage APIs for Data Protection
  • TEX1132 – Big Data, Information Integration and Virtualization: Can They Coexist?
  • TEX1160 - Virtualizing Latency Sensitive Applications
  • TEX1294 - Integrating with vSphere Web Client SDK
  • TEX1437 - Storage Strategies for VMware vSphere & vCloud Suite

Cloud Application Platform

  • TEX1474 – Techniques for ISVs to Build Portable VMware’s Virtual Artifacts
  • TEX1442 vFabric Application Director & the Cloud Applications Marketplace Certification Program

Desktop Virtualization

  • TEX1960 - Protecting VMware View with vCloud Networking and Security

NDA Roadmaps – Exclusively for TAP members

  • TEX1907 – End User Computing, Mirage and Horizon NDA Roadmap (TAP Only)
  • TEX1236 - NDA Roadmap Update: Cloud Infrastructure and Management (TAP Only)

PEX Content Catalog - View all TEX Breakout Sessions here

Connect with the TAP Team with any PEX questions tapalliance@vmware.com

Sheela Toor
Marketing Communications Manager, Alliances

 

New Features Added To My VMware

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Announcing: New Features You’ve Been Asking For!

My VMware now includes new features to help you accomplish your tasks more quickly and easily. VMware implemented the enhancements in response to feedback we received directly from customers like you.

New features include:

  • Right-click menus to streamline access to key tasks such as adding a user to a folder, creating a sub-folder, renaming a folder and moving a folder
  • At-a-glance views of License Key notes by default in the folder view so you don’t have to open each record to find a specific License Key
  • Ability to filter on License Key notes to find specific records easily

VMware and Juniper Collaboration – Data Center Networks

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Hello from VMworld Europe!

First off I would like to thank the multitude of partners that are supporting VMware during this event. It’s amazing to see the momentum continue from VMworld in San Francisco to Barcelona, where our international and global partners continue to drive the virtualization revolution worldwide. In San Francisco we announced vCloud Suite 5.1, which is the most comprehensive cloud infrastructure and management solution for the software-defined datacenter. vCloud Suite includes groundbreaking innovation designed for cloud networking called VXLAN. Our customers are asking for security, compliance, performance, scalability and unified management – all of which VXLAN and the vCloud Suite from VMware deliver.

Software-defined networking (SDN) has always been an integral part of our virtualization journey, and vCloud Suite 5.1 does not disappoint. At its core is VXLAN, an architecture aimed at building automated scalable networks designed for the cloud. VXLAN provides the ability to build multi-tenant cloud networks to support the requirements of today’s business-critical application. The key to VXLAN’s success is its ability to integrate with the underlying physical network, eliminating the barriers imposed by traditional networking technology.

Physical layer integration ensures that the commitment around performance and scalability are satisfied. That’s why we are collaborating with Juniper Networks to build VXLAN solutions. Together we are addressing the requirements of software-defined networking and scalability for cloud providers and enterprise IT datacenter markets. Juniper and VMware have partnered to deliver integrated solutions to our customers for years and this is another example of that strong relationship. Through this collaboration, customers will benefit from the flexibility and performance that only the integration of physical and virtual networks can provide.
See Juniper’s blog.

I hope you enjoy VMworld Europe as much as I do. I would strongly encourage you to learn more about our latest networking innovations by attending breakout sessions and viewing technology demonstrations at the VMware booth.

Parag Patel, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware

VMware Introduces PCI Compliance Reference Architecture for Business-Critical Applications at VMworld® 2012 Europe

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VMworld® 2012 Europe will be a great event for networking and learning. Please stop by and visit us at booth V100 where you can learn about the new Cloud Management solutions, and how to gain even more efficiency from VMware vSphere. VMware experts will be available at our booth to discuss the critically important issue of compliance.

As you advance in your journey to the cloud and take steps to virtualize business-critical applications, VMware is here to provide the products and support you expect. VMware has recently taken steps to deliver products, services and guidance to address the multitude of regulations faced by your organization and help you meet your compliance needs.

The virtualization of business critical applications requires our customers to address multiple intersecting regulations. On Thursday, we announced the availability of the VMware Compliance Reference Architecture for PCI.

VMware Compliance Reference Architectures provide the guidance necessary to configure, deploy and operate VMware cloud infrastructure when running highly regulated business critical applications.

The VMware Compliance Reference Architecture for PCI is the first of what will be multiple regulation and corporate governance specific architectures. With VMware cloud infrastructure, along with security and compliance partner solutions, in addition to support from accredited audit partner guidance, we will deliver regulation specific, auditor validated solution guides and reference architectures.

The ability for you to securely deploy and manage your VMware cloud infrastructure is a critical first step to realizing the efficiencies of VMware vSphere. The next step when virtualizing business critical applications is to address the unique compliance requirements of your organization. The VMware Compliance Reference Architecture for PCI guides you to confidently move your business critical applications to the cloud.

Take time to visit the VMware booth (V108) to learn how the VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite delivers the functionality required to meet the IT and business compliance needs for your organization.

VMware partner ecosystem

The VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) and the Consulting and Integration Partner Program(CIPP) programs have been expanded to include audit advisory firms with the addition of Coalfire, K3DES and  Accuvant, into the programs. These partners bring a new level of compliance expertise to VMware and our technology partners. Combining their industry expertise and VMware accreditation, they provide objective guidance to customers on the use of VMware products to address complex regulatory requirements.

Visit Symantec in booth P107 to learn how Symantec Endpoint Protection integrates with VMware vShield Endpoint to meet PCI Requirement 11.

VMware Compliance Reference Architecture for PCI

The Compliance Reference Architecture for PCI includes the VMware Solution Guide for PCI and the VMware Architecture Design Guide for PCI.

These documents help customers understand how they can leverage both VMware vCenter Operations Management and VMware vCloud Networking and Security Suites to deploy secure and compliant VMware vCloud and View infrastructures in accordance with PCI requirements.

Visit HP in booth D202 to learn how HP vController+vFW helps customers meet PCI DSS Requirement 2.

  • VMware products are identified and mapped at the control level to PCI DSS 2.0 requirements
  • Operational best practices are combined with VMware accredited PCI QSA auditor guidance to help organizations meet PCI DSS 2.0 regulatory requirements
  • VMware architectural design recommendations are PCI QSA reviewed
  • VMware technology partner products are identified and mapped to the PCI DSS 2.0 requirements by VMware accredited PCI QSA auditors
  • VMware’s technology partners working with VMware accredited PCI QSA audit partners deliver the same level of product guidance delivered as an addendum to the VMware Compliance Reference Architecture.

Visit RSA at the Cloud Security pod in the EMC booth D207, to see how this architecture is supported by the RSA Archer GRC platform, as well as the rest of the RSA product suite, which together can provide complete visibility into your PCI compliance posture.

VMware Technology Partner Solution Guides for PCI

VMware technology partners are publishing Solution Guides for PCI that highlight how VMware security and compliance partner solutions can be leveraged alongside of VMware technologies in highly heterogeneous environments. VMware’s technology partners working with VMware accredited PCI QSA audit partners provide the same level of product guidance delivered as an addendum to the VMware Compliance Reference Architecture.

Visit LogRhythm in booth N100 to learn how the LogRhythm PCI Cloud Compliance Solution can enable your organization to meet multiple PCI requirements

For more information on VMware compliance solutions email us at compliance@vmware.com

Parag Patel
Vice President, Alliances, VMware

TEX sessions at VMworld Barcelona

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VMworld Barcelona is almost here. A big thank you to over 500 TAP partners who have already registered for VMworld Europe! Here are some great TEX sessions you can attend that will help you integrate with VMware products better.

Roadmap sessions exclusively for TAP members

Watch TEX preview videos

Register for TEX sessions early to avoid dissapointment

Request meeting with Alliances at Barcelona
Meeting request 

See you all at Barcelona!
Sheela Toor
Marketing Communications Manager, Alliances

VMware Announces General Availability of VMware vCloud® Suite 5.1

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VMware has announced the general availability of VMware vCloud® Suite 5.1, a complete,  integrated cloud infrastructure solution that integrates VMware’s leading virtualization, cloud infrastructure and management portfolio into a single SKU, simplifying the adoption of cloud era technologies.

We would like to thank the partner community for the fantastic support - see partner quotes here. We would like partners to continue with integration efforts.

cloud1.jpg (1019×580)

The VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 extends the benefits of virtualization to every domain in the datacenter – compute, storage, networking, and the associated availability and security services.  It includes industry leading virtualization, software-defined datacenter services, policy-based provisioning, disaster recovery, and application and operations management capabilities delivered by:

  • VMware vSphere® 5.1 – With more than 100 enhancements and new features, VMware’s virtualization platformis the proven foundation for the software-defined datacenter, delivering the highest service levels for all applications, including business-critical workloads and low-latency, I/O-sensitive applications.
  • VMware vCloud Director® 5.1 – With scalability improvements that support “elastic” virtual datacenters spanning multiple VMware vSphere clusters and up to 30,000 VMs, VMware vCloud Director 5.1 allows customers to provision complete virtual datacenter services in minutes.
  • VMware vCloud Networking and Security 5.1 –Providing a full set of software-defined networking capabilities, the new VMware vCloud Networking and Securityenables the dynamic creation of virtual networks and services that are completely decoupled and independent from the physical network hardware.
  • VMware vCenter™ Site Recovery Manager™ 5.1– To enhance the availability and rapid recovery of applications running in the software-defined datacenter, vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.1 simplifies and automates disaster recovery planning, testing and execution.

Read the press release and connect with the TAP team if you have any questions – tapalliance@vmware.com.

Sheela Toor
Marketing Communications Manager, VMware

VMworld 2012 – Awesome response for TEX Sessions, TAP booth and Partner Lounge

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VMworld has concluded and the TAP team would like to say a big THANK YOU to all the Technology Alliance partners who came in record numbers to attend our TEX sessions, visited our Marketplace booth and met with the TAP team and Product Management at the Partner Lounge.

On August 27th we had a great turnout at the End User Computing and Horizon Roadmap and other Desktop Virtualization TEX sessions.

Cloud Application Platform Roadmap and allied TEX sessions on August 28th got astounding response with Hadoop session proving very popular.

August 29th was the Infrastructure and Networking day for TAP members and the content at the sessions justified the great attendance.

We got awesome comments from attending partners. Since everyone could not attend all the sessions, we are posting PDFs of the VMworld sessions for your benefit – some TEX sessions are already posted – login to your VMworld account to download – https://vmworld.socialcast.com/groups/content#files.

Watch out for Barcelona VMworld updates soon!

Sheela Toor
Marketing Communications Manager, VMware