If you’re a Cloud Architect or a Cloud Admin, set your sights on VMworld. With 48-hours of non-stop innovation over September 30 and October 1, this free event is packed with cloud content that you won’t want to miss. Get recommendations for key cloud sessions below.
As a busy Cloud Architect or Cloud Admin, your time is no doubt stretched – and attending VMworld 2020 to get the latest on how to build the best multi-cloud environment may not be top of mind. I get it. But this year, more than any other, VMworld is an event not to be missed – and the great news is that it’s easier than ever to access.
This year, VMworld is 100% virtual. It’s also free for the vast majority of activities including general sessions, solution keynotes and over 500 on-demand breakout sessions. Of these, the number of sessions aimed directly at Cloud Architects and Cloud Admins has exploded.
A rich set of cloud architecture and cloud ops sessions
There are over 70 sessions that list Cloud Architect as the primary audience. If you are a Cloud Admin, responsible for the care and feeding of a cloud environment, there are over 40 sessions specifically for you, too.
VMworld has been adding more and more cloud content ever since VMware announced its partnership with AWS several years ago. New partnerships with Azure, Google and all of the major hyper-scaler clouds have accelerated this trend.
As those who have been following us in the past few years would know, VMware now also delivers an extensive set of capabilities to help organizations build, run and manage modern apps on any combination of clouds. VMworld includes a number of cloud architecture and cloud ops sessions focused on these developments as well.
Picking the best sessions for your needs
The VMworld Content Catalog makes it easy to find and schedule sessions relevant to your needs. You can filter the catalog across 15 dimensions including your role, your solution area, or one or more VMware product offerings.
That said, it’s often easier to dive in from other people’s recommendations. To help you get started, here are my top five sessions for Cloud Architects and Cloud Admins.
My top five breakout sessions for Cloud Architects
1. Kubernetes Lessons Learned from 300+ Deployments
Hands-on, customer-facing solution architects will reveal the most critical lessons they have learned in helping hundreds of organizations accelerate their use of Kubernetes.
2. App Modernization with VMware Cloud on AWS and Kubernetes
Learn how you can use VMware Cloud Foundation to easily integrate VMs, containers and native cloud services running on AWS.
3. VMware Cloud Foundation Deep Dive
Go on a technical exploration of VMware Cloud Foundation, a standardized, cloud infrastructure platform designed to run any type of application on any cloud.
4. Multi-Cloud Secure Services Connectivity
Learn how service mesh, networking and a new approach to policy management can enable secure connectivity between modern and traditional applications across clouds.
5. Deploy and Configure Your Entire VMware Cloud on AWS with Terraform
Jump start your use of Terraform with multiple providers to create and configure your entire VMware Cloud on AWS infrastructure.
Here are all the details for these top 5 sessions as listed in the VMworld content catalog.
My top five breakout sessions for Cloud Admins
1. Operationalizing Kubernetes Clusters with Policies
Learn how to use built-in Kubernetes policies to manage Kubernetes clusters for operations such as resource utilization, role-based access control, network access and more.
2. Only for a Privileged Few? Learn How Your Team Can Master AWS IAM—and Win
Join a deep dive into AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) with a specific focus on dealing with privilege escalation attacks.
3. Managing Terraform Consumption at Enterprise Scale with vRealize Automation
Find out how to effectively integrate Terraform and vRealize Automation for multi-cloud resource management.
4. Modern Apps on VMware Cloud on AWS: From Infrastructure to Application
Join this session to better understand the capabilities available on VMware Cloud on AWS and VMware’s new developer services platform.
5. VMware Cloud Foundation and vRealize Suite: Fastest Path to Hybrid Cloud
Learn how easy it is to set up a hybrid cloud platform using these VMware technologies, reducing cloud platform deployment time from months to days.
Here are all the details for these top 5 sessions as listed in the VMworld content catalog.
To gain a holistic view of VMware’s overarching tech strategy, I highly recommend that you also attend the Opening Keynote and the Solution Keynotes.
Test drive VMware tech
VMworld also offers a couple of different ways to go deeper on the technologies that make up the VMware portfolio.
Cloud City allows VMworld attendees to explore more than 50 interactive demos that focus on large use cases or scenarios. Cloud migration is a great example of one of these use cases. Cloud City gives you the opportunity to experience cloud migration across multiple VMware technologies – go from identifying a capacity shortfall in your data center, to standing up an environment and deploying VMs on AWS, Azure or Google – and everything in between. This year, Cloud City has also added a special program targeting the specific challenges created by COVID-19.
Then there are the hands-on-labs, delivering 40 interactive simulations that cover the most popular VMware products. Unlike Cloud City, these product-centric demos give you a quick introduction into a specific technology. They are a great way to get to know a VMware technology that you may have heard of but haven’t yet had the time to explore in any depth.
Don’t miss the show
I hope you can attend VMworld 2020.
Register for free today – you won’t be disappointed, and you can’t beat the price this year, either!
