By Alex West, Former Technical Editor and Writer, End-User-Computing Technical Marketing, VMware
Based on interviews with Dean Flaming, End-User-Computing Architect and End-User-Computing Hands-On Labs Content Lead, VMware
VMware Hands-On Labs (HOLs) are an excellent, sometimes overlooked resource for test-driving VMware solutions on an array of terrains. Planned and executed by a talented team of VMware staff volunteers, End-User-Computing (EUC) HOLs are a completely free, fully interactive look at day-in-the-life scenarios for a huge number of EUC solutions. The only requirements are an HTLM5 Web browser and access to the Internet.
So whether you want to try out a new EUC solution, become an expert in a particular EUC deployment, or conduct a proof-of-concept (PoC) for a prospective customer, HOLs have everything you need and more.
HOL Usage Is Amazing!
Since December 2012, VMware has deployed more than 300,000 HOLs to more than 95,000 users.
Where Do HOLs Come From?
HOLs may seem magical, but they are actually the product of countless hours of work on the part of VMware volunteers.
Lab captains, as they are called, come from various business units across VMware, and are generally booked Monday through Friday with day-to-day tasks, which means most of them generously devote their evenings and weekends to HOLs.
EUC HOLs are managed by Dean Flaming, whose responsibilities range from high-level overseeing to nitty-gritty production and testing.
Praise for Lab Captains from Dean Flaming, EUC Architect, VMware
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Brent McCoubrey, Senior Systems Engineer, End-User Computing, VMware
“[Brent] has been highly flexible across the Lab Captain team, working on whatever labs have needed assistance. He has provided invaluable expertise to our army of one and helped power through many difficult situations.” |
Rick Falci, End-User Computing Specialist, VMware
“This guy is a machine! He has worked on or helped build every single EUC HOL to date for the last couple of years. He is now a lab principal in charge of a couple different EUC labs.” |
Peter Bjork, Workspace Portal and ThinApp Specialist, VMware
“Peter is extremely talented with applications and application-specific solutions. He has been a lab captain for at least four of five years and has built ThinApp and Workspace technically advanced labs which are in solid demand.”
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Figure 1: The Contributions of Three Top Lab Captains, in the Words of Dean Flaming
A particular HOL can take anywhere from four to six months to complete. Typically, lab captains (and anyone else involved in the creation process) spend upwards of 300 hours on a particular HOL. So why volunteer?
HOLs are a great opportunity for VMware employees to step outside their respective silos and get involved in a brand-new way. HOLs enable them (like us) to broaden their area of expertise, and hopefully have fun doing it.
The Process
HOLs start as a question: What is the story we want to tell? These stories generally hinge on high-demand use cases and FAQs. The first step, then, is to find out what the people want to know. From there, lab captains outline the technical processes that best illustrate the story, and set out to build a lab around them.
This is where the job gets much more difficult. Lab captains are responsible for making sure that the story and technology line up correctly; that the lab is accessible to the technical and non-technical alike; and that the lab works correctly every time, no matter the device or browser.
The HOL Infrastructure
HOLs are built on an extremely virtualized (or nested) infrastructure. This approach gives labs (which run on VMware OneCloud) a relatively small hardware footprint. However, multiple levels of virtualization can make the creation process all the more complex.
Labs are basically vCloud Director vPods, which are fully developed environments that house multiple virtual hosts with multiple virtual machines, each with nested guest virtual machines inside.
And it gets a lot more complicated than that, if you can believe it.
At the base of the infrastructure are approximately 300 servers, including specific servers to run Virtual SAN and XtremIO. On top of that lies vSphere vCenter. On top of that is vCloud Automation Center. On top of that is the VMware Learning Platform, also known as the HOL portal. And, finally, on top of it all is where the actual labs are built.
Figure 2: Highly Nested Infrastructure of HOLs
For more on the incredibly complex infrastructure that underlies VMware HOLs, take a look at Backstage Pass Session #4 — Project NEE & OneCloud — Delivering Hands-On Labs at Cloud Scale on the VMware Hands-On Lab (HOL) Blog.
Who Uses HOLs?
HOLs are meant for everyone, but they are particularly useful for three types of user:
- Field Engineers: HOLs are generally built around the latest EUC technologies. For example, the App Volumes Lab was released internally to VMware personnel in October 2014, three months in advance of the actual product. This enables anyone with sales responsibilities (particularly Field Engineers) to learn about new products before they become generally available.
- Partners: HOLs help partners accomplish two things: 1) better understand VMware products and integrations and 2) become trusted advisors to their customers. The new Hands-On Labs in a Box solution—which essentially offers labs as a service—allows them to quickly become trusted advisors by demonstrating the power of VMware products to customers quickly and efficiently, much like in the expert-led workshops at VMworld.
- Customers: HOLs introduce customers to a huge number of different solutions, products, use cases, concepts, and more. Built as independent modules, the HOLs allow customers to explore products in a personalized way. Customers can also see how one VMware product interacts with another, and soon the HOLs will allow customers to test how VMware products work with third-party products.
Where (and When) to Find HOLs
HOLs generally debut at or around VMworld and VMware Partner Exchange. However, EUC was recently the first to release a new lab in parallel with a new product release, VMware Horizon 6.
Today, HOLs are being created more frequently than ever, which makes predicting their releases more complex. So be sure to watch for announcements of new HOLs on the HOL blog site.
Visit the VMware EUC HOLs site!
Want to Help?
Have an idea for updating an existing HOL or for creating a new one? The VMware HOL Team wants to hear from you! Visit the Hands-on Labs Idea Registry to help.
