As we return from a record breaking VMworld Europe in Barcelona, I wanted to take a minute to talk about some of the new catalogs you will be seeing in the Hands-on Lab Online Portal in the coming weeks as we start to release the new labs.
This year we have over 80 new labs in the 2017 Hands-on Labs Catalog and based on feedback we received from you, our users, we still needed a better way to break up the content in the catalog listings to make things easier to find. For example, we have 44 labs in the Software Defined Data Center catalog. Searching through that catalog and trying to find the bit of content you are looking for can be a daunting task! For those that are not familiar with what the catalog structure looks like today, here is how we have things laid out.
We have four main catalogs, SDDC, Hybrid Cloud, Mobility and Challenge. There is a fifth catalog, Focus Labs, we populate with the latest and most popular labs. You can start to see the difficulty in finding 80+ labs in only four very generic catalogs.
We tested the new catalog listings at VMworld and from the feedback we received from attendees, it made finding labs around specific products or features much easier. So here are the new catalogs and what contents you may expect to find in them:
| New Catalog Name | High Level Products Included | Existing Catalog |
|---|---|---|
| Application and Desktop Virtualization | Horizon Suite, FLEX, Mirage, Horizon Cloud | Mobility |
| Challenge Labs | Test your knowledge on VMware Products | Challenge Labs |
| Cloud Management Platform | vRealize Suite, vRealize Automation and vRealize Operations | Software Defined Data Center |
| Cloud Native Applications | PhotonOS, vSphere Integrated Containers | Software Defined Data Center |
| Emerging Technologies | VMware Cloud, vSphere Integrated OpenStack, Network Functions Virtualization and VMware Learning Platform | Hybrid Cloud, Software Defined Data Center |
| Hybrid Cloud | Hybrid Cloud Services, Cloud Services and VMware Cloud Provider Program | Hybrid Cloud |
| Hyper-Converged Infrastructure | vSAN, Virtual Volumes and VxRail | Software Defined Data Center |
| Network Virtualization | NSX, NSX-T, NSX Cloud and Partner Solutions | Software Defined Data Center |
| Software Defined Data Center | vSphere with Operations Management, Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Performance | Software Defined Data Center |
| Solution Labs | Labs focused on solving business challenges with VMware Solutions | Software Defined Data Center, Mobility, Hybrid Cloud |
| Unified Endpoint Management | VMware AirWatch | Mobility |
I also wanted to share a couple of additional tips that may come in handy. The first is the search feature. You can use the search box to find a lab by SKU (i.e. HOL-1810-01-SDC) or by product or keyword. Be sure to click the ‘ALL LABS’ link first, so your search will be across all the catalogs.
In this example, after clicking on the ALL LABS link, I searched for ‘firewall’. This will bring up any labs that include the term ‘firewall’ in the lab title, description or module listing. This can also be used to search for product names, like NSX or a lab SKU.
If you have taken a lab and would like to find other labs that are based on the same product, you can use the ‘Lab Details’ section.
In the Products section, you will see the major products featured in the lab. Click on the product you are interested in and you will be shown all the other labs that include that product. By clicking on vRealize Log Insight, I’m given this listing of labs:
When you find a lab that interests you, just click on the link and you will be brought right to the lab details page for the lab, where you can enroll to take the lab.
That’s all for now, but stay tuned for updates! The new labs will be here before you know it!
