Unexplored Territory

I've been on the Virtually Speaking podcast several times, so it was time to invite one of the hosts to the Unexplored Territory Podcast and discuss his favorite topic, hardware configurations, and the bill of materials!

John Nicholson goes over all the ins and outs of procuring new hardware and talks about ordering components for existing hardware. We discuss NICs, Switches, Ready Node configurations, Emulated Ready Node configurations, NVMe devices, and much more.

During the discussion, various blogs and videos were mentioned, make sure to check those as well!

• https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2023/07/26/expanded-hardware-compatibility-for-vsan-express-storage-architecture/
• https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/326476/what-you-can-and-cannot-change-in-a-vsan.html
• https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2023/07/27/yes-you-can-change-things-on-a-vsan-esa-readynode/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjen1ER8ASc
• https://www.vmware.com/explore/video-library/video/6360757998112

A few episodes ago we had Yves Hertoghs on the show to discuss networking, so I decided it was also time to discuss security. As Chris McCain has been at the forefront of networking and security at VMware for over a decade, it only made sense to reach out and invite him to introduce vDefend!

Not only was Chris part of the Explore keynote, but he also delivered various excellent sessions on networking and security in the past couple of years, and I would highly encourage you to watch those as well!

• Explore 2025 - Demystifying VMware vDefend Distributed Security Within VMware Cloud Foundation
• Explore 2025 - Building Secure Private AI Deep Dive

In 2025 the first VMUG Connect event was held in the US, and as it was a big success VMUG decided to repeat that formula in Amsterdam, Minneapolis, Toronto, Dallas and Orlando. I invited Brad Tompkins to the show to explain what these VMUG events are all about, and also provide some insights into the world of VMUG.

I have the pleasure, and honor, to host a keynote session in Amsterdam at Connect in March. I hope to see all of you there. For more details on pricing, locations, and more, make sure to visit the VMUG Connect website. Also, if you are planning on attending, I would highly encourage you to book asap as we've seen Explore on Tour selling out everywhere...

After Rakesh and I shared the news at Explore, and Explore On Tour, that vSAN would potentially be able to use Fibre Channel as a transport layer, the phone has been ringing nonstop. It was time for me to invite Rakesh and ask him to explain what vSAN over FC is all about. In this episode Rakesh covers the why, the what, but unfortunately the when is still a question. Nevertheless, this episode is a must-listen!

Discussed papers/links:

• vSAN vs Traditional Storage video
• vSAN beats all-flash top storage system

After Rakesh and I shared the news at Explore, and Explore On Tour, that vSAN would potentially be able to use Fibre Channel as a transport layer, since then the phone has been ringing nonstop. So it was time for me to invite Rakesh and ask him to explain what vSAN over FC is all about. In this episode Rakesh covers the why, the what, but unfortunately the when is still a question. Nevertheless, this episode is a must-listen!

Discussed papers/links:

• ​vSAN vs Traditional Storage video
• ​vSAN beats all-flash top storage system

VMware Cloud Foundation 9 has brought the Virtual Private Cloud networking model front and center in the vSphere UI. Not only has it become extremely easy to provide a self-service solution for networking, it comes with a plethora of networking services and capabilities. Maybe even more importantly, it allows networking-noobs (like myself) to consume advanced functionality without having to file dozens of service requests. In this episode, Yves Hertoghs explains what a Virtual Private Cloud is and discusses all the ins and outs around the Transit Gateway, vDefend, subnets and much more.

I had some trouble scheduling guests the past weeks, and as a result, I figured I would try something new. In this episode I go over the various things I announced at Explore and Explore on Tour in London, Paris, and Frankfurt. I talk about VCF Native S3 Object Storage, the enhancements we are planning for Disaster Recovery as well as Cyber Recovery, and I also briefly touch on vSAN on FC. If you like to hear more about vSAN ESA Global Deduplication, make sure to go to this blog on Yellow-Bricks, as it contains the links to the discussion Pete Koehler and I had on the show a while back.

Recently, I read this article about why VCF is the best platform for modern workloads, so I figured I would invite the author, Jad El-Zein. Jad and I discuss all the arguments of why VCF and all components are the perfect destination for containers, or I should probably say your modern workloads.

Recently, I read a fantastic LinkedIn post by Francisco Perez, the founder of ITQ, in which he explained why he believes in Broadcom's strategic direction and the VMware portfolio. It was an interesting read, and for me, a great reason to invite one of our most valued partners in EMEA to the show. I want to thank Francisco for taking the time to sit down, as I know he has a crazy schedule.

Enjoy the conversation!

For this episode I invited our raging reporter on scene Pete Koehler! Pete is going over all the benefits, requirements, and limitations around vSAN ESA Global Deduplication. This feature was released with 9.0.1 and is available per request as discussed in this blog post. If you want to get access make sure to sign up using the form in the blog.

Just as a summary, right now vSAN ESA Global Deduplication requires:

• Version 9.0.1
• 25GbE (or higher) networking
• Telemetry needs to be enabled (CEIP)

There are a few limitations:

• Minimum of 3 hosts and maximum of 16 hosts in a cluster
• Does not support the use of Stretched Cluster functionality
• Cannot be combined with data-at-rest-encryption

For episode #104 I invited Jatin Jindal to talk us through the recent Ransomware Recovery and Data Recovery announcements. Jatin discusses what the VMware Ransomware Recovery entails, what the differences are between a ransomware recovery process and a disaster recovery scenario, and he talks about various roadmap items like tag-based selection, seeding, QLC support, and vSAN Cyber ReadyNodes. Interested in participating in the upcoming Storage, Data Protection, and Data Beta Programs? Sign up now by filling out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXBC6_oAnkS8vCFztuLQFHx0qZ5xxJSmxbMkyPBvDFM0lHLg/viewform

Watch Jatin's Explore sessions now:

• 10 Amazing New Things with VMware Live Recovery
• The Isolated Clean Room Blueprint for On-Premises Based Cyber Recoveries

The last few months, I've had many discussions about Memory Tiering. When I saw a brand new performance white paper being released, I knew it was time to invite two of the authors. Qasim Ali and Todd Muirhead go over the ins and outs of Memory Tiering, they discuss the basics, but also explain in-depth what the potential performance impact is when enabling this feature in your environment. If you'd like to know more, visit the following links!

• Performance blog
• Performance white paper
• Explore Session Arvind and David
• Explore Session Dave
• Extreme Performance Series videos
• How to enable Memory Tiering blog
• VMware Performance Blog

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom, or Google.

We just finished Explore in Las Vegas, and the various local Explore On Tour events are literally around the corner. I will most likely be in London, Frankfurt, and potentially Paris myself. It looks like Joe Baguley will also be at all of those events delivering the keynote! Why should you go? Well, listen to the episode to find out. We start out with a brief conversation with Joe, and then have Frank Denneman, Martin Hosken, and Lars Fiechtner joining to provide their insights!

My call to action, if you are planning on attending, register as soon as possible, as London sold out fast, and so did the UK VMUG the day after!

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom, or Google.

It was time to get Frank Denneman back on the show to discuss the enhancements introduced in VCF 9 and Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA. Frank goes over all new functionality and all the enhancements like Agent Builder etc. Frank also mentioned various must-attend sessions at Explore. Register now, as these will fill up fast:

• Chris Wolf, keynote and breakout!
• Shawn Kelly and Justin Murray: Accelerating AI Workloads
• Frank's AI/ML sessions!

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom, or Google.

Episode 100, YESSSS! Finally, we managed to get there. For this episode, I invited two Google Cloud VMware Engine (GCVE) product managers to explain what GCVE is all about. We had Dr. Wade Holmes on the show, 84 episodes ago, to introduce GCVE, so it was time to re-introduce GCVE and discuss the current solution, and the benefits it brings with for instance the flexibility in node types, bring your own licensing, disaster recovery, networking, and much more. Ken and Sai had some interesting stories, so make sure to pay close attention!

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom, or Google.

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 was recently launched, and that means vSAN 9.0 is also available. There's many new features introduced in 9.0, so a perfect time to ask Pete Koehler to join the podcast once again and go over some of these key enhancements. Below you can find the links we discussed during the episode!

• Blog - Network Traffic Separation
• Blog - vSAN ESA Dedupe
• Blog - Stretched Topologies in VCF 9

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom, VMware by Broadcom, or SAP.

I recently came across an excellent blog by William Lam, which discussed how to set up VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x on a single box for home labs. William created a Github page that goes over the whole process, and provided all the tweaks and scripts needed to get it done. I wanted to discuss this process with William, as I believe many folks in the VMware/Broadcom community will be interested in deploying this at home, or at work, to go through that full VCF experience but without needing a larger lab environment. Thanks William, for a fantastic episode.

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom, VMware by Broadcom, or SAP.

I recently read a blog post on AI/ML performance on top of VCF, and figured it was time to invite Frank Denneman back to the podcast. During the episode we discuss VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA, and Frank also mention Ollama as a great starting point.

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom, VMware by Broadcom, or SAP.

I recently recorded a podcast episode with Johan and Jeffrey for their podcast, When Shit Hits The Fan. It was a fantastic conversation, which I wanted to share with all of you. As such I asked Johan if I could crosspost it. Make sure to subscribe to the WSHTF podcast channel (Apple, Spotify) , as it has some fantastic stories from various fantastic guests!

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom, VMware by Broadcom, or SAP.

⁠For this episode I decided to invite Johan van Amersfoort to discuss with us his experiences at NVIDIA GTC, Kubecon London, and of course the Dutch VMUG. Or should we say, the start of event season? Johan shared countless of updates and videos on LinkedIn, make sure to check those out while you are at it!

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom, VMware by Broadcom, or SAP.