VMworld is upon us again, the greatest VMware tech show of the year. I have attended every EMEA version in Barcelona since 2012 and even one in San Francisco in 2013. This year it is online again, like last year, but that should not stop you from attending. When I went over the content catalog a first time I noted 29 sessions as my favourites! And now you can get all that content from the comfort of your home office without distractions like the bars in Barcelona and all the parties… Seriously, I miss the live event too, before attending the last live version so far in 2019 I blogged about why you needed to attend. Well we can still have some networking and all the great sessions!

What follows is my selection of sessions that are really worthwhile and that I will attend myself. Not because of the description or because someone asked me to promote them, but mainly because I know the presenters. Many I worked with at VMware or Blue Medora and some I still work with as a contractor or in the vExpert program. One thing I noticed is that some sessions are now only available in the paid Tech+ passes, that is new. There is probably a good reason for it, it is top rated content! Just as I paid for VMworld 2019 myself I decided I will pay for a Tech+ pass to attend them. (Unless someone offers me a rebate hint.. hint…)

A Big Update on vRealize Operations [MCL1277]

This is the session not to miss if you are involved with vRealize Operations – and you should ! Matt Bradford leads the vExpert Cloud Management track with enthousiast and he is extremely knowledgeable on the subject. Peter Haagenson was a colleague at Blue Medora and – although a marketing guy – he is on top of his subject and fun to listen to, even if he ruins my belt every ones in a while at VMworld. Another reason I am happy there are no life encounters this year.

A Cloud Management Journey from Monolith to Modern Apps with vRealize Suite [GWS-HOL-2201-08-CMP]

I am pretty excited about this one as it is a Hands-on Lab Guided Tour. If you have seen some of my previous blog posts you know I cannot praise enough the HOL environment VMware puts at your disposal to learn stuff. The learning is in the doing, so I expect some real good stuff here. Christopher Lewis is another one of those long standing members of the vROps world and has blogged a lot about it.

Advanced Troubleshooting with vRealize: Your “Go-To” Guide [MCL1271]

Many people still struggle with troubleshooting, even with great tools in vRealize Operations like the Troubleshooting Workbench. I met Tim George at Blue Medora and he has grown to the formidable presence he is today at VMware ! A very accessible guy who is always ready to help. I cannot wait to hear what he has to say !

A Guide to Application Migration Nirvana [MCL1264]

I am intrigued by the description of this session. I still do not know Network Insight well enough, but Martijn certainly does. He is “Mr Network Insight” to me. Let’s just hope he brings stroopwafels and not Dutch beer….

All Your Capacity and Costing Questions Answered [MCL1391]

I am sure this title is correct: I do not know a person more knowledgeable than Brandon Gordon on everything capacity and cost calculations in vRealize Operations. I am curious to see what he will talk about this time. Highly recommended.

An End-to-End Demo – Operationalizing VMware Cloud Foundation with vRealize [MCL1442]

Another session presented by an individual I respect a lot in the community, Mr John Dias. I you are running vCloud Foundation and wonder about management, this is the session to follow.

I do not want to dilute the message by listing here all the sessions I want to attend. I am going to make a separate post for security. I do want to point out these special sessions though.

Automation Showdown: Imperative vs Declarative [CODE2786]

Although as usual I have trouble understanding what the session is about, I do know that my fellow countryman Luc Dekens is THE resource on everything powershell and beyond. And although we cannot drive across SF this year to have diner, I am going to try and follow his session…

Decoding VMUG [IC2827S]

I put this one in because I think community is important and in our world none more so than the VMUG. I attended many, many sessions in a lot of different countries and hope we can get to in-person meetings again soon. If you are involved with VMware products as a customer or partner you need to be involved with the VMUG.

Do let me know what you think or what sessions you recommend. And please connect during the event! We have a booth in the partners section with ComDivision, the premier VMware partner in DACH and USA where I get to do a lot of my work.