NYC VMUG - July 2020 - Virtual Meeting 02 - Recap

Hello NYC VMUG Users,

During the first half of the year we have been introduced to new challenges with COVID-19 affecting many different industries including our very own VMUG meetings. With these new challenges, it has introduced many opportunities including new avenues for education and training. Today NYC VMUG has hosted our first local virtual event of 2020 a  nd are looking to continue to get the communities feedback and provide useful information to all users. Below is a recap of the VMUG session:

Date: 7/30/2020

6:15 - 6:55 PM - Discussing vSphere 7 Upgrades
Bob Plankers, VMware

Highlights of the presentation

• Developer Center
• API Explorer
• Code Capture Records Change Made via the vSphere Client
• vSphere Lifecycle
• https://vmware.com/go/lifecycle
• Extension of vSphere 6.7 General Support Period
• Authentication in the Post vSpehere World
• AD Over LDAPs (not LDAP)
• Identity Federation
• Fling - Compatibility Checker
• VMware KB 78221 - Upgrade Sequence 
• VMware KB 78205 - Upgrade Best Practices
• https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/vsphere-7
• Link to Presentation
• https://bit.ly/2DuK6uZ

7:00 - 7:40 PM - vSan Homelab on a Budget
Alex Fertmann, Hofstra University

Highlights of the presentation

• Minimum Requirements to Start a vSan Lab
• 3 Physical Hosts (2 Hosts if you make use of vSan Witness)
• vSAN RAM consumption is ~ 10GB per host
• 1 SSD per host to act as a cache disk for vSAN
• 1 HDD
• vSan RAM Calculator
• https://bit.ly/2PqmCK8
• VMware Discord Server
• https://discord.gg/bmCBJVm
• Link to Presentation
• https://bit.ly/3kapCZj

NYC VMUG Community Page: Click Here
NYC VMUG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nycvmug
NYC VMUG Twitter https://twitter.com/nycvmug

NYC VMUG YouTube: https://bit.ly/2DPX5aK

Global VMUG Twitter: https://twitter.com/MyVMUG

Contact Us: nyc@vmug.com

If you have any questions you can always reach out to us as well on twitter @vmugnyc @ivan_aesq @wildcard78 @AntonZnyc


Author: Ivan Esquivel

NYC VMUG - Q1 2020 - Events

Hello VMUG Community!

I am excited to announce that in 2020 we at NYC VMUG are be looking forward to bringing  a variety of different events ranging from the popular standard VMUG, Whiteboard sessions, vBeer events, and more.

Below are the events that have been outlined thus far and we will continuously be updating this page with new events as they happen:

• February White Board Session with VMware's 3xVCDX Niran Even-Chen /  Thursday - Feb 6th 2020 - Details and Registration Here

We are looking to seeing new faces and veterans to the community alike. To stay up to date on all events and our community please see below:


NYC VMUG Community Page: Click Here
NYC VMUG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nycvmug
NYC VMUG Twitter https://twitter.com/nycvmug

Global VMUG  Twitter: https://twitter.com/MyVMUG

Contact Us: nyc@vmug.com

If you have any questions you can always reach out to us as well on twitter @vmugnyc @ivan_aesq @wildcard78 @AntonZnyc

February 2018 vBeers Recap

On February 20th, Zerto sponsored our first vBeers of the year at the Perfect Pint West. We had a great time and appreciate the appetizers and the open bar in addition to the great conversations and networking.

We raffled off a couple of $50 Amazon gift cards. Congratulations to our two winners, Stan and Peter!

Make sure to keep following this blog and our @nycvmug twitter account for announcements on upcoming events, including vBeers.

Pictures:

February 2018 Whiteboard Session Recap

On February 7th, we had a whiteboard session at Touro College. And as with all our meetups, we begin with the end in mind:

After 2+ hours of whiteboarding, we almost forgot that we were hungry (and thirsty). So much good discussion, we could have gone a lot longer and missed out.

What are our @nycvmug whiteboard sessions all about? Community, collaboration, geeking out, sharing, talking shop, socializing, deep dives, working things out, using your words, and then having a burger and a beer afterwards and talking some more.

If this was an Instagram post (or a tweet), that previous paragraph would basically be written with those same words in hashtag form. People do search on hashtags, right? If you are looking for this kind of quality engagement at your local user group, then you should join us.

Like good improv, you never know who will be in the room and what we will talk about. But you will be in a supportive, collaborative environment. With people who want to help other people. People who want to share what they know. People who have questions and people who are willing to help find answers.

Thank you again to Azarya (@az_ny), his employer Touro College, and his IITS department for sponsoring us again and providing the perfect atmosphere for learning.

Keep following us on this blog and on Twitter (@nycvmug) and look out especially for #VMUGWB to see when our next whiteboard session will be.

Here are some pics from our last meetup:

Among our attendees (if we missed you, please let us know):

- Anton Z @antonZnyc
- Azarya Shaulov @az_ny
- Brad Jervis @brad_jervis
- Charbel Mouhayar @charbelmhr 
- Ivan Esquiel @mlgSILVER
- Jorvin Martinez @jorvinmartinez
- Mike Martino @wildcard78
- Nicholas Scuola @nscuola
- Pete Walker @vPeteWalker

Thank you to everyone who contributed.

NYC VMUG - July 2017 Meeting with Zerto

The NYC VMUG July 2017 meeting is sponsored by Zerto.  

This meeting will be focused on IT Resiliency, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BC/DR). 


The meeting will be held on Thursday, July 27th, 2017. Please save the date.

Send pictures and tweets using the #NYCVMUG hashtag or tag the @nycvmug handle!

Register here: NYC VMUG Event Page

Event Agenda

8:30 AM - Room opens, free breakfast available

9:00 AM - VMUG leadership update 
9:15 AM - Presentation #1 Intro to Zerto 
9:30 AM - User Presentation by Brad Jervis

9:50 AM - NSX Presentation by Tony Okwechim, VMware NSX SE
10:10 AM - 5 Minute Break

10:15 AM - Keynote - Niran Even-Chen, Dual-VCDX & VMware SE

11:00 AM - IT Resiliency using Zerto by David Aldrich, Zerto SE Manager

12:00 PM - Raffles, Giveaways, Closing

NYC Logo competition

Branding is everything. We hereby open a contest for the creation of a logo for the NYC VMUG, that we will use on all of our t-shirts, our blog and our twitter page. The prize is $100 in Amazon gift cards and will be awarded by end of August. Send your submission via twitter and the leaders will choose a winner!


NYC VMUG Whiteboard Meetings - #VMUGWB on Twitter
 Azarya has asked for permission to use rooms from work for smaller, non-sponsored whiteboard sessions in an informal setting. These are great for those studying for their VCP, VCAP and VCDX certifications, those who want to talk their VMware designs with peers, and to get more involved in the community and look for general help. They are announced via the @nycvmug twitter handle - since they aren't sponsored there's really no requirement so we will try to have them monthly.

You can see all upcoming and past whiteboard meetings using the "whiteboard sessions" tag.

NYC/NJ UserCon new date!

The NYC and NJ leaders have decided to move our UserCon from June to September, to catch potential speakers after the busy VMworld US and Europe seasons. Save the date - September 19th!

Raffle Prizes

Please don't forget!! You must drop in a business card, or fill a blank available at the desk, that includes your full name, your email and phone number, to be eligible to win!!

• Details on giveaways will be listed soon.

Please feel free to mingle, talk to each other and organize taking lunch together after the VMUG. Take advantage of all of our presenters, and your local vExperts! The NYC VMUG is fortunate enough to have a significant number of vExperts at our meetings, please take advantage of them.

June 2017 Whiteboard Meeting

Hello NYC VMUG Members, Friends and Future Members,

We're happy to confirm the details for another NYC VMUG whiteboard meeting. We had a lot of success with these sessions that we're back by popular demand. We're looking to continue doing these on a more frequent basis than regular sponsor-driven VMUG meetings. Again, space is limited, but this also means that everyone is paying attention and interacting with the person who is white boarding.

Here are the details:

• Date: Wednesday, June 28th, 2017, 6:15 PM
• Location: Touro College - Executive Offices - 500 7th Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018. The location is walking distance to Times Square, Penn Station and Port Authority, so transportation should not be an issue
• Space is limited, first come, first served. Please register with @NScuola @wildcard78 or @nycvmug to be added to security list before 4pm on the day of the event

The following is a re-post from our previous meetings, but it all still applies :)

This is not a traditional VMUG meeting with a sponsor; it's really just a small room with two whiteboards and a TV to connect the laptop, where fellow VMware users can come and discuss ideas, projects, or whatever suits their fancy. 

VMware User Group Whiteboard Meetings

Azarya Shaulov (@az_ny) has asked for permission to use rooms from work for smaller, non-sponsored whiteboard sessions in an informal setting. These are great for those studying for their VCP, VCAP and VCDX certifications, those who want to talk their VMware designs with peers, and to get more involved in the community and look for general help. They will be announced via the @nycvmug twitter handle - since they aren't sponsored there's really no requirement so we will try to have them monthly or every two weeks.

If you come, you will learn something, and meet someone, so it's a great opportunity. We have asked several of the VMUG members who have advanced certifications like VCP and VCAP to assist, in case there are people studying for the certifications who would like any tips or clarifications.

Once you register you will get the building security instructions. This event is free, but there is no sponsor. This means a couple of things; 

• there is no set agenda, we don't know at what time we will be finished, it will depend on your level of interest in the current conversation. You are free to leave if you got what you wanted
• you can count that we will look for a burger/beer afterwards, but since we're each paying for our own stuff, don't expect a big party, just some guys that got together in a bar to keep talking!

Really look forward to seeing you there and making these a normal occurrence. The power of community is amazing, and all you have to do is show up and participate. Make new friends, get a question answered, help someone else!

Please remember this is a technical event for VMware users and administrators to "geek out", not a networking or recruiting type of meeting. If there is any question please reach out to @NScuola @wildcard78 or @nycvmug :)

04-27-2017 @NYCVMUG Whiteboard Session Recap!

Back by popular demand, the @nycvmug Whiteboard session!

We held another Whiteboard Session last week at Touro College. This one was the best yet. Not just for the fact that there was a lot of in-depth technical knowledge being shared but a third of the room was filled with new faces. That's one of the great things about these meetings. You get to interact with people you normally would not get the chance to sit down and talk with. 

In this session we had the presence of some special guests - Niran Even-Chen @NiranEC, Dual VCDX and part of the CTO Ambassadors program at VMware, as well as Prabhu Barathi @prabhu_b who is a Senior Systems Engineer for NSX at VMware.
The topics discussed in this meeting ranged with each presenter: 

• VPN Setup in an NSX Home Lab.

• A deep dive into Broadcast Network Design and Traffic Flow at a media company

• Broadcast Network Compute Discussion

• Home Lab Setup on a budget

• NSX VPN Termination at a service provider

These are just some of the topics we covered. The conversation didn't stop here though. We were geeking out so much that we decided to take the conversation to the bar. I think the people around us even learned a few things.

Here are some pics from the latest event.

 

 Azarya Shaulov talking about the NSX VPN setup he created in his home lab.

Selfie time with Dual-VCDX Niran Even-Chen.

VMUG Co-Leader, Nick Scuola providing some background on the compute environment running on this broadcast network.

VMware Senior SE, Prabhu Barathi showing how NSX can benefit this environment.

VMware Senior SE, Prabhu Barathi showing how NSX can benefit this environment.

VMUG Co-Leader, Mike Martino playing the NSX home game.

Prabhu Barathi and Peter Fochi talking about NSX VPN termination on a service provider network.

Nick Scuola, Brendan Peterson and Ivan Esquiel continuing the session on the Long Island Railroad.

If you want to contact any of the people in the photos, I will leave their twitter handles here, in alphabetical order:

Azarya Shaulov @az_ny
Brendan Peterson @petes_revenge
Dmitriy Yevseyev @DmitriyYevseyev
Ivan Esquiel @mlgSILVER
Juan Manon @ManonJuanE
Michael Martino @wildcard78
Nick Scuola @NScuola
Niran Even-Chen @NiranEC
Peter Fochi @pfochi
Prabhu Barathi @prabhu_b

As always, we really appreciate every person that came to share and help the others, and again Azarya for arranging the meeting space and making everyone feel welcome! We can't thank his employer, Touro College, and his management (and all in the IITS department) enough for fostering the spirit of user groups and the vCommunity. Learn more about the Touro College and University System at www.touro.edu

We will continue doing these as time permits. Please follow the @nycvmug twitter account and attend the NYC VMware User Grouphttps://www.vmug.com/nyc meetings to keep up to date of when the next one will happen. As always, we really encourage creating a twitter account to get more involved with the vCommunity!

NYC VMUG - Late April 2017 Whiteboard Session

Hello NYC VMUG Members, Friends and Future Members,

We're happy to confirm the details for another NYC VMUG whiteboard session. We had a lot of success with these sessions that we're back by popular demand. We're looking to continue doing these on a more frequent basis than regular sponsor-driven VMUG meetings. Again, space is limited, but this also means that everyone is paying attention and interacting with the person who is white boarding.

Here are the details:

• Date: Thursday, April 27th, 2017, 6:15 PM
• Location: Touro College - Executive Offices - 500 7th Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018. The location is walking distance to Times Square, Penn Station and Port Authority, so transportation should not be an issue
• Space is limited, first come, first served. Please register with @NScuola @az_ny or @nycvmug to be added to security list before 4pm on the day of the event

The following is a re-post from our previous meetings, but it all still applies :)

This is not a traditional VMUG meeting with a sponsor; it's really just a small room with two whiteboards and a TV to connect the laptop, where fellow VMware users can come and discuss ideas, projects, or whatever suits their fancy. 

VMware User Group Whiteboard Meetings

Azarya has asked for permission to use rooms from work for smaller, non-sponsored whiteboard sessions in an informal setting. These are great for those studying for their VCP, VCAP and VCDX certifications, those who want to talk their VMware designs with peers, and to get more involved in the community and look for general help. They will be announced via the @nycvmug twitter handle - since they aren't sponsored there's really no requirement so we will try to have them monthly or every two weeks.

If you come, you will learn something, and meet someone, so it's a great opportunity. We have asked several of the VMUG members who have advanced certifications like VCP and VCAP to assist, in case there are people studying for the certifications who would like any tips or clarifications.

Once you register you will get the building security instructions. This event is free, but there is no sponsor. This means a couple of things; 

• there is no set agenda, we don't know at what time we will be finished, it will depend on your level of interest in the current conversation. You are free to leave if you got what you wanted
• you can count that we will look for a burger/beer afterwards, but since we're each paying for our own stuff, don't expect a big party, just some guys that got together in a bar to keep talking!

Really look forward to seeing you there and making these a normal occurrence. The power of community is amazing, and all you have to do is show up and participate. Make new friends, get a question answered, help someone else!

Please remember this is a technical event for VMware users and administrators to "geek out", not a networking or recruiting type of meeting. If there is any question please reach out to @NScuola @az_ny or @nycvmug :)

04-04-2017 @NYCVMUG Whiteboard Session Recap!

We are happy to announce that our early-April whiteboard session which was held on 4/4/2017 was another success! These informal sessions are becoming very popular for a number of reasons. 

- People love coming to VMUG meetings.
- Having others look over your project plans and helping to vet them. 
- Hearing ideas that you may not of thought of. Some cutting edge topics are being discussed at these meetings that some users have never been exposed to.
- Just geeking out and talking tech with some like-minded individuals. 
- Having an opportunity to talk to SMEs in smaller group settings. How often do you get to ask a VCDX or vExpert questions in-person? (Correct Answer: Every VMUG Meeting!)

In this session we had the presence of some special guests - Niran Even-Chen @NiranEC, Dual VCDX and part of the CTO Ambassadors program at VMware, and Brendan Peterson @petes_revenge, Network Architect from Viacom, Inc. who helped spread some networking knowledge while learning some virtualization goodness in the process.

Topics ranged with each presenter: Multi PSC/vCenter migration, Network migration, DMZ design with Cisco UCS, VLAN migration, datacenter migration and NSX integration, Security & Compliance using the TLS Configurator Tool just to name a few. We also had a mix of VMware engineers, vendor SE's, network architects and a dual-VCDX from VMware!

From left to right: Omar Torres, Azarya Shaulov, Nick Scuola (Presenting), Mike Martino, Ariel Sanchez, David Aldrich, Dmitriy Yevseyev, Donald Bacha

Brendan Peterson, Network Architect from Viacom talking about some of his recent migrations with Dual-VCDX, Niran Even-Chen looking on.

 

Niran Even-Chen and Mike Martino discussing the options for moving a customer's datacenter and then implementing NSX at the new location.

L to R: Azarya Shaulov, Niran Even-Chen and Nick Scuola

Our gracious host, Azarya Shaulov discussing his datacenter migration and VLAN configurations at both locations.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Ariel Sanchez at his last NYC VMUG before making the move to Pittsburgh, talking about the TLS Configurator Tool and ESXi security & compliance. He was also amazed at the Smart Board technology while discussing the VMware KB article he references.



If you want to contact any of the guys in the photos, I will leave their twitter handles here, in alphabetical order:
Ariel Sanchez @arielsanchezmor
Azarya Shaulov @az_ny
Brendan Peterson @petes_revenge
David Aldrich @mako2big
Dmitriy Yevseyev @DmitriyYevseyev
Donald Bacha @donald_bacha
Michael Martino @wildcard78
Nick Scuola @NScuola 
Niran Even-Chen @NiranEC
Omar Torres @otorres540

As always, we really appreciate every person that came to share and help the others, and again Azarya for arranging the meeting space and making everyone feel welcome! We can't thank his employer, Touro College, and his management (and all in the IITS department) enough for fostering the spirit of user groups and the vCommunity. Learn more about the Touro College and University System at www.touro.edu

We will continue doing these as time permits. Please follow the @nycvmug twitter account and attend the NYC VMware User Grouphttps://www.vmug.com/nyc meetings to keep up to date of when the next one will happen. As always, we really encourage creating a twitter account to get more involved with the vCommunity!