NYC VMUG March 2017 Update

The NYCVMUG March 2017 meeting is focused on VMware vSAN, SuperMicro hardware, and homelabs! Send pictures and tweets using the #NYCVMUG hashtag or tag the @nycvmug handle!

Event Agenda

8:30 Room opens, free breakfast available

9:00 VMUG leadership update

9:15 Supermicro business introduction and product line overview (David Fung)

9:55 Break (swap laptops, test projector, prepare live demo)

10:00 From Homelab to vSAN: the TinkerTry journey (Paul Braren)

10:20 Supermicro technical session, with live M.2 NVMe demo (Paul Braren)

10:55 break

11:00 vSAN in your company: How All-Flash works for Ready Nodes and VxRail (Paul Braren)

11:45 Supermicro vSAN Ready nodes (David Fung)

12:00 Raffles, homelab reviews and meeting closing

NYCVMUG News and Updates

Join us in congratulating the new 2017 NYC area vExperts - we are up to 11 now!!

Donald Bacha @donald_bacha

Prabhu Barathi @prabhu_b

Nicholas Scuola @NScuola

We actually managed to get a pic with both Prabhu and Nick and VMware's VP of Sales and Engineering for NSBU! He was real nice when he asked for a photo with us :p

Here is the full list of #NYCVMUG 2017 vExperts (in alphabetical order, without counting VCDX's):

1. Anton Z @AntonZnyc
2. Ariel Sanchez @arielsanchezmor
3. Azarya Shaulov @az_ny
4. Donald Bacha @donald_bacha
5. Greg Laub @GregLaub
6. Jorvin Martinez @jorvinmartinez
7. Michael Martino @wildcard78
8. Nicholas Scuola @NScuola
9. Prabhu Barathi @prabhu_b
10. Sateesh Thupakula @VMwareguruz
11. Stalin Pena @stalin_pena

We are happy to be able to award each NYC area vExpert a $50 Amazon Gift Card and a #NYCVMUG t-shirt on behalf of the NYC VMUG and it's 2016 sponsors - Infinio, VMware NSX, Arkin, and Simplivity! Keep helping others and inspiring us all!

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 in the aforementioned t-shirts, our blog and our twitter page. The prize is $100 in Amazon gift cards and will be awarded by end of May. Send your submission via twitter and the leaders will choose a winner!

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 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 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!!

• Two $50 Amazon Gift cards
• Two VMware Press books (to be chosen by winner, including premium ebook versions)
• One VMware Press Essential Virtual San book, hard copy (2nd edition)
• One Intel 600p NVMe SSD (512GB) for your homelab

Show us your homelab or project!

We included this in the signup page: 
"Also, we will have several tables available if you want to bring your own laptop and show your blog, homelab, or latest project. VMUGs are about you sharing with other admins so feel free to organize lunch nearby after it to keep talking!"

Please feel free to mingle, talk to each other and organize taking lunch together after the VMUG. Take advantage of Paul Braren and David Fung, and your local vExperts!

01-30-2017 Whiteboard session with the @nycvmug re-cap!

Our 2nd whiteboard session was a success as well! It is nothing short of amazing how just agreeing on a date and time to "talk about VMware" with no set agenda can yield interesting conversations and help everyone form ties in their local community. 

As a community, any chance we get to meet is important - when we get together, we share knowledge and help each other grow. This meeting format is great especially if you want to develop public speaking or whiteboard skills! This little time, invested once a month, will help your development as an IT professional.

In this session we had the presence of a special guest - David Aldrich, @mako2big on twitter, who works as an SE for Zerto, who the VMUG leaders met recently. David came in, not representing Zerto, but as an engineer who can help others. When we told him about this session, he was excited at the opportunity to hang out with everyone and made the commitment to show up with no other gain than meeting people. He was super cool and we hope to see him again, as well as any other vendor SE's in the area who want to get to know and help their local VMUG community.

Azarya, who was once again our gracious host, was also able to setup a live camera session - we actually had Nick Scuola attend this way! I attach some pictures of the session, which had some great conversations.

Topics ranged with each presenter: vCenter PSC/vCenter design for two sites, troubleshooting backup performance, designing backup solutions with existing hardware, and of course, we threw some ideas with Zerto too (we had to take advantage of David). Another thing that was super cool was that Azarya invited one of his network engineers to our meeting and he was able to interact with a bunch of VMware nerds :)

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

Anton Z @AntonZnyc
Ariel Sanchez @arielsanchezmor
Azarya Shaulov @az_ny
David Aldrich @mako2big
Michael Martino @wildcard78
Nick Scuola @NScuola 

left to right: David, Anton, Ariel in the TV taking the photo, Azarya, Michael, and 

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. 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!

January whiteboard session with the @nycvmug

Hi everyone,

We're happy to confirm the details for our second "NYC VMUG whiteboard session". Our first session was a success, and as promised, we are trying to do them frequently, barely fitting it into January. Again, space is limited, as you can see from the photos, but this also means that everyone is paying attention and interacting with the person who is white boarding.

Here are the details:

• Monday January 30, 2017, 6pm
• 500 7th Ave - very close to Times Square, so transportation should not be an issue
• 10 people max - have to register with @arielsanchezmor @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 first meeting, 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. 

Some of you will remember we announced this at our October VMUG meeting:

"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 @arielsanchezmor @az_ny or @nycvmug :)

12-12-16 whiteboard session with the @nycvmug - recap!

Our first NYC VMUG whiteboard session was a success! We had a great group come in with various expertise levels - some like Niran even drove in from New Jersey! 

We managed to get some pics. I think I win the funny face award. You can only be in awe of the talent in the room, with everyone coming to share technical knowledge, meet new friends and have a good time!

In alphabetical order:

Anton Z (multi-VCAP, vExpert) @AntonZnyc

Ariel Sanchez (multi-VCAP, vExpert, VMUG leader) @arielsanchezmor

Azarya Shaulov, in green long sleeve shirt (VCAP, vExpert, host) @az_ny

Ganshyam Daga (virtualization consultant) @gdaga12

Michael Martino, next to whiteboard with collared shirt (multi-VCAP, vExpert, VMUG Leader) @wildcard78

Nick Scuola, in the middle (VCAP, vExpert hopeful) @NScuola

Niran Even-Chen (Double VCDX, vExpert, VMware employee) @NiranEC

Prabhu Barathi (VMware employee, SE for NSX) @prabhu_b

Extra pics:

We really appreciate every person that came to share and help the others, and especially 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. 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 Group 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!

December whiteboard session with the @nycvmug

Hi everyone,

We're happy to confirm the details for our first "NYC VMUG whiteboard session". 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. 

Some of you will remember we announced this at our October VMUG meeting:

"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.

Here are the details:

• Monday December 12, 2016 , 6pm
• 500 7th Ave - very close to Times Square, so transportation should not be an issue
• 10 people max - have to register with @arielsanchezmor @az_ny or @nycvmug to be added to security list before 4pm on the day of the event

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 @arielsanchezmor @az_ny or @nycvmug :)

NYC VMUG October 2016 update

Event Agenda

NYC Agenda
Time:      Session:
8:30 AM    Breakfast and mingling
9:00 AM    VMUG announcements
9:15 AM    SimpliVity Introduction
9:30 AM    User Presentation - HCI concepts with Nick Scuola @NScuola
10:00 AM    SimpliVity Technical Presentation
10:30 AM    HCI questions/free forum
10:45 AM    VMworld Update with VMware's Rich Bean
11:15 AM    User Presentation - vCenter 6.0 topologies with Anton Z @AntonZnyc
11:45 AM    Raffles and Closing

News and Updates

Congratulate the new NYC area vExperts

Anton Z @AntonZnyc
Azarya Shaulov @az_ny
Stalin Pena @stalin_pena

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.

Other User Groups we're attending

Several of us are assisting other NYC User Groups (found in meetup.com) for example the NYC BSD User Group, Google SRE and the NYC OpenStack group. Feel free to browse and reach out if you are interested beyond VMware and want to coordinate assisting!

VMware related events

Nutanix .Next tour
Dr Strange premiere with Zerto Nov 4 here

The NJ-NYC UserCon #vBrownBag Tech Talks videos are online!

As you may remember, we had the opportunity and pleasure of having recorded #vBrownBag sessions included as part of the agenda in the NJ-NYC VMUG UserCon last June 23, 2016. You can read all about it here.

Each presenter was told in advance that they only had 10 minutes to convey a "non marketing or sales, but technical, teach us something!" type of session. This type of presentation typically yields all manners of information nuggets which are hard earned and thus highly valued. This is one of the reasons why vBrownBag has grown so dramatically, both online and in actual conferences. You can read all about vBrownBag here, and sign up for future activities (online in several regions/ time zones, or for live conferences, such as VMworld 2016!). 

One thing that I was amazed of was how few people in the NJ and NYC area knew about vBrownBag. Once you delve into the vBrownBag community you will find that there is nothing else that provides this quality of content for so little (ie, free). Even though most will agree that vBrownBag started as a VMware focused podcast, the truth is it covers whatever is hot in the infrastructure management world, since it obeys the wishes of its community. There are several podcasts dedicated to Cisco, OpenStack, Devops topics and career advice. A big focus is also on helping people study for certifications, which is rare in the sense that you can cover all the blueprint items in one hour videos for the price of a Youtube search :)

What I personally love about vBrownBag is the flexibility and the sense of community you are able to create, even if across large distances! I'm blessed to have been able to learn from, contribute, and now also be part of the production behind the scenes. VMUG and vBrownBag have the same objective in mind, which is all about the user.  Remember that although vendors are allowed to present, the vast majority of videos were created by one of your peers who decided he could contribute some of his time to others.

Getting back on track - after taking the videos and attempting to insert the PPTs inside them so the slides were readable, we've uploaded them in the official vBrownBag Youtube channel and they are now available for everyone worldwide to enjoy. Thanks again to our presenters who so graciously accepted the opportunity to help others!

Speaker Twitter Talk Title (with link to video)
Prabhu Barathi prabhu_b "Network Virtualization – what it is and what it isn’t"
Julie Starr jmarions "Policy’s Security Groups: the key to NSX’s Service Composer"
Stalin Pena stalin_pena "Microsegmentación en VMware NSX" (spanish)
Anton Z IamAntonZ "Horizon View - Tips and tricks for power users"

• Prabhu Barathi is an NSX SE covering the NYC area. He's the nicest guy you've met and he's doing an excellent job of helping vSphere administrators embrace NSX. He's going to condense all that experience and present on what NSX can do for your business problems.
• Julie Starr is a firewall specialist within the VMware Network and Security. She has authored some of the firewall deep dive posts in the VMware blog. We're especially thrilled to have someone this technical go deep on one aspect of NSX and being able to record it for the world!
• Stalin Pena is a VMware customer working in NYC. He has several certifications, most impressively VCIX-NV, and is currently pursuing his VCDX-NV. We're thrilled that he will offer his session in spanish, which is a first for the UserCon, and we will be able to record it for vBrownBagLatam!
• Anton Z is also a VMware customer and a long time contributor to NYC VMUG events. He has presented three times, in each displaying the tricks and tips he uses to make surehe gets what he needs out of each version of Horizon View. In this talk he will give his best tips and tricks for the latest version.