Home Lab GEN V Build: Part 2 – Case Selection
** Note: I’ve updated my Home Lab to Gen 7, please go to my BLOG Series for more information on this update. **
In this video I’ll cover the Rosewill RISE Glow case. Its the case I’m using in my Generation V Home Lab build.
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ videos and blogs that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start posting really boring content!
Home Lab GEN V Build: Part 1 – Home Lab Gen V Build Components Overview
** Note: I’ve updated my Home Lab to Gen 7, please go to my BLOG Series for more information on this update. **
In this vlog I’ll be covering all the components that go into my Gen V build.
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ videos and blogs that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start posting really boring content!
Home Lab GEN V: The Quest for More Cores! Design Considerations
** NOV-2020 Update: I’ve updated my Home Lab to Gen 7, please go to my BLOG Series for more information on this update. **
** MAR-2020 Update: Though I had good luck with the HP 593742-001 NC523SFP DUAL PORT SFP+ 10Gb card in my Gen 4 Home Lab, I found it faulty when running in my Gen 5 Home Lab. Could be I was using a PCIe x4 slot in Gen 4, or it could be the card runs to hot to touch. For now this card was removed from VMware HCL, HP has advisories out about it, and after doing some poking around there seem to be lots of issues with it. **
Original Post Below:
I have decided to update my Home Lab into Generation V. In doing this I am going to follow my best practices laid out in my ‘Home Lab Generations’ and ‘VMware Home Labs: a Definitive guide’. As you read through the “Home Lab Generations page” you should notice a theme around planning each generation and documenting its outcomes and unplanned items. In this blog post, I am going to start laying out Design Considerations which include the ‘Initial use case/goals and needed Resources as they relate to GEN V.
First off, lets answer why am I updating my home lab. Over the past 4+ Home Lab generations I had deemed that CPU’s with 4 Physical Cores with up to 32GB RAM would meet the demands of my use cases and, in most cases it did. However, most recently I starting having resource constraints when I wanted to use multiple VMware products. This caused me to do a bit of shuffling to be able to run the software I wanted. Now this is not the fault of VMware, its just that there are so many products that have resource demands and my current home lab was undersized. Additionally, the fan noise from the InfiniBand switch and others was just to loud.
First – Here are my initial use case and goals:
- Be able to run vSphere 6.x and vSAN Environment
- Reuse as much as possible from Gen IV Home lab, this will keep costs down
- Choose products that bring value to the goals, are cost effective, and if they are on the VMware HCL that a plus but not necessary for a home lab
- Move networking (vSAN / FT) from 40Gb InfiniBand to 10Gbe Switch
- Have enough CPU cores and RAM to be able to support multiple VMware products (ESXi, VCSA, vSAN, vRO, vRA, NSX, LogInsight)
- Be able to fit the the environment into 3 ESXi Hosts
- The environment should run well, but doesn’t have to be a production level environment
Second – Evaluate Software, Hardware, and VM requirements:
Before I run off and start buying items. I need to look at the software requirements on the hardware. Using the table from my ‘HOME LABS: A DEFINITIVE GUIDE’, I can start to figure out how much CPU, RAM, and Disk space I’ll need. Through experience working with these products I already know my Dual Port 10Gbe per host network is adequate to support these products. Its the other items I’m concerned with in this build.
Using this information I can quickly see I need the following across all my hosts:
- CPU: ~32 cores, of which 30 are vCores and 4 are pCores
- RAM: ~95GB RAM, of which 64GB used by VMs and 32 GB RAM used by ESXi + vSAN
- Disk: ~1.3 TB of disk space
- For vROPS I used this sizer: http://vropssizer.vmware.com/sizing-wizard/choose-installation
Lastly I figure I run between 20-30 VM’s for testing, these could be Windows, Linux, etc. which can be over subscribed
- CPU: 30 x 2 vCPU = ~60 vCPU
- RAM: 30 X 8GB = ~240 GB
- Disk: 30 x 30GB = ~900GB
Total resource needs for the Cluster:
- CPUs: 92 cores
- RAM: 335GB
- Disk: 2.2TB
Third – Home Lab Design Considerations
As you can see form the totals above my existing Gen IV Home Lab would not be able to keep up. Lets do keep in mind the totals for the CPU/RAM are a 1:1 ratio and doesn’t take in consolidation. For a home lab I should be able to reduce these numbers quite a bit. What I do next is review my Home lab Design Considerations. This plus the information from step two will help me to decide which hardware to select.
Home Lab Design Considerations:
| Design Considerations | Description |
| Initial Cost | How much does the Home lab solution cost to build out?
This is always top of mind for me and I do a lot of cost comparisons, research, and evaluation. For this build I found that reusing what I have plus purchasing a few more items kept my cost lower with more value then buying new or even used hardware. |
| Noise | When the home lab is running how much noise will it produce, and are the noise levels appropriate for your use case?
In my design I’m looking to reduce main fan noise. My lab is in my home office so it needs to be whisper quiet. |
| Heat / Power Consumption | Does the home lab produce to much heat for the intended location?
Heat/Power is always a balancing act. I want something that will not heat up my room, has enough cores to to do the job but doesn’t consume so much power I don’t want to turn it on. |
| Monthly Operational Cost | Based on Power (watts) and the average cost for electricity for the USA, cost is an estimate if running for 24x7x30 days?
My home lab power needs are as follows:
|
| Foot Print Space and Flexibility | How much space does the solution take up. Based on the type of product you choose, how flexible is the solution when hardware or other changes are needed to expand?
What I’m really looking for are 3 x Tall tower PC Cases with maximum flexibility. This means where the power supplies are located, the amount of drives it can hold, fits many different motherboards, and has vertical / horizontal slots for Host Cards. |
| Bleeding Edge
VMware products |
Software products are constantly adding new requirements for home labs (example: 10Gbe Networks, or more HDD/SDD) How does the solution align to bleeding edge products without major over haul?
If I build this system beefy enough I should be able to be in the position to run just about any software that comes my way. |
| Hands on Software | Measures viability from the ESXi layer through the entire stack of products
My new system should be designed to accommodate the software stack mentioned in step 2 |
| Hands on Hardware | Considers the effectiveness of the hardware solution to real world technologies
Choosing a system that allows the most flexibility is key here to be future looking |
| ESXi / vSAN HCL Support | How does the hardware align to the Hardware compatibility guides
Not top of mind for a Home lab as I’m not looking for VMware to support it. However, the closer I can get to the HCL the better off I will be. |
| HCI
Hyper Converged Infrastructure |
How well does the solution adapt to HCI (vSAN)
I should ensure that JBOD Disk Controller and NIC both have a PCIe 8x slot or better and I can fit many drives into my case. |
| Refresh Cost | Financially, what would it take to refresh, replace, or update the hardware solution
Consider how adaptable is the solution to changing hardware and software demands. I want to choose products that are cost effective but I can reuse down the road. This should put my lab in a potion to keep costs down. |
Step Four – Choosing Hardware
Based on my estimations above I’m going to need a very flexible case, Dual CPU Mobo, lots of RAM, and good network connectivity.
Here is what each Host will have:
- Rosewill RISE Case
- JINGSHA EATX X79 Dual CPU motherboard (Worked with 6.7, did not test with 7.0)
- 128GB DDR3 ECC RAM
- 4 x 200 SAS SSD
- 4 x 600 SAS HDD
- 1 x IBM 5210 JBOD
1 x HP 593742-001 NC523SFP DUAL PORT SFP+ 10GbCard found faulty with ESXi- Connect into a MikoTik 10gbe CN309
Here are the resources I’ll need to build out my 3 hosts:
- To meet the initial use case/goals I’m will be investing quite a bit into this total refresh.
- Here are some of the initial GEN V resource choices (Still in the works and not all proven out)
- Purchase Items:
- Mobo: JINGSHA EATX X79 Dual CPU motherboard LGA 2011 Supports Xeon v2 processor ($86 Alibaba)
- Mobo Stands: 4mm Nylon Plastic Pillar (Amazon $8)
- RAM: 128GB DDR3 ECC (Ebay $110)
- CPU: Xeon E5-2640 v2 8 Cores / 16 HT (Ebay $30)
- CPU Cooler: DEEPCOOL GAMMAXX 400 (Amazon $19)
- Video: ASUS Neon PCIe 1x with DMS-59 Splitter (Ebay $15)
- Video Riser: PCI-E 1x to 16x Riser Adapter (Amazon $4)
- DISK: 600GB SSD (Ebay $80 for 10 Drives)
- Power Supply Adapter: Dual 8(4+4) Pin Male for Motherboard Power Adapter Cable (Amazon $11)
- Power Supply Extension Cable: StarTech.com 8in 24 Pin ATX 2.01 Power Extension Cable (Amazon $9)
- CableCreation Internal Mini SAS SFF-8643 to (4) 29pin SFF-8482 (Amazon $18)
- Case: Rosewill RISE Glow EATX (Newegg $54)
- Existing Items I’ll move over from the old 3 Hosts:
- Power Supply’s
- 200GB SAS SSD
- 600GB SAS HHD
- 2TB SATA HDD
- 64GB USB Thumb Drive
- IBM 5210 JBOD Disk Controller
- CableCreation Internal Mini SAS SFF-8643 to (4) 29pin SFF-8482 connectors with SATA Power,1M
- HP 593742-001 NC523SFP DUAL PORT SFP+ 10Gb SERVER ADAPTER W/ HIGH PROFILE BRACKET
- HP 684517-001 Twinax SFP 10gbe 0.5m DAC Cable Assembly
- Purchase Items:
The total cost for me to upgrade each server using purchased and existing items came out to ~$425 US Each. If you built this configuration without existing items the cost would be around ~$850 US. Clearly, you can see reusing my existing hardware and taking a step back with older Xeon/DDR3 RAM it saved quite a few dollars.
Next Steps for me is to finalize my orders and start the assembly process. I’ll post up soon around my progress.Here are a few initial photos from the build.
For now here are a few pre-deployment pics- ~Enjoy!
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ videos and blogs that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start posting really boring content!
Home Lab GEN V: The Quest for More Cores! – First Look
** Note: I’ve updated my Home Lab to Gen 7, please go to my BLOG Series for more information on this update. **
Over the past 10+ years I’ve posted all types of information around my home lab builds. Check out my guide for more information. Most recently I decided to update my home lab to be able to support the resource demands of so many great vmware products. I’m not quite ready to go into detail around my new home lab but in this video blog I wanted to give you a first look at some of the components. Soon I post up several blogs around all the details. So, for now enjoy the first look, it’s a bit of a rough video but I’m a technologist not a Hollywood director :)
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ videos and blogs that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start posting really boring content!
Create an ESXi installation ISO with custom drivers in 9 easy steps!
Video Posted on Updated on
One of the challenges in running a VMware based home lab is the ability to work with old / inexpensive hardware but run latest software. Its a balance that is sometimes frustrating, but when it works it is very rewarding. Most recently I decided to move to 10Gbe from my InfiniBand 40Gb network. Part of this transition was to create an ESXi ISO with the latest build (6.7U3) and appropriate network card drivers. In this video blog post I’ll show 9 easy steps to create your own customized ESXi ISO and how to pin point IO Cards on the vmware HCL.
** Update 06/22/2022 ** If you are looking to do USB NICs with ESXi check out the new fling (USB Network Native Driver for ESXi) that helps with this. This Fling supports the most popular USB network adapter chipsets ASIX USB 2.0 gigabit network ASIX88178a, ASIX USB 3.0 gigabit network ASIX88179, Realtek USB 3.0 gigabit network RTL8152/RTL8153 and Aquantia AQC111U. https://flings.vmware.com/usb-network-native-driver-for-esxi
NOTE – Flings are NOT supported by VMware
** Update 03/06/2020 ** Though I had good luck with the HP 593742-001 NC523SFP DUAL PORT SFP+ 10Gb card in my Gen 4 Home Lab, I found it faulty when running in my Gen 5 Home Lab. Could be I was using a PCIe x4 slot in Gen 4, or it could be the card runs to hot to touch. For now this card was removed from VMware HCL, HP has advisories out about it, and after doing some poking around there seem to be lots of issues with it. I’m looking for a replacement and may go with the HP NC550SFP. However, this doesn’t mean the steps in this video are only for this card, the steps in this video help you to better understand how to add drivers into an ISO.
Here are the written steps I took from my video blog. If you are looking for more detail, watch the video.
Before you start – make sure you have PowerCLI installed, have download these files, and have placed these files in c:\tmp.
- Download driver –
- LSI Driver: https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI60-QLOGIC-QLCNIC-61191&productId=491
- Note: Extract the offline bundle from this package
- Download ESXi –
- ESXi Update ZIP File: vmware.com/downloads
- Note: make sure you download the Update ZIP file and not the ESXi ISO file
I started up PowerCLI and did the following commands:
1) Add the ESXi Update ZIP file to the depot:
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot C:\tmp\update-from-esxi6.7-6.7_update03.zip
2) Add the LSI Offline Bundle ZIP file to the depot:
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot ‘C:\tmp\qlcnic-esx55-6.1.191-offline_bundle-2845912.zip’
3) Make sure the files from step 1 and 2 are in the depot:
Get-EsxSoftwareDepot
4) Show the Profile names from update-from-esxi6.7-6.7_update03. The default command only shows part of the name. To correct this and see the full name use the ‘| select name’
Get-EsxImageProfile | select name
5) Create a clone profile to start working with.
New-EsxImageProfile -cloneprofile ESXi-6.7.0-20190802001-standard -Name ESXi-6.7.0-20190802001-standard-QLogic -Vendor QLogic
6) Validate the LSI driver is loaded in the local depot. It should match the driver from step 2. Make sure you note the name and version number columns. We’ll need to combine these two with a space in the next step.
Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Vendor q*
7) Add the software package to the cloned profile. Tip: For ‘SoftwarePackage:’ you should enter the ‘name’ space ‘version number’ from step 6. If you just use the short name it might not work.
Add-EsxSoftwarePackage
ImageProfile: ESXi-6.7.0-20190802001-standard-QLogic
SoftwarePackage[0]: net-qlcnic 6.1.191-1OEM.600.0.0.2494585
8) Optional: Compare the profiles, to see differences, and ensure the driver file is in the profile.
Get-EsxImageProfile | select name << Run this if you need a reminder on the profile names
Compare-EsxImageProfile -ComparisonProfile ESXi-6.7.0-20190802001-standard-QLogic -ReferenceProfile ESXi-6.7.0-20190802001-standard
9) Create the ISO
Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile “ESXi-6.7.0-20190802001-standard-QLogic” -ExportToIso -FilePath c:\tmp\ESXi-6.7.0-20190802001-standard-QLogic.iso
That’s it! If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ videos and blogs that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start posting boring video blogs!
Cross vSAN Cluster support for FT
Going to 10Gbe from 40Gb with the MikroTik CRS309-1G-8S+IN
As my Home Lab has evolved I’m always looking to make it better and at the same time learn something new. When I started work on Home Lab Gen IV (2016) I really wanted to have a high speed network to support vSAN. At that time 10Gbe networking was cost prohibitive and InfiniBand networking was faster, something that was new to me, and its cost was in the ball park I wanted to spend.
While I was able to get my InfiniBand network to work, it had a couple of the downsides – ageing technology, lack of support, difficult to work with, and power/noise was not optimal. Most of these I overcame but what I really needed was affordable 10Gbe Cards, Cables and a fan-less/low power Switch.
I know its a pipe dream, right? Well, this past week I got a new MikroTik CRS309-1G-8S+IN! Its 8 Ports of 10Gbe SFP+, no fan, and only 17 watts. Best part, its in a price range for most home lab folks. I found it doing a few searches and some of my fellow Home Lab enthusiasts are using it too.
In this video I chat a bit about InfiniBand vs. 10Gbe, I unbox the device and in the weeks to come I’ll post up some more videos around its use.
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ videos that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start posting boring video blogs!
FIX for Netgear Orbi Router / Firewall blocks additional subnets
**2021-NOV Update** With the release of Orbi Router Firmware Version V2.7.3.22 the telnet option is no longer available in the debug menu. This means the steps below will not work unless you are a earlier router firmware version. I looked for other Orib solutions but didn’t find any. However, I solved this issue by using an additional firewall using NAT between VLAN74 and VLAN 75. If you find an Orbi solution, please post a comment and I’ll be glad to update this blog.
Last April 2019 I decided to update my home network with the Orbi WiFi System (RBK50) AC3000 by Netgear. My previous Netgear Wifi router worked quite well but I really needed something to support multiple locations seamlessly.
The Orbi Mesh has a primary device and allows for satellites to be connected to it. It creates a Wifi mesh that allows devices to go from room to room or building to building seamlessly. I’ve had it up for a while now and its been working out great – that is until I decided to ask it to route more than one subnet. In this blog I’ll show you the steps I took to over come this feature limitation but like all content on my blog this is for my reference. Use at your own risk.
To understand the problem we need to first understand the network layout. My Orbi Router is the Gateway of last resort and it supplies DHCP and DNS services. In my network I have two subnets which are untagged VLANS known as VLAN 74 – 172.16.74.x/24 and VLAN 75 – 172.16.75.x/24. VLAN 74 is used by my home devices and VLAN 75 is where I manage my ESXi hosts. I have enabled RIP v2 on the Orbi and on the Dell 6224 switch. The routing tables are populated correctly, and I can ping from any internal subnet to any host without issue, except when the Orbi is involved.
Issue: Hosts on VLAN 75 are not able to get to the internet. Hosts on VLAN 75 can resolve DNS names (example: yahoo.com) but it cannot ping any host on the Inet. Conversely, VLAN 74 can ping Inet hosts and get to the internet. I’d like for my hosts on VLAN 75 to have all the same functionally as my hosts on VLAN 74.
Findings: By default, the primary Orbi router is blocking any host that is not on VLAN 74 from getting to the INET. I believe Netgear enabled this block to limit the number of devices the Orbi could NAT. I can only guess that either the router just can’t handle the load or this was a maximum Netgear tested it to. I found this firewall block out by logging into the CLI of my Orbi and looking at the IPTables settings. There I could clearly see there was firewall rule blocking hosts that were not part of VLAN 74.
Solution: Adjust the Orbi to allow all VLAN traffic (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK)
- Enable Telnet access on your Primary Orbi Router.
- Go to http://{your orbi ip address}/debug.htm
- Choose ‘Enable Telnet’ (**reminder to disable this when done**)
- Telnet into the Orbi Router (I just used putty)
- Logon as root using your routers main password
- I issued the command ‘iptables -t filter -L loc2net’. Using the output of this command I can see where line 5 is dropping all traffic that is not (!) VLAN74.
- Let’s remove this firewall rule. The one I want to target is the 5th in the list, yours may vary. This command will remove it ‘iptables -t filter -D loc2net 5’
- NOTES:
- Router Firmware Version V2.5.1.16 (Noted: 10.2020) — It appears that more recent firmware updates have changed the targeting steps. I noticed in Router Firmware Version V2.5.1.16 I had to add 2 to the targeted line number to remove it with the ip tables command. This my vary for the device that is being worked on.
- Router Firmware Version V2.5.2.4 (Noted: Jan-2021) — It appears the targeting for steps are now fixed in this version.
- Again, as with all my posts, blogs, and videos are for my records and not for any intended purpose.
- Next, we need to clean up some post routing issues ‘iptables -t nat -I POSTROUTING 1 -o brwan -j MASQUERADE’
- A quick test and I can now PING and get to the internet from VLAN 75
- Disconnect from Telnet and disable it on your router.
Note: Unfortunately, this is not a permanent fix. Once you reboot your router the old settings come back. The good news is, its only two to three lines to fix this problem. Check out the links below for more information and a script.
Easy Copy Commands for my reference:
iptables -t filter -L loc2net
iptables -t filter -D loc2net 7 << Check this number
iptables -t nat -I POSTROUTING 1 -o brwan -j MASQUERADE
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ blog articles that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start writing boring blog content.
REF:
7 tips for getting to VMworld 2019
I’ve been lucky enough to make it to very VMworld since 2008 but it wasn’t always easy getting there. Being the former Phoenix VMUG leader and currently a 8-year VMware employee I’ve come across all types of VMworld tips. In this blog post I list out my tips to help enable you to be more successful in positioning your “ask” or “request” to attend.
TIP #1: Make VMworld your personal goal!
Okay, so you got the big No from your employer. Normal reasons for a denial are “costs too much”, “value to our company”, or “we can’t afford to have you away”. Fair enough, but the real question should be – how prepared were you to support your request? Imagine you are the manager and an employee somewhat casually asked you to spend $1000’s to go to an event you may never even heard of. What would your reaction be? Chances are you’d say no too.
Set a goal to attend VMworld – Say it again “Set a GOAL to attend VMworld” Think about it this way — you know VMworld is going to happen, so why not add it to your yearly goals? Even if your company doesn’t have goal planning then start a personal list and think about how to achieve this goal.
TIP #2: We achieve what we focus on the most
If getting to VMworld was always easy then I wouldn’t be writing this blog post. If you are being turned down year after year, you might consider a change of focus. Your focus should be known but not annoying. In other words, let others know that VMware and getting to VMworld is what you are passionate about. Let them know how VMware technologies help innovate your company, how it reduces downtime, how it makes you all more secure, etc. etc. By letting others know and understand your passion you’ll go from the person asking to go, to your VMware thought leader and soon management will be coming to you telling you to go to VMworld vs. you asking to go.
TIP #3: Get Help
Next, don’t do this alone. Do you have someone who can help support your goal? Maybe it is a fellow employee, VMware account team, VMware TAM, VMUG leader / Users, and most importantly don’t forget about your partners that support the VMware community. Talk with them, tell them about your goals and the reasons why you want to achieve them, see how they can help support you. Finally, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Are other employees successful in going to training, conferences, or events? Clearly, they are successful with their requests, so why not work with them on your goals and find new ways to be successful.
TIP #4 Getting past the “Total Cost”
Having your employer pick of the tab can be a challenge. Your plan should include the total cost to attend, how you plan to fund it, and keep in mind this cost can be quite high for some companies on a tight budget. My suggestion is if you are getting the big ‘No’ due to costs then work with your company around the total costs. First find out why it’s a ‘No’ and look for opportunities to overcome this, then use my tips below to enhance your plan. In general, your first challenge in subsidizing cost maybe your company’s policy around accepting gifts. Understand this policy well, don’t just take someone’s word as there maybe ways to accept gifts under specific circumstances. Read your companies current policy and ask the policy writers questions to better understand it. I think you’ll find there are ways to do this you just need to do some research. Explore your company – Talk with your travel department or even HR/Benefits around funding sources as there maybe programs to help employees with Education and events. Point is, ask and explore you never know what you will find and be able to achieve.
TIP #5 How do I get a free VMworld Pass aka the Golden Ticket?
Getting a free pass to VMworld can be your biggest challenge. However here are some ways to get your hands on one.
- Give-a-ways
- I can’t tell you how many vendors do an annual giveaways contests — hit them early, often, and enter as many as you can find
- Tips-
- When you enter, find out who your local vendor contact is, let them know you entered, and then stay in contact with them all year long and then some
- Keep in mind not all contests are the same, some are based on random drawings and others are not. This is why I say keep in contact with the vendor and let them know your intent.
- How do I find give-a-ways >> Google ‘VMworld getting there for free’ or ‘VMworld contest’, Look on Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms
- Get the word out
- Tell your boss, workmates, vendors, partners, use twitter, linked in etc. and Repeat again and again. By doing this you let others know about your strong interest in getting there, in turn they might get a lead for you.
- Most importantly, reach out to your local VMUG leader and ask them for tips in your area. They are usually well connected and might have a lead for you as well.
- Follow Twitter and Linked In – You never know who is going to post up “I have a pass, I cannot go, and need to give it to someone” This is pretty common just before the event and yes you can transfer a pass to someone.
- New to Twitter, need contacts? It’s simple find the #VMworld hastag, see who is posting to it and start following them. Then look at all their contacts and follow them too, soon you’ll have a gaggle of folks
- This sounds like work. Why do all this? Simple, distributed coverage model. The more people who know the more likely they are to help and in turn the more likely you’ll succeed.
- Don’t forgo an Expo-Only or Solutions Exchange Pass
- If you get offered this pass take it. I can’t tell you how many vendors have these passes and cannot give them away, seriously this is gold but folks don’t know how to leverage them.
- First off this pass has great value, there is a TON of value here. See the current VMworld Pass features for more information but normally you can get into the larger Sessions and the Solutions Exchange
- Second this pass can get you on to the Solutions Exchange floor where all the vendors and partners are.
- Once there start talking to all the vendors, fellow attendees, all those folks you meet on twitter, etc. as you never know who has a full pass they couldn’t get rid of, take it and upgrade yours
- Third while you are there with an Expo Pass use Twitter and the VMworld hash tags to let folks know you’re looking for a full pass.
- Stop by the VMUG booth on the Expo floor, you never know who will be there and you never know if users there might be able to help you
- Vendors and Partners
- Find out who is sponsoring VMworld this year, and then…
- Start calling the ones you know well, ask them for support getting there
- Don’t forget to call the ones you don’t know so well too
- If you have deal on the table with a vendor coming up, inquire if they can put passes in the deal.
- Find out who is sponsoring VMworld this year, and then…
TIP #6: What about Food, Hotel, and Travel Costs?
When you attend the event other costs include food, hotel, and travel, but how can you minimize this on a tight budget?
- Food
- If you get a pass then lunch and usually breakfast are included but check the schedule
- For dinner, find out where the nightly vendor events are as they usually have food
- Talk with Vendors they might take you out, you never know
- Lastly, there is usually free food everywhere, in-fact feel free to give some to the homeless I usually do.
- Hotel
- Ask a Vendor to help pay for just the room or ask them to gift hotel points to you
- Room Share with someone at the event << Think about it, you won’t be in the room that often and chances are from 7AM till 10PM you’ll be out of your room.
- Use Travel sites to cut down the cost (Booking.com, Google Travel, AirBnB)
- My Secret Hotels:
- San Fran try the Carriage Inn and The Mosser
- When VMworld is in Las Vegas (not for 2019) there are lots of options but try Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel (usually very quiet not a casino) or The Westin Las Vegas Hotel & Spa
- Use your Hotel or other travel points to book the hotel for free
- Get a low cost hotel away from the event, but watch your travel costs to get to the event
- Travel
- Airfare
- Ask a vendor to pay for just the airfare, or maybe they have points they can gift you
- Use your own travel points to pay for this
- Rideshare to the event
- See if one of your connections are driving to the event, offer to split fuel costs
- You drive someone to the event, and they pick up the hotel or vise versa
- Local Travel (try the following)
- VMworld Shuttle
- Hotel Shuttle
- City Transit Options
- Ride Share – Uber / Lyft
- San Fran BART / Las Vegas Monorail
- Share a Rental Car or Taxi
- Once again hit up those vendors, they might have a way to get you around for free
- Airfare
TIP #7: Finally here is a breakdown of how I got to so many events and how it was paid for
| Year | Pass | Travel | Food | Hotel |
| 2008 VMworld | Vendor Sponsor – Full Pass | Employer Paid | Vendor / Event | Employer Paid |
| 2009 VMworld | VMUG Sponsored – Full Pass | Vendor paid for Airfare with Miles | Vendor / Event | Employer Paid |
| 2010 VMworld | VMUG Sponsored – Full Pass | Vendor paid for Airfare with Miles | Vendor / Event | Vendor Sponsored |
| 2011 VMworld | Vendor Sponsor – Expo Pass but I got an upgrade to Full by asking others | I drove two others and I paid for the fuel | Vendor / Event | Travel Companion paid for room |
| 2012-2019 | Employee Pass | Employer Paid | Employer Paid | Employer Paid |
Summing it up…
My take is, if you REALLY want to go you’ll get there but sometimes it takes effort and if you do it right it might not cost you a thing. Don’t let anything stop you and find your way there.
Finally, after you’ve been to the event don’t forget about the folks who got you there and say ‘Thank you’. Then over the next year continue to build these relationship as you never know if you’ll need help again, or you want to help someone else get there.
Best of luck and do reach out with suggestions, comments, or great stories around how you got there!
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ blog articles that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start writing boring blog content.
UNBOXING VeloCloud’s Edge 510 AC (SD-WAN)
This past week I got a new VeloCloud Edge 510 AC! It was sent to me by the VMware CTO-Ambassadors program. Its been a great internal VMware group to be part of. In this video I simply unbox the device and in the weeks to come I’ll post up some more videos around its use.
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ videos that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start posting boring video blogs!
vmexplorer.com now on YouTube!
I’ve been blogging for 9 years and have always thought about adding video blogs to supplement my overall content. Over the past year I made the investment to add this ability and I’m happy to announce today that video blogs will start to appear on vmexplorer.com
Like my blog posts my video posts will be straight to the point and no-nonsense.
If this is a perspective you can appreciate, then please do subscribe to my new YouTube Channel.
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ blog articles that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start writing boring blog content – and now boring video blogs too!
vmexplorer 