Take Five With Tom Fenton
Take Five with Tom Fenton: My Picks for VMware Explore 2023
After earlier choosing his top hybrid-workforce-themed (Horizon) sessions earlier, Tom turns to general sessions covering NVMeoF, Kubernetes, NUMA and more.
In this article I will share my top must-see/don't-miss sessions for VMware Explore 2023, which will be held Aug. 21-24 in Las Vegas.
I won't cover any Hybrid Workforce (Horizon) sessions, as I listed those in a separate article.
NVMeoF is a technology that I believe will redefine the datacenter, and I was disappointed when I saw only two sessions on it. Although Ask the Expert about vSphere Virtual Volumes, VMFS, NFS, NVMeoF [CEIM2534LV] looked good, I ended up going with Core Storage Best Practices: Optimizing NVMeoF and vSphere Virtual Volumes [CEIB2533LV] as my pick as it seems like it will give more practical advice. It will be co-hosted with Cody Hosterman from Pure Storage, who will hopefully have some field experiences to share with the audience.
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There was no shortage of Kubernetes-based (K8s) sessions, almost all containing a VMware Tanzu slant.
Get Started with Containers and VMware Tanzu: Zero to Kubernetes [MAPB2355LV] looks like an excellent primer to help me (finally) get started on my Tanzu journey.
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I enjoy hearing how people apply technology, so my other session based on K8s is From ClickOps to GitOps: A Kubernetes Evolution Story [MAPB2438LV].
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Last century, I worked for Sequent Computer Systems, which was a pioneer in non-uniform memory access architecture (NUMA), so when I saw that Chief Technologist Frank Denneman's Explore session was titled 60 Minutes of NUMA - A CPU is not a CPU anymore [CODEB2761LV], I had to go with it as my final pick of the conference (though it has been cut back to 45 minutes, apparently). This will be a deep technology dive and not for everyone, but it will be a must-attend session if you care about NUMA and performance.
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So there you have it: the VMware Explore sessions that I most want to attend.
The two sessions that I will absolutely be attending (prepare yourself for a shameless self-plug) are the two that I will be presenting: How Fat is Your Thin Client? [VMTN2822LV] and Troubleshooting Desktops Just Got Less Expensive, Faster, and Easier! [EUS2940LVS]. The first session builds on an article I did earlier this year, while the second is a ControlUp-sponsored session (I work for ControlUp), where my co-worker Jeff (Big Deal) Johnson and I will get a chance to demonstrate Edge DX.
Hope to see you in Vegas, Baby Vegas!
To register for VMware Explore, click here; for the complete catalog, click here.
About the Author
Tom Fenton has a wealth of hands-on IT experience gained over the past 30 years in a variety of technologies, with the past 20 years focusing on virtualization and storage. He currently works as a Technical Marketing Manager for ControlUp. He previously worked at VMware in Staff and Senior level positions. He has also worked as a Senior Validation Engineer with The Taneja Group, where he headed the Validation Service Lab and was instrumental in starting up its vSphere Virtual Volumes practice. He's on X @vDoppler.