vSphere Update 1 is out!
Apparently as I lay in bed in dreamland last night VMWare released vSphere update 1 - took long enough!
Update 1 brings several notable improvements:
• vSphere client works in Windows 7 - without a hack!
• You can run Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 as guest operating systems.
• View 4.0 support.
• Improved MSCS support.
• PVSCSI for 2003 and 2008.
• Improved dvswitch performance.
• 25 vCPU's per core!
• Support for Intel Xeon 3400 Series.
• And a whole lot of bug fixes.
No USB pass-through fix, and it seems like there are more known issues than fixed. To be fair, one of my VMWare colleagues mentioned that there were more known issues when 4 released than now, and most of these have existed since then.
For those of you with ESXi free, it's not available yet. No word on when it will be released - sorry!
Reports are already coming in of successful deployments, and I will probably update myself during next week’s rather large maintenance window (read: Thanksgiving).
VCP – VMWare Certified Professional
Recently, I had the opportunity to complete a VMWare-run week long "bootcamp" style class in San Francisco. For those of you that are familiar with VMWare training, the class was the brand new FastTrack for vSphere.
The class ran from 8AM until 6PM - with lunch usually consumed sitting at a computer working on a lab.
The two instructors were fantastic and the course was chock full of information. I'd recommend it for any level of knowledge, though you may want to stick to a slower paced Install, Configure, and Manage (ICM) course if you are totally green.
At almost $5000 the class is expensive, but you have to attend an official VMWare training in order to qualify to take the VCP (VMWare Certified Professional) exam. Obtaining the VCP was my primary goal of the class, but I won't lie to you and say I didn't learn anything.
After the week long class was over, I spent the weekend studying and reviewing with a friend of mine and then on Monday I took the exam.
I passed!
I'm still waiting for my certificate and the rights to use the VCP logo, so that will need to wait for awhile, but I am an official VCP 4!