What is a TAM @VMware? (a personal journey)

What is a TAM @VMware? (a personal journey)

I usually write technical content on my blog, because I have a passion for the technical part of my job, but I also love a lot of other aspects that make up my job. Both my day-to-day ánd “extra-curricular” activities. And maybe the titel is not the best fit for the question that I want to answer in this blog, maybe it should be: “What is this TAM @VMware?” Because every TAM is unique. We do have more or less…

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VCF on VCD: 4a – Stretched Clustering

VCF on VCD: 4a – Stretched Clustering

I shortened the name of the blog-series, to make it a little easier on the eyes. I mentioned in my previous blog that I was going to build another VCF instance and make that a stretched cluster. However, I thought, technically it should be possible to change the already built VCF02 environment to that. The only thing that I need to do is change the IP-assignment on the NSX-TEP’s. Please note, this is nót (I repeat NOT) a supported method!…

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VCF on VCD: 3b – Second VCF environment – Management Domain+WLD+Housekeeping

VCF on VCD: 3b – Second VCF environment – Management Domain+WLD+Housekeeping

When I have a new purpose in my mind, I want to move forward. So after preparing the infrastructure, I moved ahead with deploying the Management Domain, the Workload Domain and some housekeeping tasks (like backups and certificates). Most of this I have already documented in earlier blogs, but this blog will mention some differences and also show the ultimate goal (in a nice picture). The target environment is: I changed the IP addresses and the VLAN’s of the components…

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VCF on VCD: 3a – Second VCF environment – Infra preparation

VCF on VCD: 3a – Second VCF environment – Infra preparation

Edit (January 6th, 2023). Because I used some VLANs and subnets I had already used for the WLD of the original deployment, I have changed this article to reflect the ultimate target environment. Okay, I said I would go on and configure NSX-T and create some applications on top of the WLD, but in the meantime, I had another idea that I first want to pursue. I want to evolve the environment I have into an enterprise-like platform and include…

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VCF on VCD: 2b – Back-ups

VCF on VCD: 2b – Back-ups

In my previous blog (https://my-sddc.net/creating-a-vcf-lab-on-top-of-vcd-part-2a-certificates/) I did the certificates, this time, we are going to configure the back-ups of the different components in the VCF environment. I’ll describe the following activities: Create SFTP site on my Windows DC If you already have an SFTP site, you can of course use that. I didn’t have one yet, so I thought it would be interesting to describe that process as well, for future reference (for myself as much as for anyone else…

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VCF on VCD: 2a – Certificates

VCF on VCD: 2a – Certificates

I know, I wrote in my previous blog (https://my-sddc.net/creating-a-vcf-lab-on-top-of-vcd-part-2-workload-domain/) that the next steps would be related to networking and creating application, but there are a couple of housekeeping activities that need to be completed, before moving on. Therefore, this 2a blog, before I can deploy the networking components (and a 2b is to follow). What we need to do are the following things: Configure Certicifates By default all the components have a self-signed certificate installed. That might be fine for…

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VCF on VCD: 2 – Workload Domain

VCF on VCD: 2 – Workload Domain

I created the Management Domain environment, on top of VCD (described in the previous blog) and now I will add a Workload Domain to the environment and after that, add an additional host to the cluster. When creating the Management Domain I already prepared a little bit for the Workload Domain. I added one extra host (empty) to the environment and that will be my basis for the new WLD. The first WLD I will create will consist of four…

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VCF on VCD: 1 – Preparation and Management Domain

VCF on VCD: 1 – Preparation and Management Domain

At VMware Explore, I got an interesting question from a customer. They are a VCPP partner and are leveraging VMware Cloud Director to service their customers. They were asking if it is possible to create a (nested) VCF environment on top of VCD. I said, yes, that should be possible, the HOL is an excellent example of where this is done, but I saw little information on the exact way how to build this configuration. At VMware we, as TAM’s,…

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My “first” VMware Explore

My “first” VMware Explore

VMware Explore in Barcelona: What a week it was. This was not my first major VMware event. After having been at 8 previous VMworlds (the first in 2008) this was, however, the first one as an employee and of course, literally, the first VMware Explore Europe (since the rename of the event). As a Technical Account Manager, I was able to go to this event and help out at “TAM & Customer Success 360 Customer Central” (TSCC). This is a…

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VCAP-DCV Deploy 7.0 experience

VCAP-DCV Deploy 7.0 experience

Today I sat the aforementioned exam: I did that fairly unprepared, hoping (maybe against hope) to pass based on (quite a lot of) experience in designing, deploying, and troubleshooting environments. I did check the Exam Guide: https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/certification/vmware-advanced-deploy-exam-guide.pdf and took a look at some of the preparation sites: and I especially liked Graham’s Exam Simulator: https://virtualg.uk/vcap-dcv-deploy-2020-exam-simulator-free/ although that is related to version 6. I didn’t do all the tasks in the Exam Simulator (I did none ;)), but I looked them…

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