Thulin' Around

A few initial thoughts about VMware vSphere 5.1

By Sean | September 16, 2012 - 2:54 PM |September 17, 2012 DellEMC, Reviews, VMware

The upgrade process

Previous vCenter server upgrades simply consisted of just upgrading the server component (and the upgrade and away you go. Now VMware has introduced two new components to the mix: vCenter Inventory Service & vCenter Single sign-on. To take a lot of the guess work out of this, VMware provided the “simple installer” to the mix. This runs through each of the setup applications in the proper order and makes the process very simple and I applaud VMware for this. A couple things to note:

As with all vSphere upgrades, make sure you upgrade vCenter server BEFORE you upgrade any hosts.
If you plan on using LDAP authentication, make sure that you are logged in with an LDAP account when you install the single sign-on service.
If an upgrade fails during the “simple install”, you will need to continue installation by hand.
You won’t need to reboot the vCenter Server machine after the upgrade, the upgrade process will restart all the required services for you.
After upgrading the hosts, they did not automatically reconnect to vCenter, and you have to click reconnect on them.

Since I run my vCenter server with an internal database and on a virtual machine, I was able to simply snapshot the VM in the event that something went wrong. Luckily nothing did and both my upgrades went smooth.

vCenter Server 5.1

One of the things I noticed right away was the startup time of vCenter server from boot up. It is at least 4x longer than vCenter server 5.0 and earlier. A simple look at task manager during the start up process shows that the java process is eating up most of my CPU, so my guess is this delayed startup is due to the revamped web interface being used. Needless to say, it threw me for a loop the first time and I thought my upgrade had been borked. So just keep that in mind that it may take 20 minutes or so for vCenter to come up and be stable.

Now when using the standard vSphere client to connect, you will notice things are very similar to older versions. This is be expected as I believe VMware is trying to make a shift to everyone using the Web Interface (more on this later). Do keep in mind that the regular vCenter client does not give you access to all of the new features. One of the big ones to note, is that the new enhanced vMotion can only be found in the web client (again more on this later).

vCenter Web Client

It’s clear that VMware has spent a lot of time improving upon the web interface and it shows. That’s good news for Mac users as they now have a fully functioning method for administering the environment.

Right away, you’ll notice a new icon that is not present in the standard vCenter client. VMware has included vCenter Orchestrator right into the mix and I hope this is a sign of more plugins to be installed. With that being said, I was disappointed to see that the update manager was not present in the web client, so you must still use the classic vCenter client to perform those updates.

One of the things I noticed (and was pointed out by Frank Denneman) was that the new Enhanced vMotion (the one that lets you change both hosts and datastores while the guest is powered on) can ONLY be found in the web client. I’m not sure this was the best play by VMware, but my guess is that VMware’s long term plan is to make the web client the primary interface for management.

Final Thoughts

As with every upgrade, I’m always amazed by the refinement that is introduced. More and more drawn out processes are being simplified and it seems like VMware really cares about the advanced users as well as those just getting started. As with any major upgrade, first adopters have some challenges and I wanted to list out a few things that you should be aware of before you upgrade:

As with all my blog posts, I like to hear from the readers. If you had a good or a bad upgrade experience, let me know in the comments.

Introducing EMC’s VNX Storage Analytics Suite (and Early Access Program)

By Sean | August 28, 2012 - 9:00 AM |August 28, 2012 DellEMC, VMware, VMworld, VNX

1 Comment

With VMworld in full swing, today EMC finalized the announcement of the new VNX Storage Analytics Suite (and you can try it out on the show floor). You may remember that this was demoed first at EMC World. As development was nearing completion, you may remember my call for beta testers (I hope you got in and got a chance to try out the technology). Now we can start getting as excited as the software will be available for general consumption in Q4 of 2012.

The VNX Storage Analytics Suite will offer you a an extensive platform to proactively identify bottlenecks, balance workloads and pinpoint the root cause of potential problems around health and performance. The software is available as a stand alone product as well as integration for VMware’s vCOps Enterprise platform. Pairing the two together allows you to have a full end-to-end visibility of your entire infrastructure from virtual machine to lun and every point in between.

For those of you who are already familiar with vCOps, you will be presented with same interface just with extra options for looking at metrics. The charts and display is the same. Green is still good and Red is still bad. This allows you to quickly visualize the health of your arrays (both block and file) using a simple “Performance-at-a-glance” tab. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to attach the problem directly instead of waiting for someone to tell you there is a slowdown in the environment.

Besides general health information, you can dig down into the specifics of utilization on the array. In the picture to the right, you’ll be able to see the results (both historically and in real time) of enabling fast cache on your array and what it did to the overall health of your environment. By focusing on the performance of the array and the pool disks, Fast Cache was able to increase the throughput of the SP while decreasing the strain on the spinning disk storage.

By this point you might be saying “Sean, this is so cool, I can’t wait until Q4! How can I get my hands on this now?”. Well for those of you who did not participate in the beta (and those of you who did and want to see the results of your feedback) there is good news. EMC is going to be doing an Early Access program, it won’t cost you a penny, and I’ve got all the details right here! The bad news is that it’s limited to 100 customers and it’s filling up fast.

If you may remember during the beta program I was asking people to email me if they wanted in. This time I have no control over the process and you must go through your TC. Before I tell you just how to get in, I need to make sure you have what is required in your environment. You will need to meet the following prerequisites:

vCenter Operations Manager 5.0.1 Enterprise or higher (vApp distribution)
EMC VNX series system (Block: R31 OE version 05.31.000.5.720 and higher and VNX OE R32 version 05.32.000.5.006 and higher; File: VNX OE 7.0.35 and higher).

Seems simple enough, right? Now on how to get in, as I said before you will need to contact your TC or Account Representative. Have him or her place a Sales Evaluation order in Direct Express using Model # SASCONN-T90 and complete an RPQ. Again, this is a no cost evaluation period and if you are selected, you will receive further instructions. At the end of the preview period (which I believe is somewhere in Q4), you will be given the opportunity to purchase a license or uninstall the software.

If you are attending the show, please let me know your thoughts about the software in the comments section below.

I think my VNX might have gotten sick, how do I give it a health check?

By Sean | August 26, 2012 - 4:38 PM |August 27, 2012 DellEMC, VNX

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With cold & flu season fast approaching, it seems that people are worried just as much about their array health as they are about their personal health. Working in the EMC Unified Storage Remote Support Lab, I see at least 10 new requests each day for a health check on an array and most of the time, there is nothing wrong. Today I’m going to show you some easy ways to see if there really is a problem or not. While the VNX array is sold as Block, File, or Unified (a combination of both) the health checks are different for the Block side and the File side. We’ll start with the File side.

Health Check of VNX FILE

There are two ways of doing a health check on the VNX FILE. The first method I will demonstrate is the traditional way and is executed via the command line. This method has been in place since the older celerra models and works the same way on them as well. To kick off your health check, simply login to the control station using an SSH client and run the command “nas_checkup”. This process will take several minutes, so go get yourself a coffee and wait until you see something like the output below:

[nasadmin@VNX nasadmin]$ nas_checkup
Check Version: 7.1.47.5
Check Command: /nas/bin/nas_checkup
Check Log    : /nas/log/checkup-run.120826-220724.log

————————————-Checks————————————-
Control Station: Checking statistics groups database………………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking if file system usage is under limit………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking if NAS Storage API is installed correctly…….. Pass
Control Station: Checking if NAS Storage APIs match…………………… N/A
Control Station: Checking if NBS clients are started………………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking if NBS configuration exists…………………. Pass
Control Station: Checking if NBS devices are accessible……………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking if NBS service is started…………………… Pass
Control Station: Checking if PXE service is stopped…………………… Pass
Control Station: Checking if standby is up…………………………… N/A
Control Station: Checking integrity of NASDB…………………………. Pass
Control Station: Checking if primary is active……………………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking all callhome files delivered………………… Pass
Control Station: Checking resolv conf……………………………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking if NAS partitions are mounted……………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking ipmi connection……………………………. Pass
Control Station: Checking nas site eventlog configuration……………… Pass
Control Station: Checking nas sys mcd configuration…………………… Pass
Control Station: Checking nas sys eventlog configuration………………. Pass
Control Station: Checking logical volume status………………………. Pass
Control Station: Checking valid nasdb backup files……………………. Pass
Control Station: Checking root disk reserved region…………………… Pass
Control Station: Checking if RDF configuration is valid……………….. N/A
Control Station: Checking if fstab contains duplicate entries………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking if sufficient swap memory available………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking for IP and subnet configuration……………… Pass
Control Station: Checking auto transfer status……………………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking for invalid entries in etc hosts…………….. Pass
Control Station: Checking for correct filesystem mount options…………. Pass
Control Station: Checking the hard drive in the control station………… Pass
Control Station: Checking if Symapi data is present…………………… Pass
Control Station: Checking if Symapi is synced with Storage System………. Pass
Blades         : Checking boot files………………………………… Pass
Blades         : Checking if primary is active……………………….. Pass
Blades         : Checking if root filesystem is too large……………… Pass
Blades         : Checking if root filesystem has enough free space……… Pass
Blades         : Checking network connectivity……………………….. Pass
Blades         : Checking status……………………………………. Pass
Blades         : Checking dart release compatibility………………….. Pass
Blades         : Checking dart version compatibility………………….. Pass
Blades         : Checking server name……………………………….. Pass
Blades         : Checking unique id…………………………………. Pass
Blades         : Checking CIFS file server configuration………………. Pass
Blades         : Checking domain controller connectivity and configuration. Warn
Blades         : Checking DNS connectivity and configuration…………… Pass
Blades         : Checking connectivity to WINS servers………………… Pass
Blades         : Checking I18N mode and unicode translation tables……… Pass
Blades         : Checking connectivity to NTP servers…………………. Warn
Blades         : Checking connectivity to NIS servers…………………. Pass
Blades         : Checking virus checker server configuration…………… Pass
Blades         : Checking if workpart is OK………………………….. Pass
Blades         : Checking if free full dump is available………………. Pass
Blades         : Checking if each primary Blade has standby……………. Pass
Blades         : Checking if Blade parameters use EMC default values……. Info
Blades         : Checking VDM root filesystem space usage……………… N/A
Blades         : Checking if file system usage is under limit………….. Pass
Blades         : Checking slic signature…………………………….. Pass
Storage System : Checking disk emulation type………………………… Pass
Storage System : Checking disk high availability access……………….. Pass
Storage System : Checking disks read cache enabled……………………. Pass
Storage System : Checking disks and storage processors write cache enabled. Pass
Storage System : Checking if FLARE is committed………………………. Pass
Storage System : Checking if FLARE is supported………………………. Pass
Storage System : Checking array model……………………………….. Pass
Storage System : Checking if microcode is supported…………………… N/A
Storage System : Checking no disks or storage processors are failed over… Pass
Storage System : Checking that no disks or storage processors are faulted.. Pass
Storage System : Checking that no hot spares are in use……………….. Pass
Storage System : Checking that no hot spares are rebuilding……………. Pass
Storage System : Checking minimum control lun size……………………. Pass
Storage System : Checking maximum control lun size……………………. N/A
Storage System : Checking maximum lun address limit…………………… Pass
Storage System : Checking system lun configuration……………………. Pass
Storage System : Checking if storage processors are read cache enabled….. Pass
Storage System : Checking if auto assign are disabled for all luns……… N/A
Storage System : Checking if auto trespass are disabled for all luns……. N/A
Storage System : Checking storage processor connectivity………………. Pass
Storage System : Checking control lun ownership………………………. N/A
Storage System : Checking if Fibre Channel zone checker is set up………. N/A
Storage System : Checking if Fibre Channel zoning is OK……………….. N/A
Storage System : Checking if proxy arp is setup………………………. Pass
Storage System : Checking if Product Serial Number is Correct………….. Pass
Storage System : Checking SPA SPB communication………………………. Pass
Storage System : Checking if secure communications is enabled………….. Pass
Storage System : Checking if backend has mixed disk types……………… Pass
Storage System : Checking for file and block enabler………………….. Pass
Storage System : Checking if nas storage command generates discrepancies… Pass
Storage System : Checking if Repset and CG configuration are consistent…. Pass
Storage System : Checking block operating environment…………………. Pass
Storage System : Checking thin pool usage……………………………. N/A
Storage System : Checking for domain and federations health on VNX……… Pass
——————————————————————————–

As you can see, just about everything came out as pass or not available (which is fine) except for one or two things. If you have warnings or errors, you will see a more detailed output below. I have included an example here:

One or more warnings have occurred. It is recommended that you follow the
instructions provided to correct the problem then try again.

———————————–Information———————————-
Blades : Check if Blade parameters use EMC default values
Information HC_DM_27390050398: The following parameters do not use the
EMC default values:
* Mover_name Facility_name Parameter_name Current_value Default_value
* server_2 cifs acl.extacl 0x00000003 0x00000000
* server_2 cifs acl.useUnixGid 0x00000001 0x00000000
* server_2 cifs djEnforceDhn 0x00000000 0x00000001
* server_2 cifs useUnixGid 0x00000001 0x00000000
* server_2 quota policy ‘filesize’ ‘blocks’
* server_2 shadow followabsolutpath 0x00000001 0x00000000
* server_2 shadow followdotdot 0x00000001 0x00000000
* server_2 tcp fastRTO 0x00000001 0x00000000
* This check is for your information only. It is OK to use parameter
values other than the EMC default values.
* EMC provides guidelines for setting parameter values in the “Celerra
Network Server Parameters Guide” (P/N 300-002-691) that can be found
on http://powerlink.emc.com/
* If you need to change the parameter back to the default, run the
following command: “/nas/bin/server_param <mover_name> -facility
<facility_name> -modify <parameter_name> -value <default_value>”
* To display the current value and default value of a parameter, run
the following command: “/nas/bin/server_param <mover_name> -facility
<facility_name> -info <parameter_name>”

——————————————————————————–

————————————Warnings————————————
Blades : Check domain controller connectivity and configuration
Warning HC_DM_18800115743:
* server_2: PingDC failure: The compname ‘cifs01’ could not
successfully contact the DC ‘DC2K8X32’. Failed to access the pipe
NETLOGON at step Open NETLOGON Secure Channel: DC
connected:Access denied
Action : Check domain or Domain Controller access policies. For
NetBIOS servers, ensure that ‘allow pre-Windows 2000 computers to use
this account’ checkbox is selected when joining the server to the
Windows 2000 domain.

Blades : Check connectivity to NTP servers
Warning HC_DM_18800115743:
* server_2: The NTP server ‘1.2.3.4’ is online but does not
respond to any NTP query. As a consequence, the clock of the Data
Mover may be incorrect. This may cause potential failures when CIFS
clients log in. (Kerberos authentication relies on time
synchronization between the servers and the KDCs).
Action : Check the IP address of the NTP server, using the server_date
command. Make sure the NTP service is running on the remote server.

——————————————————————————–

Health checks may trigger the following responses besides Pass or N/A: Info, Warning, & Error. Info is just informational. In the example above, it was telling me about all the parameters that have been changed from the default (most likely on purpose too). Warnings again are not much to worry about either. They are mostly there to let you know of potential issues or that you might not be following best practice. These kind of messages indicate that you may have a problem down the road if things get worse, but do not indicate a direct impact at this time. Finally the most severe is Error. This means there is a problem and you should address it right away. All of these come with some basic instructions on how to resolve the problem (or at least where to look) and I would only recommend opening a support ticket if you are getting Errors and cannot solve them on your own.

Another way to run a health check on VNX FILE is through the pre-upgrade wizard. Start by launching USM and then following the prompts to launch the “Prepare for Installation” task.

Once this has started, it will kick off a health check making sure everything is ok.

Health Check of VNX Block

This health check is also done is USM and can be found under the “Diagnostic” section. Simply click on “Verify Storage System” to start doing a back end health report. Once the wizard starts, it will gather information about the array, and then generate an XML file for you to review.

The check will go over events from dating back to the begining of the logs and will display any faults found. Keep that in mind because if you had a problem several days ago, but don’t right now, it will still tell you that there is a fault. If issues are found, click “Display Issue Report” to see the XML file and then click on the “Issues” tab in the webpage.

As you can see from the results, I have some warnings and some critical errors. Just like I said before, warnings are just make sure you know you that something might be up, but not making an impact yet. As you can see most of them are because this is a lab box and not all my hosts are logged in, or I’m missing some write cache. The critical alerts is what you should be concerned about and if you have trouble resolving the issue, open a support ticket to have it inspected.

These are some great ways to see if there really is a problem going on with your system and feel free to let me know if you have any questions about them.

Configuring VASA for use with a VNX

By Sean | August 5, 2012 - 4:19 PM |August 7, 2012 DellEMC, VMware, VNX

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When VMware introduced vSphere 5 to the world, one of the enhancements was a new API for storage arrays that provides vSphere with information as to the configuration and performance of your storage array. For more information on VASA, please see this article from The Virtualization Practice. VASA on a VNX (and other EMC arrays) historically used to be configured using an SMI-S provider. This older configuration method has been covered very well by EMC vSpecialist Craig Stewart and can be found here.

Starting with VNX OE for FILE 7.1 and VNX OE for BLOCK 05.32, the VNX now has native VASA support. This eliminates the need for the SMI-S provider and allows you to point vSphere directly to the control station and SP. It really is a 1-step implementation and I will show you below. And there is only 1 caviot to this, and it is VASA for the BLOCK and FILE are done separately. if you are using, FC, FCoE, or iSCSI connections, you will want to use the BLOCK example, and if you are using NFS, you will want to use the FILE example.

You will want to start in vSphere by going to Home > Administration > Storage Providers. From there you would click on “add…” to configure your connection.

VNX OE for FILE 7.1 VASA configuration example

You will start by naming this connection. I chose VNX FILE to make it easy to distinguish between block and file connections. You will then use the URL as follows: https://<ip.or.dns.of.control.station>:5989/vasa/services/vasaService. The username/password would be one local to the control station (such as nasadmin or root). The global accounts from the storage domain will not work here. When it’s all said and done you should have something like the photo below:

You will probably be prompted to verify the SHA fingerprint, so just click yes and soon you’ll see your new provider listed with the following information:

VNX OE for BLOCK 05.32 configuration example

Just like the VNX OE for FILE example, you will start off by using a name. This time the URL will be pointing to the SP. The url will be as follows: https://<ip.or.dns.of.SP>/vasa/services/vasaService. Please note the lack of a port specification as by default https uses port 443. For the password you will want to use a storage domain account (such as sysadmin). If you configured it correctly, it should look something like this:

Since I have a very basic configured array in the lab, I see provider information like this:

After you have successfully configured your providers, you can go and setup your storage profiles. Go to Home > Management > VM Storage Profiles and add a new profile. From there you can select from a multitude of options to pick the one that best matches the lun you are using for storage.

It really is that simple! For more information on VASA on the VNX, read the Virtualization for EMC® VNX Release Notes (EMC Support credentials required).

Got a VNX and vCOps? We need your help!

By Sean | July 26, 2012 - 9:30 PM |August 3, 2012 DellEMC, VMware, VNX

1 Comment

If you remember during EMC World 2012, the USD team showed off a preview of our new storage analytics package that would come as either a stand alone application or as a plugin for VMware vCOps. As we move ever closer to a final product, we have entered the private beta phase. This is where we need your help.

USD Engineering will be running a private beta between August 8th and August 29th and the test plan should take about 2 days to complete. What you need is the following (UPDATED):

A VNX running recent code. Both File 7.0 & 7.1 and Block 5.31 & 5.32 should be acceptable (this can be production or non production)
vCOps running the Enterprise or Enterprise+ (this must be a non production / test instance)
The name of your EMC contact (preferably a TC)
Please also indicate if you are a customer or a partner

You may need to sign an NDA, I’m not 100% on that but the team running the beta will be able to confirm. Space is limited and we only have a few slots left so there is no guarantee that you will be accepted into the program. If you are interested, please send an email to “sean.dot.thulin.at.emc.dot.com” with your contact information and what you have available as equipment (make / model of VNX and software version installed) and I will forward it on to the team. Act fast as we are almost ready to start!

Introducing VNX FILE OE 7.1 & BLOCK OE 05.32

By Sean | July 15, 2012 - 6:00 PM |July 16, 2012 DellEMC, VNX

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Its here! It’s finally here! Today marks the general availability of the first release in a new line of VNX code. Many of you may remember my preview posts on what can be found in this latest version (found here and here). Now you can take it for a spin and try out these new features and changes.

As of today, you can browse to the VNX Product Support Page or use the Unisphere Service Manager (USM) tool (which has been upgraded to version 1.2.0.1.0554) to download VNX FILE OE 7.1.47.5 and VNX BLOCK OE 05.32.000.5.006. Again to highlight some of the changes you will see:

New “Flash First” data aging policy for tiering
Mixed raid levels for storage pools
Enhanced block snapshots
Windows Branch Cache support for CIFS
Simplified Unisphere LDAP configuration (see my note here)
FLR upgrades and enhancements

There are more changes under the hood than I could possibly list here, but a full set of release notes and documentation can be found on the VNX Product Support Page as well as the GA announcement that I posted on ECN.

Well what are you waiting for? Go out and upgrade (remember that this is an out of family upgrade) and start enjoying the latest and greatest in unified storage and let me know what you think of it in the comments below!

Of VNX, Mountain Lions, and Lessons Learned

By Sean | June 15, 2012 - 1:38 PM |June 15, 2012 DellEMC, VNX

New code to make your VNX better!

By Sean | June 3, 2012 - 11:05 PM |June 6, 2012 DellEMC, VNX

EMC World in Review … with Pictures!

By Sean | May 29, 2012 - 9:00 AM |May 30, 2012 DellEMC, EMC World

5 Comments

Another great EMC World has come and gone. I’m sorry I didn’t do a daily post like last year, but I was a lot more involved this year and had less time in Las Vegas. When I landed, I immediately hit the ground running. I picked up my badge, put out a tweet to my followers, and headed off for the pool party.

After informing a couple of customers in bathing suites that it wasn’t that kind of pool party, I met up with a lot of my friends who I hadn’t seen in ages. The opening mixer is a great place to introduce yourself, enjoy some good food and music, and network with colleagues and customers alike.

Day 1

The first day I woke up early (in part because I was still on east coast time). I grabbed my iPad, my camera bag, and my conference badge as I made my way right to the bloggers lounge. There I was greeted by EMC’s best in social media.

After a quick tour around the main areas that were open (the solutions pavilion didn’t open until that evening), it was time for the first keynote by CEO Joe Tucci. I’m not one to take a seat away from a customer, and luckily EMC TV had me covered. With a massive TV screen in the main area, I pulled up a private cloud and took in the speech.

After the keynote, it was a great time to take in a hands-on lab. If you remember from my most recent podcast, my two guests were heavily involved with the creation of the hands-on labs this year. And let me tell you they did not disappoint this year. With over 200 stations available, the hands-on labs this year were packed and I’m told customers performed over 3000 labs this year.

With a couple of labs under my belt, it was just about time to check out the solutions pavilion. Apparently, a lot of other people had the same idea as the entrance was PACKED! The food was great, and the booths were even better. There was a lot of creative themes this year which you can see in my full list of photos.

Day 2

The next started with Matt Brender and Tyler Altrup having a Buzz Session about Project R.A.M.P. Matt spoke to us about Project R.A.M.P in the most recent podcast we did. The buzz session was great (except when Tyler butchered my last name). You can watch it below (and yes you’ll see me in the video too).

Video streaming by Ustream

I had completed the special mission for EMC world and received my extra ramp badges, so I was in good standing. Actually, I may have cheated a little and got my badge scanned at a required booth that wasn’t open the night before

The afternoon was spent going to sessions. One of the better sessions I attended was hosted by J Metz of Cisco. He presented on the Evolution of Data Center Architecture. One of the key takeaways for me was when he talked about Cisco’s Unified Ports technology. What’s great about this is it doesn’t matter what you use the ports for. You can use it for FCoE, CIFS, NFS, iSCSI and you can still use the same switch. This speaks to me because of my work with the VNX. We have all these network protocols on the VNX, and we can just use this one type of switch to handle it all.

With the day over, it was time for a customer appreciation party for all the members of the EMC Community Network. We had a great turn out and lots of laughs. There was even a female magician doing card tricks that even I couldn’t figure out.

Day 3

The third and final day started with my Buzz Session. I joined Mark Browne and the other Legends of ECN (I got to meet dynamox!!!!). The session was great and we got both the customer and the employee perspective of the support forum. You can watch the full session bellow:

Video streaming by Ustream

With my session over it was time for me to study for my upcoming proven exam. Followers of my twitter account will know that I spent weeks studying for my Virtualized Infrastructure Specialist exam (E20-018). I’m glad to say I passed and once I get a few things cleared up, I can call myself a Cloud Architect!

After it was all said and done, it was time for the closing events. Chad’s World Live 2 rocked! The customer demos were great as well as those who were on stage. Chad had no idea that the Gorilla was going to goose him. Speaking of Chad and his army, the vSpecialists released a new video called “Cloud Freaky”. You can watch it below (and make sure you watch the ending!):

With the evening fast approaching it was time for the final event. The customer appreciation party with Maroon 5. Adam Levine did not disappoint and the best quote I’ve heard from him was “I’ve never played a show where there were more men than women, but we’ll make it work”.

All in all it was an amazing show. There were so many great things to do and great people to meet. My only regret was that there wasn’t enough time in the day to do it all! I can’t wait for EMC World 2013. Be sure to check out my album on Picasa to see all the photos i took (150+ photos)