My last post triggered my memory that a few years ago (5 actually, my doesn’t time fly) I put together a list of the top 100 people to follow that were influential with VMware and virtualization technologies. It’s been quite a while since I updated that list (5 years!), so I thought I would bring it up to date by removing some people an adding new ones based on who I think are good people to follow these days.

Putting together these types of lists is always difficult, I try and research a bit to see who is fairly active on Twitter and tweets about VMware & virtualization stuff a good amount of time. It is entirely possible I missed some people though (I’m sure I did) that should be on the list, it wasn’t easy to limit it to 100 as there are tons of great people that tweet about VMware & virtualization but I did the best I could. So I apologize in advance if I missed someone that I probably should of included.

So without further ado, click the image below to see my Twitter list of the Top 100 VMware/virtualization people you MUST follow on Twitter.

I was contacted by the folks at Techopedia a few weeks ago and notified that they had added me to their Twitter list for Top Influencers for Virtualization. Not sure what the qualifications were or why they picked me but I’m thrilled to have been recognized by them. They also asked me if I had any recommendations for other people to add to the list so I gave them some names of the top bloggers in the community. While there are certainly a lot of worthy people on the list I’m not sure I agree with all of them (there certainly a lot of good people missing), for instance one person on the list hasn’t tweeted in over 2 years. So if you’re looking for virtualization people to follow on Twitter be sure and check the list out and start following the people on it.

Last year at VMware’s annual Partner Exchange (PEX) conference, VMware told both Veeam and Nutanix that they were not welcome there. Both companies had planned on being there already and did show up anyway and had a presence outside of the Moscone to engage with attendees. This year it looks like VMware has had a change of heart and both companies will be there. I noticed this when I was submitting a sponsor session submission and both companies were listed in the sponsor selection, they are also listed in the PEX Content Catalog (yeah Rick Vanover will be there).

Why did VMware do this last year? It could be that they felt threatened by them and VMware wanted partners to focus on VMware’s offerings instead. To single them out doesn’t make a lot of sense though as almost every other vendor competes with VMware these days as well. About the only vendors left that do not compete with VMware in some way are SuperMicro and Seagate who sell hardware solutions only that are server-based and cannot be virtualized.

Why the change of heart this year? Could be that they don’t want to call attention to them and cause a Streisand Effect and thereby giving them even more exposure. Also PEX has mainly be a mostly VMware show in the past, however this year VMware is limiting partner activities at PEX by cutting down on the Solutions Exchange hours to only Monday from 5:00-7:00 and Tuesday/Wednesday from 11:00-3:30. There are also only 14 sponsor sessions versus 153 VMware only sessions.

Regardless of why, it should be a good show as we finally have a PEX that will be aligned with a major vSphere product launch. I’ll be there again this year and if you’re going as well I hope to see you there.

Once again VMware Partner Exchange (PEX) will be held in San Francisco and registration is open for the event which is being held on Feb. 2-5 at Moscone West. As the name applies this is not a customer event and attendees at PEX are made up of a mix of VMware partners and resellers. PEX is essentially a scaled down VMworld with breakout sessions, keynotes, labs, solutions area, etc. with the focus more on training resellers on how to sell VMware and partner products to customers. Attendance is usually around 5,000 people.

The call for papers for PEX is internal to VMware only and almost all the sessions are from VMware speakers with the exception of a handful of partner sessions that they receive with sponsorship (generally 1 per partner for highest level sponsorships). In addition VMware holds special Boot Camps that are usually an all-day event on a specific topic, this is a great form of live training. Select partners also receive a Boot Camp as part of their sponsorship of the event. The Boot Camps are being held Jan. 31-Feb. 2.

Last year there was a bit of drama around PEX as VMware told both Veeam and Nutanix that they were not welcome at PEX. Veeam came anyway and ended up setting up shop nearby and tried to route customers to their camp and events. It will be interesting to see what happens this year as VMware continues to compete more and more with pretty much all of their partners.

The cost of PEX registration is cheaper than VMworld at $1,495. there is an early-bird registration discount (good to 12/9) that lets you save $300, if you are an alumni they also take off another $100. This year the event is a week earlier and as a result it conflicts with the SuperBowl Big Game which will be sure to cause problems with peoples travel plans. As the Big Game is in my city (Phoenix) this year I haven’t decided if I want to try and fly out very late Sunday/very early Monday after the Big Game or early Sunday before the Big Game to make sure I can watch it.

The content catalog also just went live for PEX, right now only the VMware sessions are listed (130 of them) and very few Boot Camps. Expect to see it become more populated as it gets closer to the show. The Storage track only has 11 sessions with 2 on VVols and 4 on VSAN. The official Welcome Reception kicks off Monday (Feb. 2) from 5:00-7:00pm, you can see the full agenda here.

I’ll be attending PEX again this year so if you’re going I hope to see you there.

The VMware vExpert program was born back in 2009 thanks to the efforts of John Troyer to help recognize members of the VMware community that continually give back by sharing their knowledge and experience with others. The original group was about 300 members which included myself and was mostly compromised of bloggers and VMUG leaders. The group has expanded over the years as both the number of bloggers has grown and the criteria and requirements have changed. I believe in the last year they are up to around 700 vExperts.

I think it’s important for people to understand the definition of a vExpert, I did a post on it for Tech Target back in 2009 on what it means to be a vExpert. First off the vExpert title is not an official certification and it is only good for one year, so if you don’t stay active you could lose it as you have to nominate your self each year. The name vExpert is a bit mis-leading as it doesn’t really certify that you are an expert on VMware technologies like a VCP or VCDX certification does. Think of the vExpert title as a recognition award from VMware that validates your contributions to the VMware community. What you get from it is recognition and some other great perks like VMware licenses, beta program access, exclusive early access webinars, special events and more. Some vendors will also reward vExperts with special giveaways like this great shirt from Tintri which includes a star for the number of years that you were recognized as a vExpert..

So what does it take to become a vExpert? First off, understand it’s not a popularity contest. You can read the blog post here on the paths to vExpert and some of the characteristics that they look for. If I had to summarize it in a few words it might look like this: passion, leaders, bloggers, enthusiasts, sharing, champion, speaker, evangelist, commitment. So want to become a vExpert? All it takes is getting involved with the community and staying committed to it, there are a lot of different ways to do this. You can start a blog, become a VMUG leader, do a podcast, speak at events, be active in the VMTN community, be social and more. I did a presentation at VMworld back in 2011 on how to succeed at blogging and becoming a vExpert that you might find helpful. Remember it takes time and dedication so stick with it and once your contributions build up don’t be afraid to apply. If you’ve already made contributions in 2014 be sure and apply and detail them for consideration to become a vExpert in 2015.

I’ve been long meaning to create RSS import files that can be used to automatically add all the Top vBlogs to your RSS reader of choice but have never gotten around to completing them. Thanks to a reminder from a reader (Brian Olsen) I have gone and created them by exporting my top vBlog WordPress table from the vLaunchpad and clearing out all the non RSS feed related HTML code. I then went and created 4 separate OPML files that can be used to import into a RSS reader. I created 4 files in case someone wanted to import only the Top 10, the Top 25, the Top 50 or the whole Top 100 vBlogs. The files are available for download on my page bar on the vLaunchpad. The process to import them is fairly simple as outlined below:

1) First download the file you want by going to the vLaunchpad, selecting it and right-click on it and select “Save link as”, it will default to a XML file name (i.e. Top50vBlogs.xml), save it to your computer.

2) Now that you have the import file its time to go into your RSS reader and import it. How you do this will vary depending on the RSS reader you are using but it should be pretty straightforward. In this example I’ll be using a popular free RSS reader, FeedDemon. First I created a folder to put the blogs in and called it Top 50 vBlogs. Then I select File from the top menu, then Import/Export and then the Import Feeds option.

3) The Import Feeds window will open, select “Import An OPML File” click the Folder icon to browse for the file, change the File types to “XML Files” and select the file you downloaded.

4) On the next screen it will list all the blogs that are contained in the import file, you can select them all or just specific ones that you want to import, once you select them click Next.

5) On the next screen choose a folder to place them in, I selected the Top 50 vBlogs folder that I had already created, once you do that click Next.

6) Click Finish and the blogs will be added to your RSS reader and it will connect to all of them and pull the latest content from them. Note the original OPML file had the RSS feed URL as the blog title which made it difficult to identify blog names so I went and manually edited the file so they display as they do on the vLaunchpad with the blog ranking, blog name and blog author. Also note the number of posts that are pulled from a blog are dictated by each blog’s WordPress settings under “Settings–>Reading–>Syndication feeds show the most recent _ items”

Enjoy!

I just added a new option to be notified via email of any new posts here at vSphere-land. So sign up now so you never miss a post again, especially with the upcoming Top vBlog voting coming up soon. Every year I have people complain that they missed out on posts related to Top vBlog so here’s your chance to stay informed.