Contrary to popular belief, VMware does work well with OpenStack and the VOVA is proof of that partnership. Basically an OpenStack controller in a virtual appliance. This is something I’d really like to see VMware provide support for, but I guess they will have to port it to SLES.

For the past few years at VMworld, rockstar PowerShell gurus Alan Renouf and Luc Dekens have given a presentation on PowerCLI. Before I’ve felt that they could go a bit deeper and in this presentation I think they have hit it right on the mark with the depth. Some pretty good tips makes this worth watching. WARNING: This isn’t an intro to PowerCLI, if you don’t know what an object is or you are just starting out then this might be a bit overwhelming.

As per my post on the formal announcement of vCAC 6.0, this video shows the process in motion using a beta version. You can view the vCAC integration module on the VMware Solution Exchange. They also have a pretty good Word document available that goes through some of the concepts in the video. I really think this sort of integration where you can configure the service, ensure the service is as designed and publish the service to end users (vCAC also includes a service provisioning portal, custom forms and all!

This is a presentation by Nick Weaver at PuppetConf 2013, although it really doesn’t have to much to do with Puppet I found it to be an interesting talk on the whats and whys of automation. At the end of the presentation Nick gives his recommendations on how to get started in the field, my 2 cents would be to learn two languages. Learning one is a great start but I think a second will really give you extra flexibility.

I seem to be on a bit of a Puppet kick as of late. Of a night I’ve been watching the many awesome videos of the 2013 PuppetConf and I found this one quite interesting. To me this pattern shows the future of deploying vendor supplied applications and I’m sure all sysadmins will be eternally grateful. I just wish the presentation had been allowed to finish. :(