 In the fast-paced world of IT, it's easy to focus only on tech stacks, certifications, and product upgrades. But there’s one massive advantage many VMware professionals overlook, a critical misstep that can slow your growth: community. If you’re not actively involved in your local VMUG (VMware User Group), you're not just missing out, you’re bypassing one of the most powerful career accelerators in the virtualization space. What Is VMUG, and Why Should You Care?VMUG is an independent, global community built by VMware users, for VMware users. Local chapters host events, enable peer networking, and provide truly vendor-neutral conversations that cut through the marketing jargon, giving you the unvarnished truth beyond what you get in slide decks or official docs.
It’s not just about the tech, it’s about people helping people solve real-world problems and grow together.
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VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 isn’t just a product update; it’s a defining leap forward.
What started as a bundled stack is now a full-spectrum private cloud platform, built for traditional workloads, modern apps, and enterprise AI. With cost-saving innovations, native automation, and built-in AI support, VCF 9.0 sets a new bar for private cloud agility and scale. This is the most significant release in VCF’s history, and here’s why. From Products to Platform: Why It Matters
For years, VMware customers juggled multiple management planes across vSphere, vSAN, NSX, Aria, and Kubernetes tooling. VCF 9.0 eliminates that sprawl by bringing everything into two unified consoles:
Benefit: You save time, reduce human error, and boost team efficiency by managing everything—from deployment to decommission—through a single, cohesive interface.
What’s New in VCF 9.0—and Why It MattersVMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 introduces powerful new features that enhance infrastructure performance, security, and operational efficiency. Here's a breakdown of what’s new and the real-world impact:
 Day 1 began with the general session, which was a lot different than the previous year where the VMware Executives laid out their vision for the partner community. This general session was focused more correctly on the audience in attendance.   Day 1 began with the general session, where VMware Executives presented to the partner community and reinforced the importance of the partner as the unsung heroes helping to drive the VMware business and most importantly driving value for their customers.
I received some questions from VMware and thought that it would be fun to write this blog as a mock interview, but first let's begin with learning a little about VMware certification tracks.  VMware offers certifications in cloud management and automation, data center and network virtualization, and desktop and mobility. As a leader in the virtualization space, VMware certifications are a must-have for many IT professionals, especially those who work in data centers and/or support virtual environments.
VMware certifications are based on a version of the associated technology, which means VMware certifications change in response to technology changes. Be aware, though, that certification updates lag behind the release of new virtualization technology. VMware Version certifications fall into four categories:
Associate certifications typically require passing a single exam to achieve certification. Candidates for Professional and Advanced Professional certifications must either take a training course or earn a prerequisite certification and pass an exam. To obtain a VCIX, candidates must earn two VCAP credentials. Achieving a VCDX certification is more involved. Candidates must first obtain multiple prerequisite certs, then create a production-ready VMware solution and defend it in front of a panel. Now that we have discussed the certification tracks let's jump into the interview about certifications from VMware and AdvizeX.  In the world of IT there are not a lot of moments of recognition, unless something goes wrong and we have all been there. If those in IT are doing their job then things just run and for the most part no one really thinks about those supporting the infrastructure. The time and effort it takes to keep the lights on, the nights and weekends sacrificed for upgrades and patches, and the endless amounts of studying to stay on top of technology changes in the industry and the time you will never get back from on-call. IT can be a very thankless job.
VMware has built a program to honor those that go above and beyond and take their passion for virtualizing IT into the realm of evangelizing. Evangelizing about the products we work with on a daily basis through blogs, podcasts, and community involvement. The VMware vExpert program is an honorary title VMware grants to outstanding advocates of the company's products. VMware recognizes vExperts with a certificate. The certificate and title give vExperts special privileges such as access to private betas, free licenses and exclusive events. After long hours on the job, these IT professionals engage in work on their blogs, podcasts, etc. to contribute to the virtualization IT community. They do this to demonstrate their passion for various areas of IT and expertise for the purpose of teaching and helping others grow as technologists. In my spare time I write blogs on VMware technologies along with supporting my local community by serving as a local VMware User Group (VMUG) Leader. In my current role I am also privileged to help educate customers about VMware and related products through presentations, etc. along with architecting solutions for them. I am a vExpert because I have a passion for virtualization technology. At Advizex, we are proud to have a number of individuals who continue to make the vExpert program and demonstrate their passion for technology, to their local communities and their customers.  I just recently passed my VCP6-NV and wanted to take some time to blog about the experience and to gather together some resources for those that are looking to pursue this certification.
For those you that may not know much about NSX I will start with a brief introduction and explain why I feel that you should pursue this certification for your company. What is NSX? VMware NSX is the next evolution in software defined everything. It is VMware's network virtualization and security software platform that came from an acquisition of Nicira back in 2012. What does NSX do? NSX de-couples the network functions from the physical network devices in your data center, in a way that analogous to decoupling virtual servers from the physical. NSX natively creates the traditional network constructs in the virtual realm. These include ports, switches, routers, firewalls, load balancers, etc. I could write an entire blog just on the features of NSX and the integrations with other third party vendors, such as Palo Alto Networks and Trend Micro; oh wait I did. You can read that in my blog here. But, that is not what this blog is about so let's move on. The VMware Certified Professional Network Virtualization exam, tests candidates on their knowledge and abilities to demonstrate basic virtualization networking skills such as vSwitch, vDistributed Switches, installation & configuration of NSX, and finally administration of NSX. In order to pass the exam you will need to have in depth understanding of these areas. Hands on with both NSX and vSphere are highly recommended. In fact, I believe that VMware recommends at least 6 months of hands-on. I would recommend setting aside dedicated time to go over the following resources along with practicing packet walks and architecture design. These are the resources that I used to study for the exam over a period of 6 months.
Exam Objectives: Section 1 – Define VMware NSX Technology and Architecture
The test consists of 80+ questions in which you have approximately 1 minute per question, which doesn't seem like a lot of time but it is plenty. You can also mark questions for review.. I found that once I completed the exam I had enough time to go back through all the questions once more to check for anything I missed. So, now that I have reviewed what NSX is and discussed the exam the next question is why should you take the exam? Besides certifications being a great way to show value to your company more importantly is that NSX is the next big wave in the virtual realm. I chose to take this exam because I believe that NSX is the next step in virtualizing the datacenter and I wanted to be on the forefront to help lead the direction for my company and our customers. I have the same excitement with NSX that I felt when I first became engaged with ESX. Since taking the exam, I have been between Buffalo and Albany NY, speaking to customers and white boarding their environments. This has lead to better engagements with customers and within VMUG (VMware User Group) where I lead three groups, Albany now Capital District, Syracuse and Rochester. NSX will change the face of networking just as vSphere did for physical servers. If you want to help drive the future direction of your company and help them become more secure, agile and flexible or if your company, like many others, are in the process of developing their cloud strategy then NSX can play a large role in that. |
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