Developer Center Blog

Easy Money – PowerShell Scripting Contests submissions end in just two short weeks..

heyitspablo — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:11:00 GMT

Folks,

Not that you need to be reminded but just in case some of you forgot – our PowerShell Scripting contest closes in just two short weeks !

If you are not up for a Free trip to VMworld the $5,000 of extra cash might help with back to school expenses…  The MacBook Air as a second prize is also very nice .

Hurry contest ends - August 30, 2008, 11:59pm PST

Winners will be announced Sept 7th, 2008

For more information http://vmware.com/go/powershellcontest

We have plenty of resources available to learn about the VI Toolkit for Windows
http://vmware.com/go/powershellcontest

-Pablo

The VMware Technology Exchange Event.. May 13, 14, 2008 San Jose, CA.

heyitspablo — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:58:00 GMT

The VMware Technology Exchange Event..

I have been recently involved with helping put together the VMware Technology Exchange event and wanted to share some insight on what the event is about and why an ISV / IHV might be interested in attending..

Event goals: The goal of the VMware Technology Exchange event is to get our partners and product teams together to share product directions, understand integration points, and learn how VMware can help you go to market with your solution.

About the sessions: We are planning on 70% percent deep technical content and 30% business topics making this ideal for Product Managers, Software Developers, Development Managers and Business types. If I were to recommend sessions for folks out there interested in VI integration I would suggest Power Shell for Partners, VI Performance Monitoring and the VC Client Plug-ins. I tend to lean in favor of the VI oriented sessions but there are plenty of other sessions discussing Security, Storage and Applications.

Who can attend ? We are limiting this to our Technical Alliance Partners (TAP) members so if you are not a TAP member you might be interested in joining the program... For folks on a budget the Access level is no charge and you can apply at: http://www.vmware.com/partners/alliances/programs/

Please note there is a Event Fee of $725 and it also includes a 1 year license for VMware Infrastructure and VMware Workstation.

So if we see you there be sure to say hello, and if we meet during the reception I would be more than happy to purchase you a refreshment of your choice.

Regards,
Pablo Roesch
SDK Product Marketing Manager

Event Details:

When: May 13, 14, 2008 San Jose Convention Center, CA

Registration Website, more information: http://vmwaretechnologyexchange.com

Announcing the latest VMware SDK: The VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK)

heyitspablo — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:20:00 GMT

This week VMware announces the latest Software Development Kit and I had a chance to catch up with Hari Krishnan the VMware Infrastructure Product Manager for the VDDK.

Pablo: Please tell us about your professional background?
Hari: My professional background includes over 10 years of varied experience in product management, product marketing and technology development for software, security and networking products. Before joining VMware, I was a product manager at F5 Networks for SSL VPN product line. Prior to that I co-founded a start-up ISPsoft, Inc. where I managed IP service provisioning software product. Earlier in my career, I worked in Bell Labs (Lucent) where I developed technologies for IP network management. I got my MS degree in Computer Science from University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Bachelor of Technology degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai. On the personal side I enjoy the great outdoors and thought it would be nice to have an image of my favorite vacation spots; Yosemite National Park.

Pablo: You must be excited about releasing the VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit, can you tell us why our developers should be interested in it?
Hari: Yes. With VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit we are enabling a new eco-system of partners to develop solutions that integrate with VMware virtual disk. The VDDK is an open SDK that developers can use to build cutting edge applications for creating and accessing VMware virtual disk storage.

Pablo: What are some of the use cases for using the VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit?
Hari: Virtual Disk Development Kit provides easy access to VMware virtual disk storage.

This enables a wide range of use-cases for application vendors including:
o Creation of virtual machine disk files to store backup of physical images
o Read access to virtual disk to enable off-line centralized scanning of virtual machines for anti-virus
o Write access to virtual disk to enable off-line centralized patching of virtual machines Read access to virtual disk
to enable off-line software package analysis of virtual machines

Pablo: Can you tell us how the VDDK compare contrast to our other SDKs ?
Hari: Sure. It’s important to understand the focus of various VMware APIs and SDKs when developing a solution that supports VMware virtual infrastructure. VMware Developer Center is a good place to start.

In particular, if you are developing a backup solution it is important to understand how VDDK compares with VCB (VMware Consolidated Backup) and VI API. VI API is a Web Service / XML interface focused on management of virtual machines and ESX host configuration. Virtual Consolidated Backup enables LAN free backup of virtual machines from a centralized proxy server and eliminates backup traffic from your LAN to improve performance of production virtual machines. VDDK is focused on efficient access and transfer of data on virtual disk storage. VDDK can be used in conjunction with other APIs to offer a complete integrated solution for management of virtual infrastructure. For example, you can use VI API to discover virtual machines deployed on ESX. VDDK can be used to read or write information onto virtual disk associated with a virtual machine. Backup vendors can augment VCB with VDDK to tightly integrate with VMware virtual disk storage.

Pablo: What is the relationship between Open Virtualization Format (OVF) and the VDDK?
Hari: Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is an open, industry standard for packaging and distributing virtual machines. OVF can be used to encapsulate meta-data about a virtual machine such as virtual hardware requirements, licensing information, virtual disk information and product information for virtual appliance. OVF is extensible so virtual appliance vendors can also embed additional meta-data about their product in OVF. OVF supports multiple virtual disk formats including VMware’s VMDK format as well as Microsoft’s VHD format. OVF simplifies deployment of virtual machines by offering a standard way to package and distribute virtual appliances for multiple hypervisor platforms.

VDDK is an open API and SDK to create and access information on VMware virtual disk storage (VMDK). Future versions of VDDK will include support for creating and accessing virtual disks packaged in OVF format.

Pablo: What should our developers do?
Hari: I would encourage developers to check out the VMware developer center, download the VDDK, get involved in VMware developer community, ask questions as well as give us your feedback.
For Download http://vmware.com/go/virtualdisksdk . Bookmark link to VDDK Forum VDDK forums