Blog Posts

VMware Communities will undergo maintenance on November 21 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm Pacific.

During the maintenance window, login to VMware Communities will be unavailable, and the VMware Communities application may be unavailable for short periods with no warning. If VMware Communities members use the site during the window, they should be sure to save the text of any new content before submitting it.

New functionality includes restricting new usernames to consist only of a-z, A-Z, and 0-9; and some other minor bug fixes.

I will post again when the maintenance is complete.

Maintenance on VMware Communities is now complete and all functions are available. Thank you for your patience during this planned downtime.

[Update: November 10] Issues discovered with the underlying infrastructure following the site maintenance have been resolved, and the site is functioning normally. We are still investigating reports from community members that email notifications for watched threads are not always delivered.

Introducing the new VMware Communities homepage!

What is it?

• A single place to find the latest content from VMware Communities, VMworld.com, GoVirtual.org (the academic portal), and VIOPS (the operations portal).
• A homepage to monitor your activity (be sure you're logged in)
• A place to find the top community experts

VMware Communities will undergo an upgrade on Saturday, October 25, starting at 12:00 noon Pacific.

Upgrade Window Timeline:
October 25, 12:00 noon to 3pm Pacific: VMware Communities will not be available.
October 25, 3pm Pacific to October 26, 4am Pacific: All VMware Communities functions will be available except for login.

Visitors who need to post to VMware Communities when login is unavailable should make sure they have logged in before 12:00 noon Pacific, so that their VMware Communities cookie is set. Visitors who post during the upgrade window should save their postings before submitting them, since the site may go down without warning during the upgrade window. For safety, visitors are recommended only to view content on VMware Communities during the upgrade window.

Site Changes:
The following changes will be made to VMware Communities as part of this upgrade:

1. Upgrading the Communities platform from version 1.3 to version 1.10, which includes functional bug fixes.
2. Fixes for errors when attaching images to discussions
3. Additional fixes for formatting / display issues
4. Ability for community moderators to move documents

I will post again here when the maintenance upgrade is complete.

If you're going to VMworld, head on over to the V Bar in the Venetian on Monday night at 8pm after the opening reception. Some VMware Communities members will be there for an informal, no-host gathering to network as another VMworld conference kicks off. See details and chatter.

Check out the VMworld Virtual Pavilion!

What: It's a virtual world of all things VMworld where you can "walk around" the conference online.

Highlights: See discussion areas around VMworld technology topics, live chat with other visitors to the site, vendor booths from VMworld show sponsors, expert sessions, and even an open bar. It's pretty fun to move your avatar around the virtual show, and it makes the site navigation really easy for visual thinkers like me.

VMware Communities will undergo a maintenance upgrade on Saturday, August 23, 7am - 3pm Pacific.

Maintenance Window Timeline:
During approximately 1-2 hours of the maintenance window, VMware Communities will not be available. During the rest of the maintenance window, all VMware Communities functions will be available except for login. Visitors who need to post to the site during the maintenance window should make sure they have logged in before 7am Pacific. Visitors who post during the maintenance window should save their postings before submitting them, since the site may go down without warning during the maintenance window. For safety, visitors are recommended only to view content on VMware Communities during the maintenance window.

Site Changes:
The following changes will be made to VMware Communities as part of this maintenance upgrade:

1. The user interface will be streamlined to improve site usability by reducing clutter and fixing some user interface issues identified by users. Details of these changes are documented in VMware Communities Proposed Homepage Design.
2. Improved error message text for the login / authentication process.
3. Additional fixes to other VMware Web site and online store infrastructure that is not related to VMware Communities.