Scaling vSphere skills without owning hardware

For nearly 30 years, VMware has provided enterprises with high-performance virtualisation software. A key software offering is vSphere – the industry-leading server virtualisation platform that transforms physical data centre hardware into a unified, software-defined infrastructure.

It works by bundling the ESXi hypervisor and vCenter Server together to improve resource allocation, efficiency and scalability.

vSphere users and their employers may find a time when they want to scale their vSphere skills. The obvious ways to do this are to scale up or scale out. In other words, either add physical ESXi hosts to a vSphere cluster or upgrade existing hardware to increase the capacity of individual hosts.

Both these methods have advantages. However, they come with a significant drawback – the need to own and upgrade hardware.

For some, hardware ownership brings more benefits than drawbacks. But for others, it's a costly affair that sucks up resources that could be allocated elsewhere.

So, how do you scale vSphere skills without owning hardware? The answer lies in virtual training.

First, however, let's cover the basics.

What is VMware vSphere?

vSphere is a server virtualisation platform. It works by abstracting essential hardware resources, such as CPU, memory and storage, from physical servers and allocating them to virtual machines (VMs). This enables multiple operating system instances to run concurrently on a single machine.

The benefits of vSphere are legion. It's cost-efficient, maximising physical hardware investment by running more workloads on a server. It provides centralised control over as many virtual machines as you like via vCenter.

It does all this in a way that's both highly available and highly secure. Highly available, because it increases uptime through automated failover mechanisms. And highly secure, because it provides isolated environments for applications and data that are hard to penetrate.

Like all virtualisation software, vSphere is a complex piece of kit. Using it requires skills and knowledge that must be obtained through training.

What skills does vSphere require?

vSphere requires different kinds of knowledge. These include a working knowledge of core infrastructure, network and storage, as well as specific skills related to VMware ESXi host management and vCenter Server administration.

Skills required range from creating and configuring VMs to managing high-availability clusters, storage and networking.

There are many places you can learn to use vSphere. These include the free, official VMware Hands-on Labs (HOL), along with YouTube tutorials and community resources.

To deepen these skills, however, many businesses turn to physical upgrades. This introduces into the working environment a space for cloud engineers to fine-tune their expertise.

The problem with physical upgrades is that they cost money – money for both the hardware itself and for maintenance down the line.

It is, however, possible to scale vSphere skills without owning hardware. Enter VEDP, VMware's authorised virtualisation training labs.

How can you scale vSphere skills without owning hardware?

The main way you can scale vSphere skills without owning hardware is by learning through VEDP courses.

VEDP stands for "VMware Education Delivery Partner". Each VEDP is a VMware-authorised training partner that delivers virtual sandbox learning to cloud engineers.

VEDPs don't exclusively teach people how to use vSphere – in fact, they provide courses that cover the whole range of VMware software.

These courses are exclusively online and can be accessed around the clock. Students learn at their own pace and are able to balance their professional development with other work, life and family commitments.

Each lab is a virtual sandbox where students can break things safely. This means they can practise essential procedures and troubleshooting scenarios without touching actual vSphere environments.

This learning through doing provides confidence as well as expertise. Having drilled essential scenarios, the student is now able to apply their knowledge in real-world situations.

And because the course is online, scenarios can be drilled again and again until the knowledge is sufficiently embedded. What's more, students can expect in-the-moment feedback from trained instructors.

It's a great example of how online training can dissolve geographical barriers and bring flexible, practical learning to anyone, anywhere. All you need is to enrol on the course and make sure you have a decent internet connection. The rest is up to you.

Which VEDP courses cover vSphere?

Here at Ascend Cloud Solutions, we provide lab hosting services for 10 VEDP courses related to vSphere. These are:

Course lengths vary, as do the levels of existing knowledge required for each course. For more information, take a look at our course catalogue.

What are the advantages of VEDP vSphere courses?

VEDP vSphere courses provide high-quality and VMware-authorised training from vSphere experts. The training is hands-on and involves troubleshooting real-world scenarios in a safe sandbox environment.

Learning is flexible, and students can access courses in their own time, wherever in the world they are. This cuts costs for companies looking to train staff. In the long run, it also cuts costs by producing cloud engineers ready to take on real-world problems.

From the student's perspective, it can provide professional development within an existing role or provide certification for career advancement.

How we can help

At Ascend Cloud Solutions, we provide secure and available lab hosting services for VEDP courses, including many related specifically to vSphere. We work hard to ensure our backend provides a smooth experience for students and trainers and jump in to troubleshoot whenever necessary.

To find out more, don't hesitate to get in touch with our VMware experts.

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