Why quality matters with VEDP labs (and how Ascend delivers)

Delivering VEDP labs needs resources and behind-the-scenes expertise. See how quality hosting drives value for learners and course providers.



Here at Ascend Cloud Solutions, we deliver high-quality lab hosting services for VMware-authorised VMware Education Delivery Partner (VEDP) courses.

And though we say so ourselves, we're well-placed to deliver. Our team was born in the cloud – and in the VMware cloud in particular.

We have more than five years' experience hosting VMware education labs – first VATC, then rebadged as VEDP. That gives us the expertise and resources to deliver high-quality training courses that bring the whole VMware product portfolio to life.

In essence, we do the technical stuff behind the scenes so learners can grasp the technical stuff on their screens. This means maintaining and running infrastructure and being available to jump in and troubleshoot whenever necessary.

So, why does quality matter for VEDP labs – and how do we deliver it? Let's find out.

Why does quality matter with VEDP labs?

The quality of VEDP labs is vital to teachers and learners alike. This is primarily because they have different perspectives but a shared goal: a smooth learning experience.

In the world of virtual sandbox labs, that smooth learning experience is all about gaining practical experience that can then be implemented in the real world.

This means learners need environments in which they can experiment, break things safely and recover them just as safely. The result is the kind of confidence that abstract book learning can't achieve.

To get this, they need realistic environments – labs that closely resemble production VMware environments. If they're not realistic, learners won't be in a position to ingrain essential knowledge about common configurations, troubleshooting scenarios and workflows.

Those realistic environments need to run reliably. If a lab is sluggish, inconsistent or prone to downtime, training can quickly turn from invaluable to unbearable.



When lab environments are built to a high quality, learners can focus on learning rather than waiting for the firefighters to arrive. This skill development is only possible when the lab environments are properly designed and maintained.

After all, the primary goal of this kind of training is to produce cloud engineers who can implement their knowledge in real-life situations. If their learning is low-quality and disrupted, they're more likely to make mistakes when reality bites.

The secondary – but from some perspectives no less important – goal of VEDP labs is to certify professionals. A well-built lab makes attaining these certifications more likely.

From the learner's perspective, quality means time well spent on learning rather than frustration and disengagement. Replace "learn" with "teach" in that sentence and it works equally as well.

And from the employer's perspective, quality means a return on investment. Training doesn't come for free, so you need to feel that the money you spend is going to come back to you. This could be in the form of streamlined deployments, workflows or troubleshooting.

At the end of the day, the quality of a VEDP lab directly affects:

• The learning experience for learners
• The teaching experience for teachers
• The profitability of the labs for employers
  
  

How we deliver

Here at Ascend Cloud Solutions, we're responsible for providing and maintaining the infrastructure students need for hands-on training.

This is the highly technical work that goes on behind the scenes. The exact nature of this work will vary depending on whether the course covers vSphere, VCF, NSX, vSAN or Tanzu.

Despite these differences, learning labs for VMware products all rely on the same four things:

• Compute resources
• Storage and networking
• Remote access infrastructure
• Operational support
  
  

1. Compute resources

In terms of compute resources, each learner needs a dedicated "pod" (lab environment) that contains multiple virtual machines (VMs).

To achieve this, we provide:

1. Enterprise-class servers
2. High CPU capacity
3. Large memory pools
4. Fast SSD/NVMe-backed storage
5. Hardware redundancy
6. High availability
   
   

This allows us to run and support multiple pods simultaneously.

2. Storage and networking

VEDP labs regularly involve learners working with shared storage and advanced networking features.

We make this possible with:

• Shared storage
• Isolated networks for each student pod
• DNS, DHCP and Active Directory services
• Firewalls
• Security controls
  
  

The word "isolated" is important. Learner environments must be securely separated so students can focus on their work.

3. Remote access infrastructure

VEDP labs are delivered remotely or, sometimes, in hybrid formats. This means course providers need:

• Browser-based access portals
• Remote desktop gateways
• Monitoring and support systems
• Capacity management for multiple users
  
  

By providing these, we enable multiple learners to access browser-based courses from pretty much any device without the need for local software installation.

4. Operational support

Last but not least, a high-quality VEDP lab environment needs more than just hardware – it also needs operational support.

Our lab hosting services provide operational support in the form of:

• Lab provisioning and automation
• Real-time support from instructors
• Real-time troubleshooting
• Performance monitoring
• Capacity planning
  
  

These technical nuances all add up to performance maintenance and the speedy resolution of issues as they arise. Without these background activities, labs are likely to be disrupted, learners to become disengaged and training outcomes to be diminished.

What we offer

At Ascend Cloud Solutions, we provide essential lab support and lab resource requirements. Take the case of labs that train learners to configure, deploy and manage VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.

VCF 9 labs give learners the most comprehensive private cloud tech ed experience on the market – from design to deployment to ops.

Our expert lab hosting services provide the specialised lab architecture, resources and operational capabilities needed to bring training to life. For employers, that means getting the outcomes they're paying for, balancing performance, reliability and cost. 

Are you looking for highly reliable, highly secure lab hosting services for VEDP courses? Explore our course catalogue today, or get in touch to discuss your needs with our experts.