The Keynote general session this morning had several presenters talking about the future of computing. Topics included:

• Interacting with the virtual world in the physical world (e.g. Minority Report)
• Creating the virtual world without a traditional computer, but other common appliances (e.g. a desk lamp)
• Controlling the virtual world with your mind (e.g. Yoda of the virtual world)

Here are some of my takeaways from the Day 2 Keynote at VMworld 2010:

• It is clear that Paul Maritz is betting on the cloud
• As was to be expected, vCloud Director was announced and released
• VMware is starting to focus on virtualizing security and networking
• Several announcements around vShield were made
• Project Verizon was announced

In addition, I noticed several shots taken at other companies. Including:

• Oracle - "What is the cloud?"
• iPhone - Fine phone when it works
• UCS + Vblock - No one will through out their existing infrastructure
• 3Par - How does it fit with Dell + VAAI?
• Microsoft - Hyper-what?

Here are some of my takeaways from Day 1 at VMworld 2010:

• The Moscone Center is all decked out and Howard Street is full of people
• The lines are long, the Internet is flaky, but at least my cell phone works
• If you want a seat, arrive really (>30 minutes) early
• It was a great day of sessions, networking, and vendor events
• People seem really excited about what VMworld and what the cloud has to offer
• Sessions and vendors mentioned vCloud Director, but no one could talk about it until tomorrow

The biggest announcement, which has not been official announced at VMworld yet is vCloud Director. I just discovered that all the information is now posted on the VMware site at http://www.vmware.com/products/vcloud-director/. Unless you have been living under a rock, this announcement should not come as a surprise tomorrow as people have been talking about it for months. Some luck beta testers (like me!) have already played around with this sure-to-be revolutionary product and are excited for its first GA release.

I just got back from the VMunderground VMworld 2010 Warm Up Party at the Thirsty Bear Brewing Co. and I must say that they definitely did open a can of W.U.P.a.a.S. While I was unable to secure a T-shirt due to not having an official invitation, I was able to secure a walk-in ticket and enjoy the party. The place was packed as I had expected and it really was a great networking opportunity. It was also a way to get some free stuff both at the party an afterwards (not going to give away the secrets). I would highly recommend checking this out in the future if you have not yet. I cannot wait for what VMworld 2010 will hold!

For one of the group projects I am currently working on, we are in the process of ordering hardware for a VMware deployment. The other day I was asked by one of the hardware engineers for a standard BIOS configuration to be applied to all newly ordered systems. The question was directed at me because I am the VMware Subject Matter Expert (SME). This reminded me how difficult it is to determine the best practices on configuring a BIOS for a VMware environment. Searching the Internet, I found multiple attempts over the years to put together a VMware optimized list, but the list was never maintained. In addition, I found that most BIOS Optimization Guides (BOGs) were vendor specific. Finally, I was unable to find a BOG specific to ESX(i) and as many of you know a properly configured BIOS can make all the difference.

As such, I decided it would be a good idea to put together a VMware BIOS Optimization Guide or vBOG. While every BIOS is different, I hope to put together a comprehensive guide over time that will be continually maintained. My goal is not to explain every BIOS option, but to highlight all the VMware specific and important ones. I expect this topic to be controversial and I welcome any feedback. I will attempt to provide supporting documentation on all recommendations I provide. Please be advised that I am in no way a hardware expert. These recommendations come primarily from online research and general practice. In the future, I hope to add actually benchmarks into the guide to reforce the recommendations made.