Few months back I got to speak to different friends of mine in the IT field, who were specialized in networking, storage, SAP, Database, Hardware and so on. I was surprised they had zero to little exposure to Virtualization although they are well versed into their field of expertise. They even held highest certifications in their fields like CCIE & the equivalent for the different specialty. This has kinda surprised me as working with Virtualization/Cloud Admins on daily basis, I had thought most IT professional by now are well versed with Virtualization. This has proved being far from the true, the more I speak to IT Professionals outside the Virtualization field.

Figuring out that many IT Professionals are still stuck in the past within the physical infrastructure, I decided to explore the cause and try to help improve the situation. Asking my friends about the cause of not catching up on Virtualization although they are aware its rapidly changing every IT field. I asked my networking friends if they are already aware that there is more virtual network ports than there is physical these days and they were surprised of that fact. I asked them what will they do when 90% of the network ports become virtual network ports and a part of a virtual switch. What will they do when Software Defined Network & Network Virtualization take over the world by a storm. I have done the same exercise with the storage admins, and both groups started to see how critical that they get on the virtualization boat.

As the first challenge was for these admins to recognize what’s happening in the world around them, the second challenge was where to start. I always thought the VMware Install & Configure course and the similar are great places to start learning virtualization. What I have discovered from speaking to these admins, with the advancement of Virtualization it sounds like the vSphere Install & Configure course start with the assumption of some Virtualization exposure and understanding by the attendees. Most courses online as well have the same type of pre-requisite not to mention the cost barrier to all these type of courses, especially when they are not in your specialty.

As for the first challenge of IT Professionals outside the Virtualization Admins circle not being aware of how Virtualization will affect their future, I think this challenge will resolve it self as  people will start interfering with Virtualization more often on their daily work. I am here to help with the second challenge of finding a Virtualization Education that help IT Professionals from different fields learn Virtualization from scratch/zero/nada at a cost that fit everyone budget. The way I am trying to help resolve this problem is by providing a free online Virtualization video training that help others learn Virtualization from scratch at their own time. I have started a Virtualization training page at my blog which will be updated regularly as I produce more videos in this training series.

I have already posted the first lesson, which is made up of three videos as below:

Lesson 1: What & Why Virtualization?

This lesson covers the what’s & why of Virtualization and try to simplify the concept of Server Virtualization as much as possible for someone who has never used Server Virtualization before or have a little knowledge of it.

What’s/Why Virtualization Part 1?

What’s/Why Virtualization Part 2?

What’s/Why Virtualization Part 3?

You can continue watching the rest of this training for free at my Virtualization Training Page. Please note I have already recorded half of this training series, and will be posting more videos shortly on my training page, so please keep coming back to check for the rest of the series being uploaded. As I still to record the second half of this training, I would love to hear your suggestion and feedback. Actually creating the second half of this training series is highly dependent on the response I get after posting the first half of the series. If you think its worth it then please share it with your friends and on social media and leave a comment sharing what you thought of it and how I could have improved it. Please note I have decided to cut as much time on video editing to make it available to you asap and to keep it free.