It’s now been a few days after VeeamOn 2022, and I had some time to reflect on the first conference I attended post-Covid. (yes, I know Covid is still very much alive, but hybrid conferences are starting to be the new norm).
So, let me first say it was a blast. I have done, I don’t know how many, virtual conferences in the past 2 years (or 10, because if feels like eternity). When I attended the first virtual conference in 2020, Cisco Live, it was a novelty, but by the end of 2021, it surely had lost its appeal. And by no means do I want to diminish the work organizers put into a virtual conference; you just can’t beat meeting people in person to exchange ideas and build relationships.
VeeamOn is happening in-person and virtual next week (May 16th-19th). This is a hybrid event, and for me a special one; It will be my first VeeamOn event and the first conference I will attend in person since the pandemic. I’m stoked to be going back to Las Vegas in a week.
Earlier this week I received the email I’ve been looking forward to!
Dear Nico,
I’m happy to report that your 2022 Veeam Vanguard Renewal Nomination has been approved, congratulations! Through 2021, we hope you have enjoyed the Veeam Vanguard Program despite it has been still a different experience than we used to have before Covid times. We are happy to extend to you an invitation to the 2022 Vanguard class hopefully enabling us to host more events with an in-person element in the hybrid format, that will most probably become a new standard nowadays and meet you also in other than online way.
This will be my second year as a Vanguard and I’m forever grateful for the possibilities it provided to me.
Some of the highlights:
Access to test/beta version of software to run in the home-lab. I get to play with features that are yet to be released to the public.
Friday Vanguard calls, where a bunch of us join a meeting and talk about whatever comes to mind. Might be work, current news, weather, Internet in West Virginia, or family.
I was able to participate at VeeamOn update being interviewed in a very awesome TV Set as a customer of Veeam. It was a great experience and something I had never done.
Veeam Summit; While I was not able to go to Prague for the summit in 2021 due to concerns for Covid, I’m hopeful I’ll be able to attend this year.
Not gonna’ lie, the swag is top notch!
Slack channel for Vanguards, which is a great resource for laughter and to tip into the “Hive Mind”
If you are curious about the current list of Vanguards, it can be found here.
While 2021 was a bit challenging so far, I learned the great news last week that I was select to be part of the 2021 Veeam Vanguard class!
For those not familiar with Veeam Vanguard (or Veeam), check out their site about Veeam Vanguards.
Veeam Vanguards are considered experts in their respected fields and believe in the power of the community. Now, I by no means consider myself an expert, there is always so much to learn, but I definitely believe in community and giving back what you can. I don’t know the countless times someone’s blog really helped me solve a problem I was having or a post on Twitter.
One of the greatest benefits of programs like Veeam Vanguard is being able to network with others in the industry. You might run into an issue and just ask in the Slack channel. Chances are someone else has seen this before and knows how to fix it. Plus, there are betas for testing on your home lap, licenses (Veeam already has great community editions), exclusive access to VeeamOn, and just awesomeness all around.
Speaking of, seeing all those names who are part of this program the imposter syndrome is definitely lurking and wanting to take hold!
Many thanks again to all who make this possible! Including Rick Vanover, Danny Allan, Niels Engelen, Anthony Spiteri, Michael Cade, Andrew Zhelezko, Anton Gostev, Rin Bessette, Melissa Palmer, and Nikola Pejková. (I’m sure I might have forgotten some, apologies)
Also special shout-out to Joe Hughes, Jim Jones and Al Rasheed!
Like many others in the community I was very excited when I heard that ESXi on Arm is now general available. I heard about it first a few years back at VMworld, where a demo was shown. So, like many others I jumped to Amazon to get myself a Raspberry Pi 4 Kit. I opted to get the 8GB version, just in case.
Here at our little shop, I have been using Veeam for more than 5 years. It was already implemented when I got here, but I quickly decided to completely rebuild it from scratch and have been pretty happy with it. Of course, the build-out changes over time, as new features become available and/or requirements change.
