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vSphere Software Defined Beta, Something for free from VMware

vSphere Beta, Something free from VMware (other than your time)

Something free from VMware (other than time)

VMware is looking for candidate beta test sites and environments for an upcoming vSphere release. Target audience or environments are those who have deployed vSphere 5.5 and 6.0 in your environment and looking to test the new software (e.g. bits).

What VMware is looking for

For this private community

vSphere beta, VMware is looking for participants with expectations including:

Online acceptance of the Master Software Beta Test Agreement will be required prior to visiting the Private Beta Community
Install beta software within 3 days of receiving access to the beta product
Provide feedback within the first 4 weeks of the beta program
Submit Support Requests for bugs, issues and feature requests
Complete surveys and beta test assignments
Participate in the private beta discussion forum and conference calls

How to get involved and test the bits?

To get involved (and get the bits), simply fill out the VMware form found here (no credit card or money required, just some of your time).

The VMware vSphere team will grant access to the program to selected candidates in stages. This vSphere Beta Program leverages a private Beta community to download software and share information. VMware will provide discussion forums, webinars, and service requests to enable you to share your opinion with them.

VMware cites the following reasons to participate in this vSphere beta opportunity:

Receive early access to the vSphere Beta products
Interact with the vSphere Beta team consisting of Product Managers, Engineers, Technical Support, and Technical Writers
Provide direct input on product functionality, configurability, usability, and performance
Provide feedback influencing future products, training, documentation, and services
Collaborate with other participants, learn about their use cases, and share advice and learnings

Where To Learn More

What This All Means

Having been involved in earlier vSphere betas this is a great way to get an early glimpse and hands on behind the wheel real-world experience with new technology for the experience, as well as testing to see how things will work in yours, or in a VMware hosted environment. You are free to use and test the bits (e.g. software) in your environment (or VMware hosted) how you like in a free-form real-world way. In addition to hands on time, you also get exposure and chance to interact with the VMware folks.

This experience can be useful for planning on how to use new feature functionality, as well as strategy planning for deployment once the production bits get released down the road.

Remember to sign up if interested here, see you in the beta.

Ok, nuff said, for now

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)
twitter @storageio

greg