VMware Cloud on AWS – Self-study, exam, & mind map.

The continued investment and development of the VMware partnership with AWS  is bringing about some amazing emerging products to the marketplace.
Consider the combination of these new products with the growth rate of vSAN / HCI. 

From an architectural point of view, there can be an increased focus now on the true hybrid cloud or potentially route to the public cloud.

By providing the large enterprises with the  ability to develop next-gen applications without the commercial impact of redeveloping existing applications, and to continue with their existing skill set/processes and application comfort from understood VMware technologies in the AWS Saas Model/ecosystem, the business question may no longer  be  ‘What can we put in the cloud?’,  but “Which cloud is more suitable“ and “How to ensure the safety of the application and corresponding data?”

What does this mean to an infrastructure architect?

How does one architect or vendor separate themselves from others?

Personally,  I have been up-skilling on native cloud technologies & certifications, reviewing hybrid cloud architectures and adding to my understanding of concepts such as “AWS – Well Architected Framework”,  SRE,  technologies such as Terraform and the process/factors a business would need to follow to use these services (Migration, operationalizing etc).

Along this never-ending journey of IT self-enablement,  I  recently passed the ‘VMware Cloud on AWS management 2019 exam’.   I found it very useful to provide a base structure of what to review from the immense volume of information produced by VMware and AWS  from their recent 2018 conferences.

In my opinion, if you are an IT professional with a background from the datacenter and have yet to be exposed to larger cloud projects or technologies,   the VMC on AWS offering is the perfect solution to review and start to understand the public cloud space.  

The use of concepts such as tenancy, VPC/Cloud networking, connectivity with existing datacenter, migration of workloads and areas such as compliance / RBAC etc are all essential to understanding for any infrastructure architect working on a cloud project.  

The names, offerings, settings, and configurations often change, but the problems businesses need to solve and the logical design do not.

Below is a list of resources that I found useful for VMC on AWS self study and a copy of my mind map linking things together.

VMware Education Skill exam 
https://www.vmware.com/education-services/certification/vmware-cloud-on-aws-sddc-2019.html
https://www.vmware.com/education-services/certification/vmware-cloud-on-aws-management-exam-2019.html

Blueprint 
https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/certification/vmware-cloud-on-aws-management-exam-2019-epg.pdf
Official Docs
https://cloud.vmware.com/vmc-aws https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-on-AWS/index.html
VMware Cloud  on AWS Evaluation guide - https://assets.cloud.vmware.com/v3/assets/blt58b49a8a0e43b5ff/blt8b53bd922bee66ae/5bda2857cc850d3e584b7e4a/VMware%20Cloud%20on%20AWS%20Evaluation%20Guide.pdf

Compliance: https://cloud.vmware.com/vmc-aws/resources#compliance

Whitepapers: https://cloud.vmware.com/vmc-aws/resources#compliance
VMware Hands On Lab  HOL-1987-01-HBD - VMware Cloud on AWS - Getting Started https://labs.hol.vmware.com/HOL/catalogs/catalog/all
Joint Webinar : Introduction to VMware Cloud on  AWS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkgMEuiD5rc
AWS Re:Invent 2018 : VMware Cloud on AWS deep dive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RStQrGmHqy0
VMworld 2018: Hybrid Cloud Architectures with VMware Cloud on AWS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPRrhs9auiM
VMworld 2018:
Service Overview for VMware Cloud on AWS - HYP1451BU
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/23876
VMworld 2018:
Storage in VMware Cloud on AWS - HYP2379BU
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/22863
VMworld 2018:
VMware Cloud on AWS with NSX: Use Cases, Design, and Implementation - NET1327BE -
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26983
VMworld 2018:
Advanced NSX Services in VMware Cloud on AWS: Use Cases and Best Practices - NET2409BE
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26195
VMworld 2018:
VMware Cloud on AWS: The Migration Venture - HYP1187BE
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26980
AWS re:Invent 2018: Connectivity for VMware Cloud on AWS Software Defined Data Centers (NET321)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpPxpPLF5qk
VMworld 2018:
Accelerate Your Hybrid Cloud with VMware Cloud on AWS: What's New - HYP1376BE
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26183
VMworld 2018:
VMware Cloud on AWS Security and Compliance Details - HYP1377BE
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26973
A Practitioner's Guide to Migrating Workloads to VMware Cloud on AWS - 
HYP1496BE https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26229
VMworld 2018:
Hybrid cloud architecture design and best practices for VMware Cloud on AWS - HYP2145BES
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26514
VMworld 2018:
Understanding the TCO Benefits of VMware Cloud on AWS - HYP2817QE
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26893
VMworld 2018:
VMware Site Recovery: DR-as-a-Service with VMware Cloud on AWS - HYP3019BE
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/27050
VMworld 2018:
Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks: High Availability for VMware Cloud on AWS - HYP3025BE
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26840
VMworld 2018:
Enabling Hybrid Cloud Security for NSX and VMWare Cloud on AWS - SAI1032BES
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26383
VMworld 2018: P
erformance of SQL Server, Oracle, and SAP Workloads in VMware Cloud on AWS - VAP1492BE
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26718
VMworld 2018:
New Architectures for Big Data/Machine Learning on VMware Cloud on AWS - VAP1593QE
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26653
VMworld 2018:
High-Performance Big Data and Machine Learning on VMware Cloud on AWS - VAP1900BE
https://videos.vmworld.com/global/2018/videoplayer/26466