Any Vmware contractor here?

[rurffy]

Hi guys,

Just trying to find out what the advantages of getting into Vmware contracts are ?What are the kind of rates you have had in the past and is Vmware worth getting into?

*I have already checked Jobserve and all – I just want a discussion on rates, how relevant , how difficult it is to get a contract.

[stek]

I've had to do Vmware in the past, part of a permie role though, but I did get sent on an ESX 4.1 Fasttrack course in sunny Wakefield, with a free exam which I never bothered with.

I dunno what your level is but there's more to it than installing Windows and Linux on top of it, there's the Virtual Switch bit and VLANs and whatever it's called when you move a running VM from one server to another as well as all the snapshotting, clustering and resource pooling and weighting you get in IBM Logical Partitions and Oracle Logical Domains.

I found it all a bit underwhelming - certainly the Vmware rigs we had at said permie job where flaky and less mature and less granular than the proper firmware based hypervisors we had too. Suppose it's to be expected as it is basically metal-bios-server-guests where POWER7 et al is metal-firmware-guests - one layer less and not bound by intel architecture.....

Having said that it's gaining ground and it is Unix-like, if not actually 'proper' Unix, so I might have to stop being so anal and have a bash, maybe stick it on the two Sun X-series boxes at home.....

Another issue might be that the traditional heavyweight virtualisers are using IBM/Oracle/HP Superdomes such as Banks etc, whereas I don't know, not seen Vmware at any of the three Banks I worked at, only place was a hosting company who marketed it as their cheaper option to pSeries/T- and M-Series so rates might be a lot less.

[rurffy]

I've had to do Vmware in the past, part of a permie role though, but I did get sent on an ESX 4.1 Fasttrack course in sunny Wakefield, with a free exam which I never bothered with.

I dunno what your level is but there's more to it than installing Windows and Linux on top of it, there's the Virtual Switch bit and VLANs and whatever it's called when you move a running VM from one server to another as well as all the snapshotting, clustering and resource pooling and weighting you get in IBM Logical Partitions and Oracle Logical Domains.

I found it all a bit underwhelming - certainly the Vmware rigs we had at said permie job where flaky and less mature and less granular than the proper firmware based hypervisors we had too. Suppose it's to be expected as it is basically metal-bios-server-guests where POWER7 et al is metal-firmware-guests - one layer less and not bound by intel architecture.....

Having said that it's gaining ground and it is Unix-like, if not actually 'proper' Unix, so I might have to stop being so anal and have a bash, maybe stick it on the two Sun X-series boxes at home.....

Another issue might be that the traditional heavyweight virtualisers are using IBM/Oracle/HP Superdomes such as Banks etc, whereas I don't know, not seen Vmware at any of the three Banks I worked at, only place was a hosting company who marketed it as their cheaper option to pSeries/T- and M-Series so rates might be a lot less.

Another great reply from you stek, Detailed aswell. I am kinda getting so intrested in this Vmware and i think the future might be all about it ,Hence thinking to get right deep into it

[tomtomagain]

Virtualization is the present not the future.

The future is CPU and storage delivered without an Operating system.

[Scruff]

OK, I will bite (and just ignore the the uninformed schpiel).
I have been working with VMware for the past 7 years, from ESX 2(.5)/3(.5)/4(.1)5(.1), ranging from building / supporting / design / delivery / architecture. I have been VCP certified for 5 1/2 years including the latest version.

I think that today, you are expected to have a working knowledge of the product when contracting in an Infrastructure role?

It is a mature product, which every single Enterprise is using that I have come across so far. It is a mainstream Hypervisor, replacing most "tin".

I am not prepared to quote rates but suffice to say, it keeps me in sweets and biscuits. Rates are what they are and the difference between what a VMware noob and an architect earn, can be as much as £450 per day.

[Contreras]

OK, I will bite (and just ignore the the uninformed schpiel).
I have been working with VMware for the past 7 years, from ESX 2(.5)/3(.5)/4(.1)5(.1), ranging from building / supporting / design / delivery / architecture. I have been VCP certified for 5 1/2 years including the latest version.

I think that today, you are expected to have a working knowledge of the product when contracting in an Infrastructure role?

It is a mature product, which every single Enterprise is using that I have come across so far. It is a mainstream Hypervisor, replacing most "tin".

I am not prepared to quote rates but suffice to say, it keeps me in sweets and biscuits. Rates are what they are and the difference between what a VMware noob and an architect earn, can be as much as £450 per day.

300 > rate > 1000

[rocktronAMP]

300 > rate > 1000

You cannot virtualise your hardware into more CPU cores. As this element that is increasing exponentially, I would say this VMWare business model not sustainable in the future, for better scalability, both horizontally and vertically.

[rurffy]

You cannot virtualise your hardware into more CPU cores. As this element that is increasing exponentially, I would say this VMWare business model not sustainable in the future, for better scalability, both horizontally and vertically.

With the recent high request for VCP engineers - i think more companies are moving over to the virtualized environment. for the next four years i think i will still be in business being a Vmware Engineer..

[bobspud]

With the recent high request for VCP engineers - i think more companies are moving over to the virtualized environment. for the next four years i think i will still be in business being a Vmware Engineer..

Never underestimate the probability for VMware to do something dumb in software licensing that will kill your revenue stream dead. I don't think I saw a single version of 5.0 installed after they started pissing about with CPU and memory caps. It got sorted for 5.1 but it doesn't take too many firms in the market to say screw you I am not taking the upgrade this time to leave quite a few guys on the market.

As for the Op's posting about rates and worth while I would say No not now... if you are not already on the train then you will have missed the gravy. I know a few VMware architects that were all moaning that their rates had gone from 550+ to 300 in the last year so I am guessing that its days as a cash cow are done for now.

I have already bounced out of VMware into Cloud Solutions (AWS, Openstack etc) Now I find that most of what I am doing is Solutions Architecture not tin and string.