My Top 5 {code} Sessions to see at VMware Explore 2022
Introduction
VMware {code} is a set of tools and content to help you develop tools and scripts against the VMware suite of products. Pre-covid {code} had it’s own online conference which was excellent. In 2021 the {code} event was rolled up into the main VMworld event as a separate track of sessions.
I really enjoyed the {code} sessions I have seen in previous years as they are always practical, enjoyable and interesting. In this year there are 22 {code} sessions and I have picked out the top 5 I would love to attend.
Automating Your Home with GitOps and a new OCTO xLabs Project [CODE2981US]
Content Catalog Link: CODE2981US
Excerpt:
In this session you will learn how you can insert a USB key into one of your home lab servers and watch as your entire system is built out and enabled in front of your eyes through GitOps desired state deployments, Kubernetes and a new OCTO xLabs project, this will allow you to provide a resilient home automation system allowing you to automate your devices and your life. Learn more about this exciting new xLabs Project from the Office of the CTO in VMware. Don’t have a home lab server? You will want one after this session!
Speaker:
As a home lab enthusiast this session has really excited me. I am trying to automate my lab using Terraform and Ansible but this sounds like a potential path forward. It has buzzwords in there like GitOps and Kubernetes that could provide a good practical project to learn them which will also help in my career. Alan has a track record of cool projects so I am looking forward to this one.
PowerCLI and REST APIs – A New Beginning [CODE2689US]
Content Catalog Link: CODE2689US
Excerpt:
VMware PowerCLI is the most popular VMware admin tool, used by thousands of admins every day to automate different aspects of their VMware infrastructure. In addition to calling the cmdlets, which are included in the PowerCLI product modules, you can now use PowerCLI to make direct calls to VMware product APIs. In the latest PowerCLI versions, we developed a new, more intuitive approach to calling VMware REST APIs. We also built integration with the VMware REST API documentation database, so you can fetch PowerCLI samples directly from the API documentation portal. Join our session and see a demo of how you can easily automate workflows by using VMware vSphere and VMware NSX REST APIs with PowerShell.
Speaker:
I love using PowerCLI for automating my vSphere work but I know I need to start to ‘learn’ using the vSphere APIs to do further integration with other automation. I’ve used Swagger interfaces and Postman to play with the vSphere APIs so I’d like to learn how using PowerCLI can do this too. The Documentation database integration sounds like it would be a useful feature when learning.
PowerCLI Users Guide to Terraform [CODE1872US]
Content Catalog Link: CODE1872US
Excerpt:
Ensuring your toolbox includes a diverse set of languages, skills and tools is incredibly important to a successful career. Over the years, Terraform has basically become synonymous with infrastructure as code and proven to be a terrific tool to have available. This session will look at how easy it is to transfer existing VMware PowerCLI knowledge to become familiar with Terraform’s lingo, coding and overall usage.
PowerShell/PowerCLI were the first scripting languages I learnt to use like I’m sure is the same for most Sys Admins. I have spent a lot of time learning Packer and now re-learning Terraform. This session will benefit us who are trying to go from an imperative style of scripting to declarative. Terraform is the hotness just now, so worth learning.
VMware {code}: VMware Tanzu on Intel NUC Lab Environment Setup and Application Building [CODE2770US]
Content Catalog Link: CODE2770US
Excerpt:
This more serious lab gives you hands-on, sit-down time with an Intel NUC x86 platform to teach you how to install and configure VMware Tanzu on an Intel NUC. The Intel NUC system is a super-quiet, low-cost system that will allow you to set up and run VMware Tanzu at home. This lab will show you how to run Kubernetes workloads on the NUC’s lab environment. The applications are C based sensor code labs that collect I2C and GPIO sensor data from attached and display the data on a small OLED display. Learn the basics of YMAL files for workload control on your home lab environment. At the end, you can spend 250.00 and create your own home VMware Tanzu on Intel NUC environment.
Speaker:
This is a session you will only get to see if you attend VMware Explore, but it sounds super interesting. A NUC is a great home lab platform and it is powerful enough to run many applications. This lab would teach you a lot of products/technologies which we all need to learn such as Tanzu and Kubernetes. If you are at VMware Explore sign up for this one.
Try This, Catch That, Finally – An Explanation on PowerCLI Error Handling [CODE1865US]
Content Catalog Link: CODE1865US
Excerpt:
Automation is impossible if your VMware PowerCLI scripts cannot run through to completion. Handling errors properly can greatly improve your code writing skills. Whether the script is a few lines or a few hundred lines, there are great efficiencies to be gained from using try/catch/finally blocks. During this session, I will cover the main differences between terminating and non-terminating errors. Examples of each type of error will be shown so you can see the code in action. This session will also cover the ErrorAction parameter. This presentation will have plenty of live code examples interacting with APIs and custom functions to ensure you can see the real-world application of these PowerShell tools.
Speaker:
My PowerClI scripting is not elegant. It’s very imperative and everything in one script. Error handling is something I always have in the back of my mind I should be using, but in the past my scripts have basically been for me. As I publish more code to platforms such as GitHub I need to start developing my scripts with things like error handling. I would like to see this session as it will give some practical examples of it plus some bonus content of working with APIs.
Wrap Up
If you can’t find a session in that list you would be interested in I would be amazed. Well done the VMware {code} team - great sessions again. What are your must see {code} sessions? I’d love to know in case I’m missing something good.