Train Signal Release New vSphere Training Product – VMware vSphere Pro Series, Vol 1.

Exciting news for all you VMware vSphere admins and enthusiasts out there!  Train Signal, who produced the popular ‘VMware vSphere’ and ‘Hyper-V’ training videos have just released a new addition to the VMware vSphere suite of training products called ‘VMware vSphere Pro Series Vol. 1’.

As the ‘Pro’ in the name suggests this new training product offers a more in-depth look at three popular products in the vSphere suite providing almost 11 hours of video content in this first volume.  The three vSphere products are:

• VMware View & ThinApp, VMware’s Desktop & Application Virtualization solutions, authored by David Davis
• Cisco Nexus 1000V, the 3rd party add-in distributed virtual switch for vSphere, authored by Rick Scherer
• VMware PowerCLI, VMware’s implementation of Microsoft PowerShell, used to manage your vSphere infrastructure from the command-line, authored by Hal Rottenberg

The Instructors

Each of these topics are presented by a different instructor all of whom are VMware vExperts and are well respected within the VMware virtualization community.  I have had the pleasure of meeting all three of them over the past couple of years and can definitely confirm that these guys know their stuff and most importantly are effective in communicating it.   

David Davis has been the instructor on all of the previous Train Signal VMware released training videos.  I have listened and followed him in the video for over 11 hours in the previous vSphere training video and really like his clearly spoken, easy to follow presentation style.

Rick Scherer is an active member of the VMware blogging community through his blog VMware-Tips and has a wealth of knowledge around anything vSphere.  I had the opportunity to have a quick chat with him (video) at the last VMworld event over in San Francisco where he was also the moderator and participant in the ‘Ask the Experts’ panel (video).

Hal Rottenberg will likely need no introduction to all you PowerShell and PowerCLI fans out there.  He is well known in sysadmin circles for co-hosting the PowerScripting Podcast, and heading up the PowerShell Community organization.  Hal’s excellent book, “Managing VMware Infrastructure with PowerShell” (along with Alan Renouf’s site and Carter Shanklin’s VMworld sessions) greatly contributed to my knowledge of using PowerShell in a ESX environment.

So what can I expect?

As mentioned there is approximately 11 hours of video content covering all three of the topics mentioned above.  These videos are presented via an easy to navigate user interface from the DVD disks.

As well as the DVD based videos you also get provided with the following formats which help provide maximum flexibility for viewing and learning these vSphere products.

Take a look at this 17 minute long demonstration video which will give you an idea of what to expect – the actual video is much larger and clearer. 

How Much?

Compared to a traditional type training course this is a much more time and financially cost effective method of learning.  Train Signal offer a 90 day complete satisfaction guarantee on the product which should help put your mind at rest in the unlikely event that you don’t like the product.  The following is the current pricing at the time of the products release:

VMware vSphere Pro Series Vol. 1

Cost: US$297

Bundle Deal:

VMware vSphere Pro Series Vol. 1

+

VMware vSphere Training 

Cost: US$594

Free T-Shirt

For the first 100 people who purchase the VMware vSphere Pro Series Vol 1 training video will receive a rather fetching ‘vNerd’ t-shirt!