Hey everyone,
Open discussion today, not just for Veeam but for technology as a whole, what do you use to train and why is that the tool of choice for you? I’d like this to become a good resource for fellow Veeamers to become a launchpad to get started with technologies, as Veeam supports more platforms, the systems we can be dealing with extend as a direct result, so it’s beneficial if we can find our ideal ways of learning and where to go from learning core concepts up to the advanced intricate details of these systems.
It’s not always possible for people to have access to corporate resources for testing so bonus points for any cheap/free resources!
For example:
Microsoft 365/Azure: I have a few favourite YouTubers such as John Savill (https://youtube.com/c/NTFAQGuy) that I’ll use for sprawling concepts such as Azure Kubernetes. Then I’ll use Microsoft Learn for a mixture of lab exercises and walk throughs. Then when I want to start playing with more advanced topics I’ll use my O365/Azure Tenant and heavily reference Microsoft Docs for PowerShell cmdlets and technical documentation.
Why? Azure & Office 365 infrastructure and configuration tends to sprawl across so many different components that I find the visual style of John Savill handy to get a grasp of what I’ll be working with and how it interconnects, dependencies etc and then I can learn more about the technologies with Microsoft Learn, either via tracks that Microsoft have curated or random modules, following examples of intended behaviours. Then finally Microsoft Docs will typically answer uncertainties and expand the scope. Microsoft have designed their systems for years under the concept that GUI buttons should just run PowerShell underneath, meaning the GUI options won’t typically have anything that can’t be done via PowerShell, but PowerShell can often perform tasks not possible via GUI. This also helps when attempting to automate tasks as you can work natively with PowerShell.
Veeam: Veeam University is of course one of the best resources for people new to Veeam with the Veeam Helpcenter being a great follow on resource for information. But when it comes to testing, for years I actually had Hyper-V installed on my laptop with a nested ESXi and separate nested Hyper-V server and separate Veeam VMs for whichever service I was testing (VBR, Veeam One or O365) as it’s so easy to get a community or NFR license for these products to play about with them.
Veeam are one of the few vendors that focus on the deployment and support workflows when writing their helpcenter documentation, meaning you could follow it and at the end of the document, have a fully working solution, a great place for beginners to get their first environments set up!
VMware: To start learning a new technology I recommend the VMware Hands-On Labs, then if you want to start testing in your own environment, you can access trial licenses via VMware’s website or if you subscribe to the VMUG advantage you can get 365 day NFR licenses for nearly all of their products! VMware offer some basic training for free and have multiple technical resources split out depending on what you need such as: VMware Core, VMware Docs and many different blogs, my favourite of their blogs is their “VROOM!” Blog. When you’re learning how to architect solutions for the first time, it’s handy to know what design considerations will accelerate the workload best, it can help you learn of settings you didn’t even know existed!
Now this list is by no means exhaustive but how about you? What do you rely on as we tackle the ever changing world of technology?
), vulgarization of IT. One subject per video less than 10 mins.
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