Tag: VCDX

NPX – Preparation Strategy for D-Day

The NPX blueprint is quite a challenge because it requires the mastery of two hypervisors, the Nutanix XCP eco-system (including Dell OEM appliances) and the silos of Enterprise Information Technology (Compute, Network, Storage, Backup/Recovery, Security, etc.).

Once you have submitted your NPX document set, you have 60 days to get ready for your defence, with the belief that you will receive your invitation to defend on day 30.

The questions you should be asking yourself are, “How do I prepare myself for the day of the defence?” and “How do I get through this massive amount of material?”

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VCDX – Submission Breakdown

Last week I submitted my NPX document bundle to the Nutanix Platform eXpert program.  I was reflecting on how my design skills have evolved over the last three years and wondered how that translated into actual metrics.  So I went through my last four major design submissions and came up with the following figures.

Update – I have added the VCDX-CMA statistics from my joint submission with Gregg Robertson, VCDX#205, and Andrea Siviero. And my VCDX-DTM statistics for my joint submission with Wayne Conrad, NPX#13.

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VCDX – Proportion and Balance

As an Enterprise Architect, you want to produce architecture designs that are elegant and simple whilst meeting your customer’s requirements.  It is very important that each design has proportion and balance.

Consider an artist creating a painting, the artist does not churn out a perfect canvas in one sitting, but starts with a broad sketch to define the outline of the painting before filling in the details.

The same process applies here.  Get the “bare bones” on paper and then start fleshing it out.  If the big picture does not make sense, fix it before you move on, otherwise it will mean more work to correct later on.

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RapidMatter – Enterprise-Architecture-Design-as-a-Service

RapidMatter_Logo I am kick-starting a GitHub project called RapidMatter.  The live version of this GNU General Public Licence prototype will run at RapidMatter.com, which I will fund personally through the earnings of my blog VCDX133.COM.  I have been thinking about this since 2013 when I first started my VCDX journey and it is time to put it out there and make it a reality.

Mission Statement: To provide a vendor-agnostic Enterprise-Architecture-Design-as-a-Service for Infrastructure.

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VCDX – Great Logical Design

As Enterprise Architects we instinctively understand the purpose of the Conceptual Model (Requirements, Constraints and Assumptions) and the Physical Design (Vendor XYZ, Product A with setting B).  Unfortunately, the Logical Design is something most architects struggle with, because it is abstract and theoretical.  This is very common with Enterprise Architects who have been working with one vendor for a long time, because they are so used to building designs where Vendor XYZ has been preselected, that they overlook the need to provide a future possibility for other vendors.

Note: The VCDX program accepts the referencing of VMware technology in the Logical Design section, as long as the Physical Design section covers the VMware technology software version selection and justification.

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