The Training You Need
Storage vendors such as EMC, IBM, Hitachi Data Systems and HP offer extensive training for users of their storage systems. HP, which is an authorized training partner of virtualization vendor VMware, has provided training to 10,000 people, says Nancy Lunger, general manager of HP Education Services.
Virtualization training classes offered by local user groups can also be useful -- and they're popular. For example, a northern Nevada chapter of the HP user group Connect hosted a storage virtualization training session in May that attracted 42 people, says Steve Davidek, a Connect board member who is also a systems administrator for the city of Sparks, Nevada. In contrast, the previous Connect meeting for that chapter drew 20 people. Similar virtualization classes around the country have also been well attended, he says.
Even though some IT organizations have been involved with various types of virtualization for a few years, storage virtualization is still a brave new world. "Nobody's an expert yet," says Davidek. "We're all still learning this as we go along."