Partner Exchange(PEX) 2014 kicked off on February 8th week end with VMware HOL(Hands on Labs) and Bootcamp. We had our first

BCA (Business Critical Application) Workshop over the week end.

It was an abridged version of the 3 day intensive "BCA Live Fire" as its known, with technical low level, deep dive. This event covers

the major BCA verticals : Java, SAP, Oracle, SQL Server, Exchange with lab exercises.

Around 25-30 participants attended both days. Since this was a partner event, we wanted it more partner driven and partner

empowering, so we left the agenda completely flexible at the partner's comfort level. We were however able to complete

the slide deck along with the lab exercises and debated discussions.

Java and SAP module featured the first day. The second day featured around Oracle & SQL.

We had a lab exercise introduced before the lunch break and the participants had an hour during lunch to think about the solutions. we had them split up into 4 groups and each group had to come up with a solution which they had to present before the audidence.

The lab exercise were focussed on VM design keeping Best Practices including vCPU, Memory Reservations, NUMA, Storage placement, SCSI controllers, Oracle Licensing , Workload management etc in mind.

We were amazed with the creativity and uniqueness of the solution each group came up with. We then discussed

each group's solution , the pros and cons.

We ended the day on a high note with Oracle HA, DR, Backup and Recovery, Migration Strategies best practises.

It took our team a month to work on the material full time for all the modules, it was a labor of love and boy,

were we vindicated:) We got the highest rating !!

We will be presenting this material during the 3 day intense BCA Livefire across the Americas, APJ, EMEA. I will be on the road

starting May onwards to cover the Oracle module along with my colleagues.

Looking forward for that.