I can’t believe it’s that time of year again. VMware has opened up the public voting for the VMworld 2014 sessions, from now until May 18th at midnight.

This year’s event, however, is different for me. I have co-submitted two session proposals in the application track! I have a very strong focus with my livelihood in the SQL Server virtualization space. The material that I present is often missing from virtualization conferences, as they are focused on the infrastructure underneath the application rather than the application and how it relates to the infrastructure.

Here are the sessions that I have submitted.

#1436 – VCP vs. DBA Smackdown! Can’t we all just get along?

Speakers: Tim Lenz, Technical Support Engineer, VMware, and myself

Abstract: The business-critical database is the last holdout to complete enterprise virtualization, and the DBA is amongst the most resistant person to virtualization in an organization. Either they are suspect of you virtualizing their databases, or always blame virtualization for every little performance hiccup that they run across. How can you, the VMware administrator, learn how to appease the DBA and stay out of their crosshairs, all while successfully virtualizing their database servers and completing the virtualization journey? This ‘lively’ session will discuss ways to work together and speak their language – while keeping the conversations pleasant – so that everyone can do their part for the business. You’ll also learn tips and tricks along the way that will help ensure you are successful in virtualizing their database servers.

#1437 – Successfully Virtualizing Oracle and SQL Server

Speakers: Marlin McNeil, Managing Partner, Yucca Group, and myself

Abstract: The business-critical database platform is the one of the toughest systems to virtualize because of the massive resource requirements and stubborn database administrators. How can you break their wall of resistance and start the conversation about virtualizing the few remaining physical systems? Can you pull it off once they listen? Come to this tip and trick-filled session where we give you all the valuable details you need to successfully virtualize some of the most intensive systems in your organization. Database platform-specific nuances and topics about both SQL Server and Oracle DBMS systems will be covered, and tips for approaching the data groups will be shared. Successfully break through to the data side and successfully virtualize everything in your environment!

We have a tremendous amount of great sessions submitted to VMworld this year. Here are a few that caught my attention. I’d love to see these get presented as well.

#1318 – Virtualizing Databases Doing IT Right – The Sequel - with Michael Corey

#1340 – Virtualize Active Directory, The Right Way! - with Deji Akomolafe and Matt Liebowitz

#1469 – Extreme Performance Series: Monster VM Performance - with David Morse and Seongbeom Kim

#1577 – Your Virtual Machines are Too Big! - with Chris Kranz

#1677 – Making the Journey to VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) - with Josh Coen and Jonathan Kohler

#2720 – Validate Production workloads in a simulated, virtualized extended distance architecture - with Marlin McNeil

While I would greatly appreciate your vote for these sessions, I want you to vote for the sessions that mean the most to you and your interests. Vote for the sessions that you want to see and make this conference your own!

I hope I can successfully earn a speaking slot at this incredible event, and I hope that I will see you there!