latoga’s Guide to My VMware

1. Say Hello to My VMware (Portal)
2. My VMware Quick Overview
3. My VMware Users and Roles
4. My VMware for Most of Us
5. My VMware for the Super Us(er)
6. Some My VMware Gotchas To Be Aware Of

I anticipate most users of My VMware will be focused on a few key tasks like:

• Working with License Keys
• Managing Support Cases
• Downloading software

Working with License Keys

I image most people outside of the Procurement Contact will need to work with License Keys in some form or fashion.  In general, license keys haven’t changed from the old licensing portal.  You’ll see a collection of license keys for each VMware product that you own. Any notes that were entered in the license keys will still be there in My VMware.

The big change in My VMware is the ability to organize license keys into folders.  Everyone has a default “Home” Folder and, if you were a PLA or SLA, a folder with their full name in which all your license keys were deposited. You will now have the ability to organize these keys in a way that makes sense for your organization.  I can forsee this being broken down by Business Unit or Group Name and then possible further by physical location the licenses are deployed (see below screen shot with mocked up example).

In the end, it’s up to each user or team to come up with a logical organization system that works for them.  Create folders, name them, re-name them, nest them…it’s up to you.

A few Licenses Key items to note:

• When another user grants you access to a license key, they create a folder and placing that license key into that folder. You are granted access at the folder level.  So once that happens, you’ll see this new folder appear within your Home folder.  Most of the time users receiving licenses may not have the ability to move or rename this folder (it depends on the permissions the granting user gives you).
• A larger organization may eventually have the Super User define a folder organization structure for them to optimally manage the license keys for the enterprise.  This may cause other user’s folders to change.

Managing Support Cases

If you need to open a new Support Case or check on the status of an existing Support Case, you can do it all under the “Support” menu of My VMware.

Users will have the ability to see all support cases they have ever opened with VMware Support and search thru the history.  Once nice feature is the ability to search your Support History for specific or all Accounts you have access to (Super Users have additional visibility and can see all Support Cases for all Accounts they are Super User for)

Downloading software

My VMware also provides links to allow you to download software quickly from within the Portal.  Evaluations, betas, trials, appliances, product downloads, they are all just one click away under the “Product and Downloads” menu of the portal.  Most of these will link you to the download locations that you are already familiar with.

Full Details in the Knowledge Base:

• My VMware Product Licensing or Account Support Resources
• Viewing and updating Support Requests in My VMware
• My Download History in My VMware
• My Evaluations in My VMware

latoga’s Guide to My VMware

1. Say Hello to My VMware (Portal)
2. My VMware Quick Overview
3. My VMware Users and Roles
4. My VMware for Most of Us
5. My VMware for the Super Us(er)
6. Some My VMware Gotchas To Be Aware Of

My VMware has only two officially Roles for users (and one default role, user).  Everyone is a user.  Then there is one Procurement User and one Super User.  All the roles associated with the old VMware license portal are gone (i.e., PLA, SLA, SA, RU).

• Super User: A Super User can manage license keys and users on behalf of an account, manage account user permissions, and add or remove users. There can be only one Super User for each account, but the same person may serve as Super User for multiple accounts.
• Procurement Contact: A Procurement Contact is the primary contact for the account, on behalf of the customer organization, for ordering, renewing, and quoting transactions. Although their primary responsibilities can be procurement tasks, the Procurement Contact can also manage license keys and support on behalf of a specific account, and manage account user permissions. There can be only one Procurement Contact for each account, but the same person may serve as Procurement Contact for multiple accounts.

For most companies, the Super User and Procurement Contact may be the same person.  The Super User can change who the Super User and Procurement Contact is at any time from the “Account Summary” screen.

Here is a quick overview of how the old roles from the VMware License portal will migrate to roles within My VMware:

• PLAs become the Super User and Procurement Contact.  If more than one PLA is associated with the account, the last PLA who submitted an order becomes the Super User and Procurement Contact. For large enterprises this could be over ruled as part of the account consolidation (see below), in which case the old PLA will have full access to the folder containing the keys for your Orders.
• SLAs becomes a user with full access to the folders containing the orders you were made SLA for.
• SAs will be granted the ability to open Support Requests on the folders containing the orders you were made SA for.

As part of the My VMware launch, there was also a consolidation of account records within the VMware Orders/Contracts system.  Over the years a single company may have had multiple people (say from different Business Units) buy licenses from VMware.  Each order could have created a separate record in the VMware systems.  My VMware worked to consolidate all these record under the Super User (with some exceptions for larger customers).  As a result, the Super User will be able to see all orders, support contracts, license keys, and Support Requests within their organization. If you were the person who purchased a VMware Product for your team in the past, you will still have the same access to that order and license keys as before.  But the Super User for your company (assuming it’s not you) will also see it.

Full Details in the Knowledge Base:

• Roles in My VMware
• Users and Permissions in My VMware
• Super Users and Procurement Contacts in My VMware
• My VMware Super User Service

latoga’s Guide to My VMware

1. Say Hello to My VMware (Portal)
2. My VMware Quick Overview
3. My VMware Users and Roles
4. My VMware for Most of Us
5. My VMware for the Super Us(er)
6. Some My VMware Gotchas To Be Aware Of

This past weekend VMware launched an exciting new customer portal called My VMware.  If you have ever gone to the VMware website to:

• Manage license keys
• Open a Support Request
• Download an eval or beta
• Manage a Support Contract or Order

Then the information below will apply to you as you’ll be working with the My VMware portal moving forward.

What is My VMware?

VMware listened to customers’ requests for easier navigation and a consolidated view of your license keys and support. As a result, we integrated many of the functions that used to be spread across multiple portals to provide a centralized view of the information you need within My VMware.  Your primary online activities will be faster, easier and more accessible, saving you time and effort.

Is the Web the Only Way to use My VMware?

Absolutely Not!  My VMware is not only a web portal.  The team also created the My VMware App for IOS available for both the iPhone and iPad and the My VMware App for Android. See My VMware Mobile App FAQ  and My VMware Mobile App Help Articles for more details.

I’m a Manager, Why Should I Care about My VMware?

My VMware provides unified access to all information about VMware product orders and support contracts that you have ever purchased. As a manager who may be in charge of multiple projects and teams, My VMware gives you the ability to better organize all your VMware Entitlements with customized folders and provides you fine grain control over what access members of your team have to these entitlements.

I’m a VMware Architect/Admin, Why Should I Care about My VMware?

My VMware gives you one stop access to manage your license keys as well as a centralized location where you can open and review any of your VMware Support Requests.  From the portal you are also just one click away from software downloads, the Suport Knowledge Base, and many other commonly used resources from VMware. As you expand your environment or stand up new environments your newly purchased software license keys will also be deposited into your account.

I’m a Contracts/Procurement Person, Why Should I Care about My VMware?

My VMware enables you to see all VMware Orders and Support Contracts across your organization in one place.  If your responsibilities include high level management of the distribution of software licenses keys (like under an ELA), My VMware will allow you to provide license keys to business unit or group managers as well as organize these keys in a way that can mirror your organization.

What’s the Biggest Gotcha with My VMware?

While the portal was designed to be easy to use, the one thing that I can foresee creating a little confusion is the potential for a user to have access to multiple Entitlement Accounts.  In general an account should correlate to your company and most users should only have one account.  However, it is possible for one company to end up with multiple accounts with various orders spread across these accounts.  My VMware is designed to allow you to work with the orders and entitlements from one account at a time.  If you’re looking for something that you know you own but don’t see it, check that you don’t have access to another Entitlement Account with your login.  It is possible for the Super User to contact VMware Support to request that two accounts are combined into one.

What’s the Future of My VMware?

You tell Us!

My VMware was built based on customer feedback.  Make sure you let the VMware team know what you think by using the “Feedback” link at the bottom of any screen within My VMware.  You can aslo let your VMware account team and the VMware support team know what else you need from My VMware.