The 2013 $350 ryanbirk.com vBook Giveaway

I’ve decided to give back to the virtualization community over the next few months. I am announcing today that I will run a book giveaway on my blog. It’s run by me, I’ve got no sponsors, nor is it connected to my employer. I’m just a guy giving away a few books. I’ve picked up a good amount through reading (and playing in the labs) over the years and the best way to learn was to set stuff on fire and figure it out. Reading and lab time will help everyone become a better sysadmin and avoid the RGEs (Resume Generating Events).

I’ll give you a few options to enter, either by tweeting or posting a comment on the blog. The winners will be chosen randomly, and I’ll drop the books in the mail. Multiple entries will be accepted. Tweeting the blog post will count for more “points” than a blog comment. Simple as that.

The books below are on the list of books I’ll be giving away. (Physical copies, not Kindle copies.) They’re a mix of books for people just starting out with VMware, and a few for some seasoned vets. I will be doing one book at a time. Each giveaway will run for a period of two weeks and the winner will be selected. I will mail books at the end of each month.

The first book will be selected randomly from the list below and posted on Wednesday next week and run from 2/6 – 2/20.

Right now, here’s the book list:

• Mastering vSphere 5
• VMware vSphere 5.1 Clustering Deepdive
• VMware vSphere PowerCLI Reference
• Managing and Optimizing vSphere Deployments
• Administering VMware Site Recovery Manager, 2/21/2013 – 3/6/2013
• The Official VCP5 Certification Guide, 2/6/2013 – 2/20/2013
• Critical VMware Miskates You Should Avoid
• Automating vSphere with VMware vCenter Orchestrator

Restrictions:

• You must live in the United States or if you live internationally, be willing to pay any shipping costs over $10USD since this is coming out of my own pocket.
• If you already own the book, don’t try to win a book you’ve already got!
• Actually read the book, and not let it collect dust on your shelf next to your MCSE NT 4 books.