It may be April 1, but this is no joke! Big Changes Coming to the Community

[#1]

Today is notable for many reasons.  In prior years, like many, I reserve April 1st as a day where anything can and will happen.... and most of it is a practical joke.  This April first, we've decided to announce significant changes to the community site that are not a 'practical joke.'

It's time to update the site!  And this is also a time we want to hear from you, and understand what you need to be successful using your Infoblox solution. Many of you have been kind enough to send suggestions and recommendations, and we're going to ensure we fix 'that which needs fixing," and "build what needs building."

Right now we're laying the groundwork for:

• Better Search and Integration - we're bringing back "solutions" so you can easily search and find threads that have been solved! Search capabilities will also receive a much needed facelift!
• Content & Discoverability - Many of you have asked for a better organization of the content, and we're working hard to update the "how and where" you find things!
• Interface - the most noticable change will be the look and feel of the site - we'll be updating the interface.  I'll post screenshots as we get closer, and would certainly appreciate feedback!
• Features - We're making some major enhancements to the features of the site.  More to come on this, but please let us know what you need so we can incorporate your requests into the plan!
• Connections -  Later in the year, we'll be working to provide a single-sign on option, so your community and support portal login credentials will work site-wide.
• Ease of Use & Access - we want to make sure you can access everything on the site, without having to wait for additional permissions.  We're cleaning up the infrastructure so you can acccess the entire site after creating an account, and verifying your info (if you already have an account, you won't need to recreate anything).

This is a great time to be involved in the community!  Tell us what you want!  More videos?  More Viso files or scripts?  More blogs or content on a particular topic?  Let us know so we can plan and make it happen.  I'll be updating this blog + a new entry each week as we get closer to rolling out the new site.  

Looking forward!

Eric

[#2]

I look forward to seeing the new community updates.  I have provided some ideas about changes as you requested below.

Thanks!

Craig

Posts explaining recently released features/updates to products, or soon to be released features/updates if NDA is signed and on account

Posts that list top RFE's that are expected to be integrated into products, also would be interesting to lookup RFE's that you are "joined" to for your account in addition to be able to add your account to already submitted RFE's.

Ask the community about ideas that Infoblox is considering and would like feedback in regards to future, through the use of protected areas that are only available to those with appropriate non-disclosure, etc on accounts.

Provide information on NIOS update strategies that clients use, how often they update, what are the testing practices for NIOS updates, script update practices for updates, etc.

Posts that provide more real world examples of using the products

Feature stories about customers that have made use of Infoblox products in an interesting way

Posts that take a deep dive into a particularly less used or less understood part of the Infoblox products

Gather up posted information in one place and possibly re-post to provide more helpful content.  For instance much of how I have learned to use REST interface is through the community site, but the information is spread out and some posts may even be incorrect.

Is it possible through the integration of community and support web sites to provide access to the Visio Stencils without having to request it?  As a subscriber to the activity on the community site I grow weary of reading this request over and over again.

Is it possible to have easier exchange of Infoblox customer's tools/scripts?  Seems like current way is to post links on community to github, etc.

Provide training for using Infoblox products.

Provide recorded sessions for past marketing talks and demos

[#3]

Hi Craig,

Many thanks for the terrific feedback and suggestions.  in the coming weeks, I'll post more info about how we're integrating many of the items you mentioned above, and will provide early access to a select few users to help us fine-tune the upcoming site (hoping you'll be interested). 

Thanks again, and keep the suggestions coming, I need to find some more notepads!

Eric