I want to get VMware certified now - what / how / etc...

Discussion in 'VMware Certifications' started by Mikeyboy, Sep 24, 2012.

  1. Mikeyboy

    Mikeyboy Kilobyte Poster

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    Hi All...

    between one thing and another, haven't started studying this year since I got my MCSA in February or whenver it was.. I definitely want to start working towards a VMware cert, done plenty of MS ones now, not sure what MS ones I would do next, maybe upgrade my MCSA to 2008 but I might leave that for a bit...

    SO... questions:
    whats the deal with VMware certs? If I just want to do one to get one under my belt, so to speak, is the VCP (currently) the one to go for? Been looking over some other posts and I know I need to go on the (quite expensive) VMware course as well as sitting the exam, currently cheapest I have seen is the 360gsp one? £1100 if I book at the right time?
    What exam should I go for? The one I have seen mentioned seems to be VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V5.0] - will there be one now to cover 5.1 or is the 5.0 still valid?
    What study materials are good to prepare for the exam? I have the Mastering VMware vSphere 5 book, but obviously thats a guide for using vSphere, not preparing for the exam. I always used the MS press books, alongside my home labs, to prepare for all my previous exams, and has worked quite well for me so far. So what can I get to prepare in the same way for the exams?

    I would consider myself quite good with vmware, I have had labs with ESX 4.x and ESXi 5.x, and work with it quite a lot as well, but I know that doesn't mean I can go and pass an exam on it, so I like to prepare well...

    Welcome all advice from any VMware CF'ers!!

    :p
     
    Certifications: VCP,MCSA, MCP, MCDST, MCITP, MCTS, A+, N+
  2. SirInsomniac

    SirInsomniac Bit Poster

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    Hi Mikeyboy,
    Before I answer, I'll put into context my response. I've spent the last 10 years in the IT industry and have been working closely with VMware for the last 4 of those, so have a good understanding of the VMware training plan. When choosing your VMware training, I'd recommend starting off with the VTSP...it's free, more technical than sales and is a good starting point. Follow this up with VCP 5 and you'll be covered...from what I've understood about 5.1 the differences on a technical level are primarily aimed at the small business <50 VM's deployments so you'll have no issue learning those..the VMware training course is pricey but you get what you pay for...the best way to leverage this is to build yourself a small VM lab at home, and source a copy of vCenter....If you're going to do VMware, I'd strongly suggest doing a storage course too...or at least watch a few Youtube videos...easiest ones are EqualLogic and EMC VNXe....but I'll leave that upto you.

    Hope this helps.
    :unsure
     
    Certifications: VSP, CCSP, MCSP
    WIP: CompTIA Networking+, CCNA, MCITP, VTSP
  3. SimonD
    Honorary Member

    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    Of course you could just look at my thread http://www.certforums.com/forums/vm...ed-professional-exam-course-requirements.html which gives you the course requirements.

    As far as exams go, it's the VCP 5 exam rather than and ICM exam, as a word of warning, standard ICM courses are not enough to pass the VCP exam itself, there are additional reading requirements out there (have a look at my blog post here for the advice I gave for taking the VCP 4 exam, obviously the books and the white papers need to be updated to reflect the VCP 5 but essentially that's what was required on top of the ICM course I did).

    With regards to the 5.1 content, in the past the exam didn't differentiate between point releases, so the VCP 4 exam was the same whether it was 4.0 or 4.1, the exam didn't test you on changes to the 4.1 release and only tested you on 4.0 functions.

    As SirInsomniac advised taking the VTSP is a good way of getting some additional knowledge but you will need to sign up as a VMware Partner to access the training.
     
    Certifications: CNA | CNE | CCNA | MCP | MCP+I | MCSE NT4 | MCSA 2003 | Security+ | MCSA:S 2003 | MCSE:S 2003 | MCTS:SCCM 2007 | MCTS:Win 7 | MCITP:EDA7 | MCITP:SA | MCITP:EA | MCTS:Hyper-V | VCP 4 | ITIL v3 Foundation | VCP 5 DCV | VCP 5 Cloud | VCP6 NV | VCP6 DCV | VCAP 5.5 DCA
  4. Beerbaron

    Beerbaron Megabyte Poster

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    VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V5.0] is the course, VCP5-DV is the exam. The course only covers 60% of what's on the exam.
     
    Certifications: BSc (Hons), MSc, ITIL v3F, MCP, MCDST, MCITP: edst7, MCTS, MCSA: Server 2003, MCSA: Windows 7, N+, NVQ IT lvl 3, MCSA Windows 7, VCP5, CCENT, CEH
    WIP: CISSP
  5. ade1982

    ade1982 Megabyte Poster

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    If you are near Cardiff, I can recommend e-Academy just off East Moors Road. Not done the VMWare, but the feedback was good amongst the people having lunch, the guy teaching it seemed to know what he was talking about too.
     

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