VCDX announced - Advanced Certification for VMware Infrastructure Design

Posted on May 8th, 2008 in vcdx, vcp, vmware by Rich

In the May 2008 edition of the VMware Partners email newsletter I received this week there is news of the official availability of the VMware Certified Design Expert certification or VCDX. From the email:

Advanced Certification for VMware Infrastructure Design
The VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) is an advanced certification developed for design architects of VMware enterprise deployments. There are four core validation components for achieving this certification.

  1. Must be certified as a VMware Certified Professional (VCP) on VMware Infrastructure 3
  2. Pass the VMware Enterprise Exam. This exam includes live lab items and will test a higher level of skill set than the VCP exam. Check out the blueprint for this exam.
  3. Pass the VMware Design Exam. This exam focuses on actual design and contains and situational questions
  4. Submit, present and defend a successful VMware Infrastructure design plan

The first exam required will be available

VCP annual salary compared to other certifications

Posted on April 28th, 2008 in blogs, vcp by Rich

VMware Certified Professionals command higher salaries, report shows is SearchServerVirtualization.com blog written by Joe Foran that explores the value of the VCP certification. Joe uses indeed.com to create a graph that compares the average annual salary of today’s popular technical certifications to demonstrate that, as Joe puts it, “the VCP is as hot as ever”. I figured if Joe can do it I can do it too, so I used indeed.com to recreate basically the same salary comparison table for this post.

VCP 3.5 Exam study materials

Posted on April 15th, 2008 in vcp, vmetc.com by Rich

For those that are preparing to take the VCP Exam, be aware that questions on ESX 3.5 and VC 2.5 started appearing on the test as of March 1, 2008. So, what study material is available to prepare for the new exam? I’ll summarize what sources I recommend in this post. Please leave a comment if you know of others.

VCP 3.5 Certification

Posted on January 12th, 2008 in esx, esx3.5, partner, vcp, vmware by Rich

The VCP Certification test will be changing in March. The announcement can be found on VMware’s Certification page:

VCP On VMware ESX Server 3.5 and Virtual Center 2.5 available March 1st, 2008

Current holders of the VCP for VMware Infrastructure 3 will not be required to refresh their certification for VMware ESX Server 3.5 and VMware VirtualCenter 2.5. Candidates who have taken one of the qualifying courses for the VCP on Virtual Infrastructure 3.0 and have not taken the test are encouraged to do so as soon as possible. Beginning March 1st, 2008 questions on VMware ESX Server 3.5 and VMware Virtual Center 2.5 may appear on the exam. Candidates who have taken VMware ESX Server 3.0 and VMware Virtual Center 2.0 classes and DO NOT take the test prior to March 1st, 2008 will have the following options to learn about the new software versions:

  1. Self study and hands on experience.
  2. What’s New e-learning offerings from VMware

What’s New classes will not be required for those attempting the exam, but are recommended as an information source.

VCP Study Guide

Posted on December 15th, 2007 in esx, vcp, vmware by Rich

vcp study guide exampleLooking for a free study guide for the VCP certification? Try Rob Scmidt’s VMware VCP Study Questions - Petri.co.il forums by Daniel Petri.

The original study guide was posted in May 2006. According to the forum thread at the link above, several corrections were made since then. The latest version of the guide available for download here is as of July 2007. The screenshot in this post shows a sample question and answer.

All of the questions are in flashcard form like the screen shot.

ESX cheat sheet - vmreference.com

Posted on December 8th, 2007 in blogs, esx, how to, vcp by Rich

I stumbled upon vmreference.com the other day in a VMware Forum post and was pleasantly surprised. The site hosts the author’s “ESX3 vmreference card” document.

The document is a single source for all the most important ESX administration processes and best practices. It’s a lot of real world knowledge transfer crammed into two 8.5 x 11 pages. What grabbed my attention from the forum post was the following description: