Going for VCP5-DVC

Dionysus

It's literally been years since I've been to this site. The last time I was here was when I was going for my MCDST (which I think might be expired now).

So here's my story... A little over a year ago I was promoted to Network Technician from Desktop Analyst II. I had some Windows Server experience, but not much else to speak of. I started out managing any hardware, and general server os issues. Then I sorta fell in with our Citrix guy, and learned enough about that to be able to take over the day-to-day administration of our 3 Citrix farms. In early Febuary our Storage Engineer found another job, and left the company. All of the storage administration was handed off to the VMWare guy. He had a lot on his plate, so I started working with him a lil bit to see if I could help out with the virtual infrastructure. I had developed interest in VMWare anyway, I figured it would be a good chance to learn. He was fired 1 week later.... Later that day, I came back from lunch to find a box containing a hdd on my desk from EMC. I took it to our director and asked "hmm?". He said... "Congratulations, you're our new Storage Engineer!"

Now... I have some experience with VMWare (just enough to make me dangerous), and ZERO experience with storage. There was no hand off, no documentation, nothing.... I didn't even know where the management consoles were. I pretty much had to start from scratch. That lent itself to some interesting conversations with EMC support.

I realize the kind of opportunity I have here, and am determined to not let it go to waste. I figure since I'm stronger in VMWare, I'll go for that cert first. My employed has given me 2 IBM 3650 M3's and 1 3550 M3 to bring home for a training lab. They have bought me a CBT Nuggets subscription, and have paid for me to take the Install, Configure, and Manage course through Global Knowledge (I get a free playstation 4 out of that one ).

I think I have all the resources I need to get going, but I'm sure I'll have some stupid questions along the way. When it comes to me asking stupid questions, the folks here have always been extremely helpful. I'm looking forward to picking your brains again.

Essendon

Sounds like a great opportunity! Storage is probably the most critical component any vSphere installation, design it well and you'll be Happy Larry. Design it badly and sht will hit the fan before you realize it. To get you started with storage on your home lab, there are a few things out there that'll do the job. I've been using Starwind's iSCSI SAN for years in my home lab, works a treat and very very easy to setup and use. There are multiple threads on TE and elsewhere on the internet to get your lab going. Let us know if you need help with anything specific. EDIT: We have a Sticky thread going called "your daily VMware quiz". Check it out for some interesting questions.

Dionysus

I just downloaded EMC's Vipr. How does that compare to Starwind? Or are we talking apples and elephants here?

Essendon

More than overkill for the VCP, but you could chuck it in instead and have more fun along the way! Starwind is enough for the VCP. If you havent already, here's a nice detailed "overview" of ViPR.