Stanly Jan-Mar

bermovick

Having finished all 22 labs, I would certainly hope the actual exam is more than this

From what I hear, we also get a voucher that reduces the exam cost significantly.

GAB1900

xocity wrote: »

I understand that , I just want to make sure that If I finish this class and wait a year to take the actual exam it wont be a problem.

If I remember correctly, it is valid for about 10 months after you finish the class. I am sure others who completed the class can verify that.

kly630

I found and downloaded the voucher discount code on a vmware store link someone on the stanly moodle website. The voucher discount code took the cost of the exam voucher from $225 to about $67. Hopefully that's the right one. It was something like a 70% discount.

Edit:
Link is toward the top left of the webpage after you log into and select your class. Says "access VMware store"

smailk

Thanks for that info, Kly630.

I noticed that VMware software good for one year is also available for free. Has anyone downloaded and installed one?

zcarenow

kly630 wrote: »

I found and downloaded the voucher discount code on a vmware store link someone on the stanly moodle website. The voucher discount code took the cost of the exam voucher from $225 to about $67. Hopefully that's the right one. It was something like a 70% discount.

Edit:
Link is toward the top left of the webpage after you log into and select your class. Says "access VMware store"

Does it give you a code to save so that you can use later in the future or does it want you to pay for it now and reserve a date to take the test?

hiddenknight821

Although I haven't tried downloading/obtaining anything from the VMware Store, I see that the voucher code is not for students as you can check the eligibility status in VMware Store. So it seems we'd have to wait until after the completion of the course to get the discount codes from the instructor.

kly630

zcarenow wrote: »

Does it give you a code to save so that you can use later in the future or does it want you to pay for it now and reserve a date to take the test?

Yes, there's a download of a text file with instructions on how to buy. the discount code came in that download.

Also, when I load the store, I see the 70% voucher under the students and the faculty staff tab. The item also says it's available to students, faculty, and staff when I open it. I've literally got the exam voucher from the vmware store now at the 70% discount price, although I won't be scheduling until a few weeks out.

Edit:
And I think the voucher code might need to be updated for the latest exam too, 5.5 as I'm checking. Really think I might have gotten a discount code for the 5.1 exam looking closely at the instructions, so it's probably worth a wait until the end of the class.

confewshz

kly630 wrote: »

Yes, there's a download of a text file with instructions on how to buy. the discount code came in that download.

Also, when I load the store, I see the 70% voucher under the students and the faculty staff tab. The item also says it's available to students, faculty, and staff when I open it. I've literally got the exam voucher from the vmware store now at the 70% discount price, although I won't be scheduling until a few weeks out.

Edit:
And I think the voucher code might need to be updated for the latest exam too, 5.5 as I'm checking. Really think I might have gotten a discount code for the 5.1 exam looking closely at the instructions, so it's probably worth a wait until the end of the class.

I finished the vSphere 5.1 Stanly class in December 2014. I used the store voucher for the 5.5 exam. The voucher was for the PSE version of the VCP550, so I had to get authorized for that version, as the voucher did not work for the non-PSE version of the exam. The PSE version of the exam is the version that people take when they take a college course VMware IT Academy course. From what I understand, the PSE version of the exam is the same as the non-PSE version of the exam. The link to the VCP550PSE exam authorization is shown below:

Two Available VCP5-DCV Exams (COPY)

kly630

confewshz wrote: »

I finished the vSphere 5.1 Stanly class in December 2014. I used the store voucher for the 5.5 exam. The voucher was for the PSE version of the VCP550, so I had to get authorized for that version, as the voucher did not work for the non-PSE version of the exam. The PSE version of the exam is the version that people take when they take a college course VMware IT Academy course. From what I understand, the PSE version of the exam is the same as the non-PSE version of the exam. The link to the VCP550PSE exam authorization is shown below:

Two Available VCP5-DCV Exams (COPY)

Thanks for the info. That helps a lot in navigating getting that scheduled.

GAB1900

So far I am very disappointed of the quality of the class. Obviously it is just for the requirement that vmware has for the test. Even they tell you is not enough.... no kidding!! I got spoiled because I just went through the Cisco Academy and that's top notch training. Maybe VMware needs to hire the people who did the Cisco Academy's curriculum to design their class.

I know, I am just venting, but seriously, VMware needs to do a better job on the content for this class. I know Stanly is very economical compared to other providers, so no complaint there.

bermovick

I've kept my opinions quiet, but .... yeah.


BUT! I have a video series and Lowe's book, and I will probably buy either the Ferguson or the Atkinson book, and I have a decent server I bought just for this (well, and for my cisco labs), and with this class I have the pre-requisite so I'm not going to complain.

Essendon

GAB1900 wrote: »

So far I am very disappointed of the quality of the class. Obviously it is just for the requirement that vmware has for the test. Even they tell you is not enough.... no kidding!! I got spoiled because I just went through the Cisco Academy and that's top notch training. Maybe VMware needs to hire the people who did the Cisco Academy's curriculum to design their class.

I know, I am just venting, but seriously, VMware needs to do a better job on the content for this class. I know Stanly is very economical compared to other providers, so no complaint there.

Fair point here, I did mine from UCSC and felt the same way. Thing though is, VMware started off this training requirement with the training only offered by VMware Certified Instructors at recognized training places. Somewhere along the line they decided to let other training institutes/community colleges etc offer it too. Since these other places offer the same training for a far lesser price, the quality of the training appears to have suffered. It's not VMware that hire these people, it's the colleges that hire them. Since you cant bring a VCI in for peanuts, someone else steps up to the plate and hence quality comes down.

hiddenknight821

Agreed.

I also felt the same way about the course. This even makes me feel less enthusiastic about VMware overall. I kind of regretted signing up for it too soon since now is clearly the wrong time for me to do the cert. I also lack the necessary hardware to do the labs at home, and I couldn't afford to get new hardware due to first newborn on the way, which is mostly why I'm not too thrilled about it. I should've defer this and focus on the Linux/Redhat certs instead. Now I'm trying to muddle through Lowe's book for knowledge purpose, hoping it'd keep me motivated about vSphere.

kly630

I agree. Compared to the Lowe book, the Stanly material certainly isn't that deep. Some things Lowe mentions early on in his book are really pretty insightful, like the discussion of Xen and dom0 and how that compares to VMware or how privileged instructions get handled by VMware compared to Xen.

That's the kind of depth I was looking for. And it really feels like it's worth it to review his book after this class before the exam. And taking some practice tests too.

Essendon

@hiddenknight821 - use the VMware HOL's mate. Or give AutoLab a go, no expensive hardware is needed. I did my VCP on a $150 HP desktop, the thing didnt set the world on fire, but it helped me get the VCP.

@kyly630 - you are going to have Google stuff like that. I reckon people expect too much (me too) from this training. Just take it with a grain of salt, there are dozens of blogs and Lowe's book to fill in the yawning gaps.

zcarenow

Essendon wrote: »

@hiddenknight821 - use the VMware HOL's mate. Or give AutoLab a go, no expensive hardware is needed. I did my VCP on a $150 HP desktop, the thing didnt set the world on fire, but it helped me get the VCP.

@kyly630 - you are going to have Google stuff like that. I reckon people expect too much (me too) from this training. Just take it with a grain of salt, there are dozens of blogs and Lowe's book to fill in the yawning gaps.

agree. i knew this training would fall short of what the exam is like. that is why i'm getting to do some vmware stuff at work. i am also going to build a lab with a dell workstation that my friend gave me. i just got the lowe book. i took this course with a grain of salt.

btw, what is autolab? is that some online lab that is already setup and i can play with all the time for a monthly fee?

Essendon

AutoLab is a ready made lab you can use over and over. It has a 2008 R2 DC, a vCenter and 2 hosts (I think) running as VMs in VMPlayer. You download the whole thing and just start labbing. A TE member and a good mate of mine, kj0, has a blog article for this. It's free and uses a trial version of vCenter.

bermovick

Also depending on your desktop, you can just run everything nested within Workstation. Keith Barker does that in the CBT Nuggets video series on a workstation with 16G ram. 4G for the vsphere server, 1G for openfiler, then 2x 4G for dual ESXis. He then uses DSL for the VMs inside the ESXis for their low resource requirements.

hiddenknight821

Essendon wrote: »

@hiddenknight821 - use the VMware HOL's mate. Or give AutoLab a go, no expensive hardware is needed. I did my VCP on a $150 HP desktop, the thing didnt set the world on fire, but it helped me get the VCP.

Thanks for reminding me. I totally forgot we have access to the free one-year VMware Workstation (in various versions) via Stanly. Last time I read the AutoLab deployment guide, the whole thing was pretty foreign to me until I went through some of Stanly labs and Lowe's book. Now that I have read it again, it makes complete sense to me. I'm definitely going to try building the AutoLab this weekend as I'm typing this on my Intel Q9550 (which lacks EPT) whitebox with only 8GB of RAM. I purchased my first SSD recently which should be really helpful. I really appreciate the fact that Nick Marshall, co-author of Lowe's book over at AutoLab, mentioned he used a Core2 Duo lacking EPT, which just gave me a lot of hope.

Hardware: Used to build the lab (laptop bought in 2009)CPU: Core2 Duo
RAM: 8GB
Hard Disk: Second SATA hard disk, Laptop OS on small SSD
Operating Sytem: Windows 7 64Bit
Virtualization Software: VMware Workstation 8.0.2

As for the VMware HOL, I'm not sure if I'm missing something here but I find it to be pretty limiting. I'm assuming this is because it's in beta and/or I'm not affiliated with VMware. The only lab I can find applicable to my ICM study is this: EDU-ICM-1400 - VMware Education Services - SAMPLE - On Demand Classroom: vSphere Install, Configure, Manage 5.5 Course. Did you have more access to extra labs with more customization?

emerald_octane

I bought this machine last week when it was a few bucks cheaper:

Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 Tower Server System Intel Xeon E3-1225 v3 3.2GHz 4GB 70A4001LUX - Newegg.com

$290 bucks for a Quad Core Xeon v3, with 4 GB ram Lenovo Server that is on the vSphere compatability list (though, it won't install with the built in NIC or 4 gigs of ram). After adding 2 desktop intel NICs and 16 GB ECC RAM for around $500 it runs like a champ.

Essendon

I think Nick mentioned that when we were on vSphere 5.0. I think you need a processor that does EPT if you are going to run ESXi 5.5 in Workstation or nested. Google around and confirm this before you spend any money. As for the labs, yeah I've got a whole lot more available with my employer being one of VMware's largest customers.

Deathmage

For those of you getting a full fledged server as a host, VMUG 2015 now has a $200 365 day subscription of a Full 2 socket unlimited core ESXi 5.5 license with vCOPS and vCenter. So if your worried after your 60 day you need to blow away your lab, you won't need too....

If you have more than one host, like me, you can purchase two accounts from VMUG and the will co-exist.

Here is a link to VMUG Advantage: Clicky

zcarenow

Essendon wrote: »

AutoLab is a ready made lab you can use over and over. It has a 2008 R2 DC, a vCenter and 2 hosts (I think) running as VMs in VMPlayer. You download the whole thing and just start labbing. A TE member and a good mate of mine, kj0, has a blog article for this. It's free and uses a trial version of vCenter.

Ok. Thanks.

brownwrap

I started putting together AutoLab a couple of days ago. I have a 16 gig Toshiba I7. I am currently finishing up the last touches on it. Best to have your VMware account in place to download the required software and a fast connection. My laptop was on wireless and some of the downloads were painful.

Krusader

Started bringing up my own lab have a DC, VC server + SQL DB, 2 ESXi, all nested vitualised using VMware Workstation. Any ideas on storage was thinking off using FreeNAS and virtualise it

zcarenow

Some of you might not have all the labs for the class yet due to differences in instructors. A friend of mine told me that instructors are only supposed to be releasing modules a few at a time or else the college won't get re-imbursed by the state. Those classes where the instructor has released all the modules could run into problems later on.

Essendon

Krusader wrote: »

Started bringing up my own lab have a DC, VC server + SQL DB, 2 ESXi, all nested vitualised using VMware Workstation. Any ideas on storage was thinking off using FreeNAS and virtualise it

Starwind iSCSI SAN is probably easier to setup and manage. Runs like a charm, I've never had a problem with it in the 4 or so years I've been using it.

GAB1900

Module 6 is pretty big. Taking sometime to "get it"

hiddenknight821

Just wait until you get to Module 7, which consists of 5 labs and 5 presentations. I just finished it. Now onto the next one.

GAB1900

Slowly but I am getting it. I just don't know how some people are able to take a 5 day class and be able to digest all this. It is great that Stanly is able to spread it in an 8-week period.