Best way to crash course VCP5-DCV?

I posted this over on Reddit, but I wanted to get some thoughts from here as well...

Hello all.

I was talking to a co-worker the other day about how I need to take my DCV certification before they retire 5.5, and I pulled up the VMware Certification site only to find out it is going to be retired on March 31st, and the last day to register is March 15th.
I took the ICM course almost 3 years ago, but it wasn't required for my job, so I never got around to taking the exam. Now that it is going to be retired, I would rather not waste the time spent in the ICM class.

So I am looking for the best way to crash course the material needed to know for the exam.

I have a home lab consisting of 2xR210, a 3750, and a Cisco router I had planned to use for this purpose. I ran into some networking issues, and was working on finishing up my M.S. that I never got back to it.

I also have a desktop and laptop that I can run virtual OVAs if needed.

Thank you all for your help.

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dave330i

Mastering vSphere 5.5 and lots of labbing. Your biggest problem will be getting your hands on vSphere 5.5 install. The only way to get older install from VMware is if you're a paid customer. You could try to find it somewhere else, or install 6.x and note the differences.

Lexluethar

Mastering 5.5 if you have time to read it. Lab and pull the exam blueprint from VMwares website. Use that as a guide and know ALL (yes all) topics on that blueprint. For me i was able to go through about 60% of it and just type out stuff i already knew, it then gave me a great gauge of what i needed to focus studying on.

Tuningislife

Awesome. Thanks for the tips. I have a download of 5.5 already since I built my lab with it. I also used it at work (we recently went to 6.0), so I can always get a version from there if I really needed it. But I will pick up Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 from Amazon since it is recommended.

Does it include all the labs too? I have the blueprint downloaded already as well.

TacoRocket

I would use the Sybex book and the CBT Nuggets videos. Study those, do the transcender and just have at it.

Tuningislife wrote: »

Awesome. Thanks for the tips. I have a download of 5.5 already since I built my lab with it. I also used it at work (we recently went to 6.0), so I can always get a version from there if I really needed it. But I will pick up Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 from Amazon since it is recommended.

Does it include all the labs too? I have the blueprint downloaded already as well.

Tuningislife

Passed on 03/31, the last day it was available.

Thanks everyone.

Ended up:

Reading "Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5" by Scott Lowe;
Using MeasureUp VCP5.5 practice tests;
Created a lab with AutoLab and VMware Workstation (which failed to work properly), so instead I built it all from scratch, using Autolab as an example.

ande0255

One of the best books I read when studying was "Network for VMware Administrators" by Christopher Wahl and Steven Pantol, it is an absolute must read for working with VMware networking and is really easy to just casually read and review the concepts in a VMware lab.

Even if you don't get the certification, if you work with VMware, you should really grab a copy:

https://www.amazon.com/Networking-VMware-Administrators-Press-Technology/dp/0133511081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491196088&sr=8-1&keywords=networking+for+vmware+administrators

Can't recommend that enough for understanding everything VMware networking, I keep it on hand for my job to save my ass from time to time