E20-522 Fail
blargoe
Member Posts: 4,174 ■■■■■■■■■□
I failed my first test in 21 (I think) attempts when I sat this one yesterday for the EMCSA - CLARiiON Solutions.
This was one of those test where I think day to day experience is not enough for most people, unless your experience/training is broad enough to cover every domain being covered, and most of those domains in a extensive depth. "A mile wide, an inch deep" will not cut it. I unfortunately had the opportunity to take the official training from EMC taken away from me this year and instead had one of our local partners come out during a health check and engage in a intensive knowledge transfer. It was great for my job and for planning our company's SAN strategy for the next year, but not really in line with the certification track. I got some advice from the guy to get all the latest whitepapers and manuals for the CX4 series, SnapView, MirrorView, SAN Copy, PowerPath, etc, gain some familiarity with them on our production system, and really dig into the Navisphere help (some questions were taken from material found in there).
After taking this test, I think that anyone that hasn't had the training from EMC will find the test pretty difficult, unless their experience is pretty broad across possible host platforms, previous revisions of the CLARiiON platform, and with the software used in conjunction with the CLARiiON. This test was VERY heavy on replication technology, and challenged what I thought I understood about certain things. In some ways, it didn't really test as much on the things that I thought would have been more practical and relevant to a typical storage administrator. I also found some of the questions were so ridiculously trivial that they had to be there for the sole purpose of tripping people up, questions that tested nothing practical at all.
In addition to working experience, the training from EMC, full understanding of all the CX4 line and the min/max supported of hardware components, and in depth knowledge of all the replication software is crucial IMO. Working with multiple host OS platforms is helpful; disk, storage, HBA, etc configuration and commands were tested that were not really EMC specific, but things that a storage admin would need to know.
I am extremely disappointed that I did not pass but I have to move on for now. For now, my bruised ego will have to take its wrath on the next Microsoft exam in line. I feel really sorry for that 70-237 exam, it is in for a MASSIVE BEATDOWN! I'll finish MCITP:EMA, then I have to knock out VCP4 by December 31, than I MIGHT look at this EMC test again. Next year I'll have an upgraded SAN in two locations and looking at putting a DR site in a third, I should know this stuff better by then, and since I'm spending hundreds of thousands of $$$ maybe our SE will slip me some VILT courseware...? Who knows.
This was one of those test where I think day to day experience is not enough for most people, unless your experience/training is broad enough to cover every domain being covered, and most of those domains in a extensive depth. "A mile wide, an inch deep" will not cut it. I unfortunately had the opportunity to take the official training from EMC taken away from me this year and instead had one of our local partners come out during a health check and engage in a intensive knowledge transfer. It was great for my job and for planning our company's SAN strategy for the next year, but not really in line with the certification track. I got some advice from the guy to get all the latest whitepapers and manuals for the CX4 series, SnapView, MirrorView, SAN Copy, PowerPath, etc, gain some familiarity with them on our production system, and really dig into the Navisphere help (some questions were taken from material found in there).
After taking this test, I think that anyone that hasn't had the training from EMC will find the test pretty difficult, unless their experience is pretty broad across possible host platforms, previous revisions of the CLARiiON platform, and with the software used in conjunction with the CLARiiON. This test was VERY heavy on replication technology, and challenged what I thought I understood about certain things. In some ways, it didn't really test as much on the things that I thought would have been more practical and relevant to a typical storage administrator. I also found some of the questions were so ridiculously trivial that they had to be there for the sole purpose of tripping people up, questions that tested nothing practical at all.
In addition to working experience, the training from EMC, full understanding of all the CX4 line and the min/max supported of hardware components, and in depth knowledge of all the replication software is crucial IMO. Working with multiple host OS platforms is helpful; disk, storage, HBA, etc configuration and commands were tested that were not really EMC specific, but things that a storage admin would need to know.
I am extremely disappointed that I did not pass but I have to move on for now. For now, my bruised ego will have to take its wrath on the next Microsoft exam in line. I feel really sorry for that 70-237 exam, it is in for a MASSIVE BEATDOWN! I'll finish MCITP:EMA, then I have to knock out VCP4 by December 31, than I MIGHT look at this EMC test again. Next year I'll have an upgraded SAN in two locations and looking at putting a DR site in a third, I should know this stuff better by then, and since I'm spending hundreds of thousands of $$$ maybe our SE will slip me some VILT courseware...? Who knows.
IT guy since 12/00
Recent: 11/2019 - RHCSA (RHEL 7); 2/2019 - Updated VCP to 6.5 (just a few days before VMware discontinued the re-cert policy...)
Working on: RHCE/Ansible
Future: Probably continued Red Hat Immersion, Possibly VCAP Design, or maybe a completely different path. Depends on job demands...
Recent: 11/2019 - RHCSA (RHEL 7); 2/2019 - Updated VCP to 6.5 (just a few days before VMware discontinued the re-cert policy...)
Working on: RHCE/Ansible
Future: Probably continued Red Hat Immersion, Possibly VCAP Design, or maybe a completely different path. Depends on job demands...
Comments
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Claymoore
Member Posts: 1,637
Sorry to hear that, but please don't take your frustration out on the 237 - it's too weak to fight back. Save if for the 238 which should be a more satisfying fight.
In this economic climate, you should be able to get free training credits from EMC if you even agree to meet with them about a new SAN let alone buy one. I used their training credits to get courses for the EMCPA and those definitely helped.
Good luck next year with the EMCSA. I was thinking about an SA in either NAS or SAN, but now that I don't work with a SAN anymore I think the PA is as far as I will go. -
Turgon
Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
I failed my first test in 21 (I think) attempts when I sat this one yesterday for the EMCSA - CLARiiON Solutions.
This was one of those test where I think day to day experience is not enough for most people, unless your experience/training is broad enough to cover every domain being covered, and most of those domains in a extensive depth. "A mile wide, an inch deep" will not cut it. I unfortunately had the opportunity to take the official training from EMC taken away from me this year and instead had one of our local partners come out during a health check and engage in a intensive knowledge transfer. It was great for my job and for planning our company's SAN strategy for the next year, but not really in line with the certification track. I got some advice from the guy to get all the latest whitepapers and manuals for the CX4 series, SnapView, MirrorView, SAN Copy, PowerPath, etc, gain some familiarity with them on our production system, and really dig into the Navisphere help (some questions were taken from material found in there).
After taking this test, I think that anyone that hasn't had the training from EMC will find the test pretty difficult, unless their experience is pretty broad across possible host platforms, previous revisions of the CLARiiON platform, and with the software used in conjunction with the CLARiiON. This test was VERY heavy on replication technology, and challenged what I thought I understood about certain things. In some ways, it didn't really test as much on the things that I thought would have been more practical and relevant to a typical storage administrator. I also found some of the questions were so ridiculously trivial that they had to be there for the sole purpose of tripping people up, questions that tested nothing practical at all.
In addition to working experience, the training from EMC, full understanding of all the CX4 line and the min/max supported of hardware components, and in depth knowledge of all the replication software is crucial IMO. Working with multiple host OS platforms is helpful; disk, storage, HBA, etc configuration and commands were tested that were not really EMC specific, but things that a storage admin would need to know.
I am extremely disappointed that I did not pass but I have to move on for now. For now, my bruised ego will have to take its wrath on the next Microsoft exam in line. I feel really sorry for that 70-237 exam, it is in for a MASSIVE BEATDOWN! I'll finish MCITP:EMA, then I have to knock out VCP4 by December 31, than I MIGHT look at this EMC test again. Next year I'll have an upgraded SAN in two locations and looking at putting a DR site in a third, I should know this stuff better by then, and since I'm spending hundreds of thousands of $$$ maybe our SE will slip me some VILT courseware...? Who knows.
Nevermind. Some of these vendor tests really do require candidates to sit the classroom training before a pass is realistic. ASE and Checkpoint spring to mind. Novell wasn't a breeze without the class materials or Novell training kits either. -
dynamik
Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
Failing stings, no matter what your track record is. Actually, I think it's worse if you have a long history of success
My VCP exam is the only exam I ever failed. I meant to reschedule it because I was far from ready, but I forgot to. I figured I'd give it a shot, and I missed it by about two questions. All things considered, I really shouldn't have felt bad, but it still irks me to this day.
Oh, well. I know saying this doesn't matter, but don't worry about it. We all still think you're uber l33t anyway