Study for the VCP ? VTSP might help you.

jibbajabba

I just finished the VSP (vmware sales professional) and VTSP (vmware technical sales professional) and whereas VSP bored the hell out of me, the VTSP is VERY interesting if you pursuing the VCP.

The Technical Sales online course is a VERY good start and WILL help you to study for the VCP. For example, this course went into the details I was missing on courses such as the Trainsignal one : Distributed Switches and Update Manager, vApps and other. Each modul has also a small test and some questions are quite related to the VCP ones (don't even ask for details).

In order to sign up for these courses you must be signed up as a partner

VMware Partner Central Sign-In

If your company is not a partner yet, ask your manager to sign up for the access. This is free anyway (unless you pursue the partnership and signup for certain plans). You can sign up for yourself and "attach" your account to any other company I think as well .. Have a read .. the free VTSP course is well worth it in my opinnion (about 7 - 10 hours online) ...

stupidboy

I've been on the vSphere What's New [V4] course so I guess most stuff is covered. However, one of the guys that works for internal IT was saying that the VTSP was very interesting and has really helped his understanding of vSphere. So I've added it to myTasks and I work my way through the 7ish hours of education before I crack down on the VCP-410, thanks for the heads up.

jibbajabba

stupidboy wrote: »

I've been on the vSphere What's New [V4] course so I guess most stuff is covered. However, one of the guys that works for internal IT was saying that the VTSP was very interesting and has really helped his understanding of vSphere. So I've added it to myTasks and I work my way through the 7ish hours of education before I crack down on the VCP-410, thanks for the heads up.

I think their timing is quite wrong for the courses. VSP said 4 hours (full rather than upgrade) and it was at least 7 I think ... I don't exactly know how long the VTSP really is because I skipped most modules and went straight for the module exams but the ones I touched were really good.

JBrown

Gomjaba wrote: »

I just finished the VSP (vmware sales professional) and VTSP (vmware technical sales professional) and whereas VSP bored the hell out of me, the VTSP is VERY interesting if you pursuing the VCP.

The Technical Sales online course is a VERY good start and WILL help you to study for the VCP. For example, this course went into the details I was missing on courses such as the Trainsignal one : Distributed Switches and Update Manager, vApps and other. Each modul has also a small test and some questions are quite related to the VCP ones (don't even ask for details).

In order to sign up for these courses you must be signed up as a partner

VMware Partner Central Sign-In

If your company is not a partner yet, ask your manager to sign up for the access. This is free anyway (unless you pursue the partnership and signup for certain plans). You can sign up for yourself and "attach" your account to any other company I think as well .. Have a read .. the free VTSP course is well worth it in my opinnion (about 7 - 10 hours online) ...

Does the VMware require management level personnel to sign up for the account ? Do you have any suggestion on study materials and hardware setups for VCP cert?

pennystrader

I am currently using all of the following sources in preparation for the VCP. These are not in a particular order.

Mastering VMware vSphere by Scott Lowe
Amazon.com: Mastering VMware vSphere 4 (Computer/Tech) (9780470481387): Scott Lowe: Books

VMware vSphere Training from TrainSignal
VMware vSphere Training, VMware ESX 4.0 Training | Train Signal


What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

Practice Exam
VCP vSphere 4 Practice Exams - The SLOG – SimonLong/Blog

Configuration Maximums
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_config_max.pdf

Resource Management VCP 4.0 Blueprint
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_resource_mgmt.pdf

stupidboy

pennystrader wrote: »

I am currently using all of the following sources in preparation for the VCP. These are not in a particular order.

Mastering VMware vSphere by Scott Lowe
Amazon.com: Mastering VMware vSphere 4 (Computer/Tech) (9780470481387): Scott Lowe: Books

VMware vSphere Training from TrainSignal
VMware vSphere Training, VMware ESX 4.0 Training | Train Signal


What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

Practice Exam
VCP vSphere 4 Practice Exams - The SLOG – SimonLong/Blog

Configuration Maximums
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_config_max.pdf

Resource Management VCP 4.0 Blueprint
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_resource_mgmt.pdf

I too am studying for the VCP410 exam at the moment and have tryed reading the Scott Lowe book, however, Xmas has really been too crazy to get stuck in.

I attended the VMware vSphere What New [V4] course before Xmas but it seemed like a waste of my time, it was supposed to be for VCPs and people that know what they are talking about. The course was VERY slow going and the labs .... ah the labs got me in to a crazed frenzy (just tell me what you want me to achieve then I will do it, there is no need to write out all the steps like I am some kind of noob ....RRRRRAAAAAAARRRR).

How do you rate the TrainSignal videos? CBT Nuggets have nothing out yet so I might have to see if I can get these to aid my study.

pennystrader

Hey Stupidboy,

I am very impressed and learned quite a bit from them. They are not all you would need to study for the VCP but it is nice seeing what the new features are and the differences between esxi and esx. I am very familiar with VMware but I need to brush up on the minimums and maximums of configuration etc. That being said like CBT Nuggets they are nice because you can watch them over and repeat things you did not quite grasp the first time.if you have VM experience you will benefit more from the 2nd DVD which covers more advanced topics where the first DVD is more for people with less experience in my opinion.

JBrown

pennystrader wrote: »

I am currently using all of the following sources in preparation for the VCP. These are not in a particular order.



VMware vSphere Training from TrainSignal
VMware vSphere Training, VMware ESX 4.0 Training | Train Signal


Resource Management VCP 4.0 Blueprint
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_resource_mgmt.pdf

I just watched the sample video from TrainSignal http://www.trainsignal.com/demos/vmware_vsphere_demo.html and have a question for you. Does he scream like that the whole training duration or just for that segment ?

pennystrader

I am not sure what you mean by "scream". I think the video is well done and professional. I listened to the sample video you sent and remember it as I have seen them all and I think he is a very good teacher and the video is well made. Very nice and convenient if you miss something or find a need in the future you can go back and listen again for a refresher. I would recommend the video series if you really want to learn more about vSphere and are wanting knowledge in general (testing and otherwise).

JBrown

Just got my freshly printed copy of VMware vSphere Training, VMware ESX 4.0 Training | Train Signal along with WIndows Server 2008 R2 training DVD. And a pretty cool vNERD t shirt;))

MentholMoose

Gomjaba wrote: »

I just finished the VSP (vmware sales professional) and VTSP (vmware technical sales professional) and whereas VSP bored the hell out of me, the VTSP is VERY interesting if you pursuing the VCP.

The Technical Sales online course is a VERY good start and WILL help you to study for the VCP. For example, this course went into the details I was missing on courses such as the Trainsignal one : Distributed Switches and Update Manager, vApps and other. Each modul has also a small test and some questions are quite related to the VCP ones (don't even ask for details).

In order to sign up for these courses you must be signed up as a partner

VMware Partner Central Sign-In

If your company is not a partner yet, ask your manager to sign up for the access. This is free anyway (unless you pursue the partnership and signup for certain plans). You can sign up for yourself and "attach" your account to any other company I think as well .. Have a read .. the free VTSP course is well worth it in my opinnion (about 7 - 10 hours online) ...

Thank you for posting this. I've found the content useful, it's definitely worth the price!

Starke

I'm going for the VCP today. I did the Fast Track, read most of Scott Lowes book and used the SLog practice exams. Hopefully I'm ready.

astorrs

Starke wrote: »

I'm going for the VCP today. I did the Fast Track, read most of Scott Lowes book and used the SLog practice exams. Hopefully I'm ready.

Good luck!

TechStriker

Good luck, lets know the outcome.

Chris:/*

For those studying for VCP here is good website with lots of information: VCP4 vSphere Study Notes - The SLOG – SimonLong/Blog

It has links to all the official documentation as well.

I strongly recommend doing all the extra, free training online that VMware gives you after attending the class.

Read all the official .PDF's and keep up with the Mastering VMware series of books. Use the Mock Exam because I have yet to see any other practice tests with correct answers other than the link above.

Starke

I failed by a few questions. Honestly I was not expecting that. There were so many questions on the lesser used features. I can tell you that the Fast Track class no where near prepared me for this. I took the mock exam four times and scored in the 90s ever time and the same for the SLog exams. There was only a very small amount of configuration maximum questions. Not having the partitions down pact hurt me a bit as well. Oh well back to the books.

TechStriker

No worries, you will knock out the next time!

Chris:/*

Sorry to hear.

Anything with a number in it for configuration or settings you need to know. No single class offered prepares you for the VCP you really need a lot of preparation reading to earn it.

BTW I failed my first time getting my VCP 3 and discovered where my weaknesses were. I scheduled the next test two weeks after the failure and spent 6 hours a day after work studying for the test especially in my weak areas.

Best of luck to you.