VCP4 required vSphere course, help please

Hi All,

I am currently involved in an internship at my college working on a project for a VDI implementation. As you know the backbone to VMware VDI is vSphere.. I am going to start work this week on our vSphere and Have seriously been considering the VCP4 certification. I read that training is required in order to sit for the VCP .. It seems really expensive ... does anyone out there know of a cheaper way to get the required training for vSphere install, configure, manage course? I am a student and was wondering if that could cut back some $$.. thanks all !

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Asif Dasl

The online course at the University of California Santa Cruz Extension is the one which gets mentioned reguarly around here. Though if you are near a VMware academy you could get it even cheaper. Check out the previous thread below.

Previous Thread.

Note: vSphere 5 is due out in the second half of this year so it might be worth waiting for it to be released first.

buff3r0vrfl0w

hey thanks for the link .. I found a school 30mins from me that is considered a participant but I can't find anything on their site regarding VMware .. guess ill keep searching . thanks for the info

za3bour

One alternative you have (which I might take) is to take this

VMware Certified Associate 4 - Desktop

It doesn't require a course, only you pass the exam and you will become associate.

buff3r0vrfl0w

wow I had no idea that this new cert even existed.. looks promising .. and only $75 not bad.. are you going to take it? also are you going to attend the VMware view install , configure , etc course? its really freaking expensive on their site .. but with all the documentation and real practice I don't think its nessecary

za3bour

buff3r0vrfl0w wrote: »

wow I had no idea that this new cert even existed.. looks promising .. and only $75 not bad.. are you going to take it? also are you going to attend the VMware view install , configure , etc course? its really freaking expensive on their site .. but with all the documentation and real practice I don't think its nessecary

No courses for me, they are really expensive and I'm thinking about the cert I might do it next month. I know it's an entry level one but it's better than nothing.

buff3r0vrfl0w

yeah those courses are way expensive! .. I really am interested in the cert though.. did it just come out ? And yeah it is entry level.. but its based on VMware's VDI .. that's not so entry level.. gunna really consider it after my POC for my internship.. now I am off to do a lil R&D .. later

MentholMoose

buff3r0vrfl0w wrote: »

yeah those courses are way expensive! .. I really am interested in the cert though.. did it just come out ? And yeah it is entry level.. but its based on VMware's VDI .. that's not so entry level.. gunna really consider it after my POC for my internship.. now I am off to do a lil R&D .. later

The exam is very new, it's actually a beta version (which explains the low cost). At some point the final version of the exam will be available and the cost will go up.

rwwest7

The course is expensive but worth it IMO. Keep in mind that potential employers would hold a higher value for someone with training + a cert over someone with self study + a cert. Especially with all the ways to **** these days.

slinuxuzer

I might suggest looking into the Mcse track or ccna track before you spend money on VCP, I only suggest this because alot of the Virtualization jobs I see want someone with a strong background in systems administration or network administration, these seem be the industry accepted stepping stones that employers look for in virtualization specialists.

I am not saying you couldn't get virtualization jobs, but it will be harder and your likely to be limited in what jobs you can land, for instance you may only be able to land P2V contracts instead of full time Vsphere administrator jobs.

I am in no means trying to discourage you, virtualization is utltra neat, really hot technology that is here to stay, but I would hate for you to spend alot of time and money and then not get a good ROI, I've seen this happen alot.

The ROI is there, but you may not be able to take advantage of it before you have to renew your certs/skills.

just my .2 cents

buff3r0vrfl0w

Hey man that's cool , by all means .. I am open to all feedback.. this is what makes this forum so great.. I totally agree with you on that .. having the experience with network services , m$ AD , and other stuff will deff benefit you when you go for that vSphere admin job.. I can't agree more.. CCNA is in the near future .. but for now I'm just doing this internship and seeings what's out there .. I still do like the beta exam .. mite still try to take it after my internship.. maybe get them to pay for it too ..we'll see.. thanks for the input guys

jibbajabba

Bear in mind, you can always take the exam without the course and then whenever you got the funds, go for the course. You simply can't call you VCP at that stage but you have the "worst" bit out of the way :P

buff3r0vrfl0w

tru.. I am going to consider my options more .. thanks for all the replies

slinuxuzer

maybe get them to pay for it too ..we'll see.. thanks for the input guys

Yea, this is an awesome idea, I can't stress enough how much I believe in staying on your employer about training.

After a year of requesting it, finally in two weeks I am attending Vsphere 4.1 install, configure, manage.

The total value should be around 4,500 and thats huge when it doesn't come out of your pocket, and I firmly believe that in the next ten years in order to jump to the next level above your run of the mill systems administrator, virtualization experience is going to be an absolute MUST.

rwwest7

Never thought about it that way, but yeah you really need to know how real computers and networks run before trying to learn how virtual computers and networks run.
But if you plan on taking the course I would suggest not taking the exam before the course, doing that is just wasting money. The course is of great benefit for the exam.

jibbajabba

rwwest7 wrote: »

doing that is just wasting money. The course is of great benefit for the exam.

Depends really .. sometimes someone is ready to take the exam but just doesn't have the cash to take the course but also wants to get it over with

Plus I can imagine you sit the course with a whole different attitude if you know you don't have the pressure in passing - you can just sit there and enjoy the ride

Ok, granted - that probably only applies if the person who pays for the course is your manager -as it was in my case

hectorjhrdz

In deed you can't take the exam without attending the course.

if you wanna be a VCP you gotta attend the course, know about networking (lil' bit), know about Storage (very important) and build a home lab in order to get some practice and obviously pass the exam.:).

vmware suddenly offers 100% discount vouchers but only for channel partners.

Good luck with it.

HH

slinuxuzer

bufferoverflow, what type of storage is your Vsphere environment running on?

I am using netapp at my site, and netapp makes a simulator similar to cisco's packet tracer, that is pretty good.

It's really hard to wrap your mind around actually setting it up without the physical hardware to look at, but I found some uses for it.

Also, I think HP makes a simulator for it's EVA storage line, but never worked with them or their simulators.

jibbajabba

hectorjhrdz wrote: »

In deed you can't take the exam without attending the course.

if you wanna be a VCP you gotta attend the course, know about networking (lil' bit), know about Storage (very important) and build a home lab in order to get some practice and obviously pass the exam.:).

vmware suddenly offers 100% discount vouchers but only for channel partners.

Good luck with it.

HH

My point is, you can take it, but you won't get any "benefits" and you aren't allowed to call yourself VCP - all you are is a dude with a passed exam of some sort

buff3r0vrfl0w

@slinuxuzer

Sorry for the late response.. been a busy week. I haven't actually got into the setting up stages of our vSphere but I believe we will probably start with local storage then once were comfortable , mite move them over to an iscsi SAN.. still got to do a lil more research on the storage types but this is just a POC so idk if it will be necessary .. yet I still wanna learn and actually set it up.