Pre-Reqs to Learning Virtualization

Rockets34Life

Hello everyone,

My background is working mostly supporting users on the desktop side (doing help desk/desktop support/Jr. to mid-level system administration).

I have close to a year of system administration experience, but I was wondering if I needed to take any classes to be prepared for Virtualization or am I ok with the current knowledge I know and start taking the VCP class?

ehnde

I haven't done the VCP, although if you plan on taking it I envy you. It's probably going to be exciting and entertaining. However, I've used ESXi a bit.

I don't know what you should be reading, but ESXi is free (licensing for one machine + vsphere client). Throw it on a spare box and play with it a bit. If you've never seen it before you'll get more out of the VCP class if you've had some exposure to ESXi.

aordal

I personally read the "Mastering VMware Vsphere 4" book by Scott Lowe before I took my VMware class. It helped me understand what was actually going on in the class. Also, you may want to install esxi and play around with it while you are reading the book.

You can install esxi inside of vmware workstation so you don't need any fancy server hardware to install it (weird i know installing a type 1 hypervisor inside of a type 2).

Rockets34Life

But before even reading the books and working with ESXI, I was wondering if I need to know any other pre-reqs before that, like anything MCSA or MCSE related....

ehnde

For you to be able to use and understand ESXi you should have at least a basic and fairly broad grounding in server technology and networking. Based on the certs you have now you will do fine.

The gripe people have with the VCP is that you need to attend an expensive program before you qualify for the exam.