Joining the vClub - passed VCP410
ChooseLife
Member Posts: 941 ■■■■■■■□□□
Finally, after a prolonged preparation, I took at a shot at and passed VCP410. It feels good, mainly because I started getting burnt out towards the end. I began the preparation in the spring, but had to take time off in the summer due to family commitments and ended up re-studying in the fall...
With vSphere 5 out, VCP4 is "so yesterday" in our high-paced technology world, but I'll share my comments anyway, in the hopes that they will help fellow TE'ers...
Official course
To fulfill the requirement I took the UCSC Extensions online course. They are now offering one on vSphere 5, and I would certainly recommend this type of a course over the standard 5-day track. In case you are not familiar, it is offered in an online, 3-month format by University of California Santa Cruz Extensions, and is accepted by VMware to fulfill the requirement.
The course was okay. I have always been a proponent of self-study, so if it was not a requirement for VCP, I'd never take it. Three things I personally gained from the course:
- well-rounded/structured knowledge of vSphere, with gaps filled
- 3-month access to the lab - this in itself may be the reason to take this longer class and prepare for VCP, if you don't want to build a lab yourself
- familiarity with ALL areas of vCenter/vSphere interface afer finishing all official labs
Study materials
This is one exam where hands-on practice is strongly recommended. Multiple times during testing I had to close eyes and click through the imaginary interface, looking for the right answer.
While preparing, I mostly relied on the previous work experience, but used the class lab to practice a few things I never worked with before, like Distributed Switches and DRS/HA. Also built a 3-node + OpenFiler home lab to play with vStorage stuff, and just to have a system to check random settings on.
Exam
IMO, the exam is well-balanced in terms of both question difficulty and diversity. To give you an idea, I answered ~40% based on real-life experience, another ~40% based on whitepapers, and found last ~20% ambiguous, with either too few/too many answers that seemed correct, or unable to understand what authors of the question were trying to ask.
Random tips
Besides those listed under study materials, the single most valuable resource for me was the Simon Long's page:
VCP4 vSphere Study Notes - The SLOG – SimonLong/Blog
If you get through all material linked on that page and understand it all, you should pass the exam.
All in all, obtaining VCP4 was a great experience... It rounded up and put a structure to my knowledge of vSphere. Also, after reading hundreds of pages of documentation and studying hard, I now have more respect for the exam and those holding the certification (and even more so, the higher ones).
With vSphere 5 out, VCP4 is "so yesterday" in our high-paced technology world, but I'll share my comments anyway, in the hopes that they will help fellow TE'ers...
Official course
To fulfill the requirement I took the UCSC Extensions online course. They are now offering one on vSphere 5, and I would certainly recommend this type of a course over the standard 5-day track. In case you are not familiar, it is offered in an online, 3-month format by University of California Santa Cruz Extensions, and is accepted by VMware to fulfill the requirement.
The course was okay. I have always been a proponent of self-study, so if it was not a requirement for VCP, I'd never take it. Three things I personally gained from the course:
- well-rounded/structured knowledge of vSphere, with gaps filled
- 3-month access to the lab - this in itself may be the reason to take this longer class and prepare for VCP, if you don't want to build a lab yourself
- familiarity with ALL areas of vCenter/vSphere interface afer finishing all official labs
Study materials
- Official ICM courseware - pretty basic, does not help much for VCP, but shows a few things that are apparently "VMware way of doing things", like specific performance counters VMware seems to like. Don't bother (except for getting through the official course).
- Mastering VMware vSphere 4 by Scott Lowe. A great book that explains technology very well. Recommended for gaining solid understanding of the products, but if you want to pass the exam, it needs to be complemented by whitepapers.
- Official VMware whitepapers. Excellent resource, well-written documentation that goes into deep technical details and yet is easy to understand - I actually enjoyed reading them. Must read for VCP.
This is one exam where hands-on practice is strongly recommended. Multiple times during testing I had to close eyes and click through the imaginary interface, looking for the right answer.
While preparing, I mostly relied on the previous work experience, but used the class lab to practice a few things I never worked with before, like Distributed Switches and DRS/HA. Also built a 3-node + OpenFiler home lab to play with vStorage stuff, and just to have a system to check random settings on.
Exam
IMO, the exam is well-balanced in terms of both question difficulty and diversity. To give you an idea, I answered ~40% based on real-life experience, another ~40% based on whitepapers, and found last ~20% ambiguous, with either too few/too many answers that seemed correct, or unable to understand what authors of the question were trying to ask.
Random tips
- Identify your weak areas and eliminate them by reading corresponding documentation and/or practicing. For example, FC SAN is something I have almost zero experience with, so to fill this gap I read a 94-page whitepaper cover to cover and it paid off on the exam.
- If you don't have good memory for numbers (maximums, minimal requirements), study them in advance, but go over them again minutes before the exam - short-term memory can save the day in this case.
Besides those listed under study materials, the single most valuable resource for me was the Simon Long's page:
VCP4 vSphere Study Notes - The SLOG – SimonLong/Blog
If you get through all material linked on that page and understand it all, you should pass the exam.
All in all, obtaining VCP4 was a great experience... It rounded up and put a structure to my knowledge of vSphere. Also, after reading hundreds of pages of documentation and studying hard, I now have more respect for the exam and those holding the certification (and even more so, the higher ones).
“You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.” (c) xkcd #896
GetCertified4Less - discounted vouchers for certs
GetCertified4Less - discounted vouchers for certs
Comments
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dave330i
Member Posts: 2,091 ■■■■■■■■■■
Congrats! Now you have until end of Feb 2012 to pass VCP5 w/out taking a class.2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman -
ChooseLife
Member Posts: 941 ■■■■■■■□□□
Thanks guys!
Yep... I came back from the exam and started reviewing VCP5 on the same day... I will study vSphere 5 cause it's needed for work, but haven't decided if I want to go for the exam yet... are you planning to upgrade your VCP4?Now you have until end of Feb 2012 to pass VCP5 w/out taking a class.“You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.” (c) xkcd #896
GetCertified4Less - discounted vouchers for certs -
dave330i
Member Posts: 2,091 ■■■■■■■■■■
ChooseLife wrote: »Yep... I came back from the exam and started reviewing VCP5 on the same day... I will study vSphere 5 cause it's needed for work, but haven't decided if I want to go for the exam yet... are you planning to upgrade your VCP4?
Started studying for it. Plan on taking the exam in Jan.2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman -
ChooseLife
Member Posts: 941 ■■■■■■■□□□
“You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.” (c) xkcd #896
GetCertified4Less - discounted vouchers for certs -
ChooseLife
Member Posts: 941 ■■■■■■■□□□
3 full weeks after taking the exam, I finally got the email confirmation from VMware that I am now officially a VCP - woo-hoo! “You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.” (c) xkcd #896
GetCertified4Less - discounted vouchers for certs -
slinuxuzer
Member Posts: 665 ■■■■□□□□□□
ChooseLife wrote: »3 full weeks after taking the exam, I finally got the email confirmation from VMware that I am now officially a VCP - woo-hoo!
I really hate to hear that, I am 2 weeks since passing and was hoping to get my email tomorrow.
Regarding the course you took, were the labs provided through the college or were they the vmware education offical labs?
I ask because when I took the brick and mortar course at GK they had Vmware's labs and you had access to all physical equipment including the DRAC cards for the Dell hosts. -
ChooseLife
Member Posts: 941 ■■■■■■■□□□
it was an official VMware course, we followed the lab manual produced by VMware. No access to physical equipment though, only ESX/ESXi and vCenter.slinuxuzer wrote: »Regarding the course you took, were the labs provided through the college or were they the vmware education offical labs?
I ask because when I took the brick and mortar course at GK they had Vmware's labs and you had access to all physical equipment including the DRAC cards for the Dell hosts.“You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.” (c) xkcd #896
GetCertified4Less - discounted vouchers for certs -
jamesp1983
Member Posts: 2,475 ■■■■□□□□□□
Great work! Congrats! Excellent write up."Check both the destination and return path when a route fails." "Switches create a network. Routers connect networks."
