Where should I start?

I recently self-studied and obtained my CCENT. I did this because I was a work from home IT guy for 10+ years and found myself out of a job all of a sudden and with no certifications. I recently just landed a Job in the business IT department of a Major Telecommunications company in Canada. I am currently doing various Tier 1 & 2 support for different companies.

I was told that in order to get ahead I should look at getting some sort of Virtualization certification. Have been drowned in CISCO for the last little while I am not sure where to start with this and whether or not I will be able to do any home studying or not? If anyone can shed some light on this for me or point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated!

Cheers.

Nate

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odysseyelite

Hi Nate

I would start with taking the VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage 5 class. Its required for the VCP. Check the forum for different ways of taking it.

The TrainSignal nuggets have been great and get Scott Lowe's book.

You can also setup a home lab. There are several threads about that as well.

QHalo

Is virtualization where you want to go? That's really the first question. I wouldn't want to steer you down a path that you're not ready to go down. Don't let someone steer you because it's the 'in' thing. There are several 'types' of virtualization as well. There's server, application, desktop, storage, networking, cloud computing...

If you do decide you want to go down the path then I suggest the following:

Start looking into the major flavors and decide which one intrigues you. These are the major ones:

Main Page - KVM
http://www.redhat.com/products/virtualization/
VMware Virtualization - Optimize IT Resources with Virtual Technology
Citrix Systems » Citrix XenServer: Efficient Server Virtualization Software
Datacenter | Server | Virtualization & Management | Microsoft

Once you've found one that you'd like to start looking into, come back and we can set you up properly.

nastynate604

QHalo wrote: »

Is virtualization where you want to go? That's really the first question. I wouldn't want to steer you down a path that you're not ready to go down. Don't let someone steer you because it's the 'in' thing. There are several 'types' of virtualization as well. There's server, application, desktop, storage, networking, cloud computing...

If you do decide you want to go down the path then I suggest the following:

Start looking into the major flavors and decide which one intrigues you. These are the major ones:

Main Page - KVM
Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
VMware Virtualization - Optimize IT Resources with Virtual Technology
Citrix Systems » Citrix XenServer: Efficient Server Virtualization Software
Datacenter | Server | Virtualization & Management | Microsoft

Once you've found one that you'd like to start looking into, come back and we can set you up properly.

Thanks for the responses so far. I am not looking to get into anything to do with Linux (that is just a hobby of mine) so I would definitely be interested in VMware and/or Citrix.

I guess I should add that I have 3 computers at home (1 desktop, 2 pc) all with Windows 7 installed. I haven't been able to get my hands on any Server type software.

Cheers

nastynate604

So would it be better to start off with Citrix or with VMware?

dave330i

nastynate604 wrote: »

So would it be better to start off with Citrix or with VMware?

An indeed search in my area gives 1358 hits for VMware vs. 465 for Citrix. Might be different in your area.

QHalo

nastynate604 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses so far. I am not looking to get into anything to do with Linux (that is just a hobby of mine) so I would definitely be interested in VMware and/or Citrix.

I guess I should add that I have 3 computers at home (1 desktop, 2 pc) all with Windows 7 installed. I haven't been able to get my hands on any Server type software.

Cheers

You're gonna need some CLI chops as both can still be very much configured form the CLI. I'm fairly certain that Xenserver is still very much Linux at its core.

Like dave showed you, do a quick search in your area. Stand a lab up and start reading the documentation on the vendor of choice. You can virtualize ESXi in Workstation and even in virtualbox which is free. I haven't done much with Xenserver so I can't speak much about that.

nastynate604

dave330i wrote: »

An indeed search in my area gives 1358 hits for VMware vs. 465 for Citrix. Might be different in your area.

Damn, where do you live!? I got 90 hits on vmware and only 40 on citrix..

nastynate604

QHalo wrote: »

You're gonna need some CLI chops as both can still be very much configured form the CLI. I'm fairly certain that Xenserver is still very much Linux at its core.

Like dave showed you, do a quick search in your area. Stand a lab up and start reading the documentation on the vendor of choice. You can virtualize ESXi in Workstation and even in virtualbox which is free. I haven't done much with Xenserver so I can't speak much about that.

Well it appears that VMware is more popular around here so I will most likely take that first. As far as a Lab goes.. what will I really need? Just two computers that can talk to eachother or will I neeed a more elaborate setup with routers/switches etc? What do you mean by 'virtualize' ESXi or virtualbox?

dave330i

nastynate604 wrote: »

Damn, where do you live!? I got 90 hits on vmware and only 40 on citrix..

I live and work near Washington D.C. All federal agencies are doing massive virtualization push and they chose VMware. Its a good place to live if you're VCP.

nastynate604

dave330i wrote: »

I live and work near Washington D.C. All federal agencies are doing massive virtualization push and they chose VMware. Its a good place to live if you're VCP.

Can you recommend any good books? Also.. if my main machine at home has 8GB of memory, and I wanted to say buy a 2TB external HD to put on my network to store all of my Virtual Machines, How many VMs could I run at once off of the 8Gigs? It's an i5 processor quad core, 3.3Ghz

anobomski

nate, just a thought. why did you stop with CCENT and not CCNA? are you going back to it at some point? virtualisation with network skills go hand in hand.

MrAgent

Also, VMWare is based on Linux. So youre going to have to know some Linux.

nastynate604

anobomski wrote: »

nate, just a thought. why did you stop with CCENT and not CCNA? are you going back to it at some point? virtualisation with network skills go hand in hand.

I've also got an MCSE but it is way outdated (Back in the Windows NT 4.0 days). The reason I am not pursuing my CCNA is because I only took the CCENT to get my foot in the door of a Job. I wanted a quick CERT to put on my Resume. Only took me 1 month to get that.

The Job I have now requires mostly Microsoft Certification to get ahead. I am going to switch back to the Microsoft track. I am going to focus on 2008 server, Active Directory and Virtualization for now.

nastynate604

MrAgent wrote: »

Also, VMWare is based on Linux. So youre going to have to know some Linux.

I know enough to be dangerous.

dave330i

nastynate604 wrote: »

Can you recommend any good books? Also.. if my main machine at home has 8GB of memory, and I wanted to say buy a 2TB external HD to put on my network to store all of my Virtual Machines, How many VMs could I run at once off of the 8Gigs? It's an i5 processor quad core, 3.3Ghz

Mastering VMware vSphere 5 is a great 1st book. It gives you enough info to pass VCP and little more (assuming you have a lab to practice).

As for lab, my old lab was an old Dell poweredge with 4 gig RAM and 160 gig HDD running ESXI. It was enough to run 6 win2k8 servers for MCITP certs. It could run 7 VMs, but performance suffered.

New lab is i7 with 16 gig RAM running workstation 8. I haven't played around with it enough to give a feedback.

nastynate604

dave330i wrote: »

Mastering VMware vSphere 5 is a great 1st book. It gives you enough info to pass VCP and little more (assuming you have a lab to practice).

As for lab, my old lab was an old Dell poweredge with 4 gig RAM and 160 gig HDD running ESXI. It was enough to run 6 win2k8 servers for MCITP certs. It could run 7 VMs, but performance suffered.

New lab is i7 with 16 gig RAM running workstation 8. I haven't played around with it enough to give a feedback.

Thanks Dave you rock. I will DEF look into that Book first. So does VCP encompass both the Server & Workstation side of things?

SteveLord

I am interested in learning VMWare for work (View specifically.) I too have been about the pull the trigger on the Mastering book. Not interested in certifying at this time, but would like to understand it more and maybe play around with it at work. We have VSphere 4 already....and it is just sitting there hosting 1 file/print server for now. Feel I should tap into that.