Strategy for passing VCP5

Hi

I have been given budget approval to go on the 5 day ICM course for vSphere 5.
I have 2 years experience in using Vsphere (Daily, I support a 24\7 HA cluster with 10 hosts, >150 VMs, >50 VLANS) and 4 years general windows sysadmin\networking experience.

I'm trying to come up with a strategy to make the most of the course, this is what I have planned:
Book the course now for early December. This gives me 3 months to read some books, blogs, articles, go through the training videos, lab as much of it as I can.
When I go on the course I will already be familiar with the material, allowing me to concentrate on the bits that i'm finding tricky to understand or difficult to create in a home lab.
Then I would give myself a week of intense study after the course, then take the exam.

What do you thinkof this strategy? I need to book the course quickly before the budget manager changes their mind

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Comments

pumbaa_g

I have the same strategy in mind

I picked up the offer during VMWorld week for 50% off on exam fees and booked VCP5 on 29th November. Currently going through the Video Trainings from Trainsignal & CBT. I have pre-ordered the Mastering VSphere 5 by Scott Lowe which I should be getting in mid September for reference.
I want to do the training before the exam but still working out the cost etc as I am paying for this out of my pocket. My last exam which was Server Virtualization for Windows 2008 R2 I found my weak areas to be HA & DRS which I intend to brush up on before giving this exam.
Any pointers or tips will be welcome.

jmritenour

I can't speak for what ICM in 5 is like, but I know that ICM 4 really did nothing for me as far as preparing for VCP4. It was a 1000 foot overview of installing ESXi and vCenter, adding nodes, etc. There was very little depth to it whatsoever. It was, for a me, a necessary evil for obtaining certification, and my employer at the time paid for it and chose which course we were taking. All things being equal, I would've preferred troubleshooting or the automation course.

That said, I didn't have to take a course for 5 since I passed the VCP-510 in the grace period for those holding a VCP in vSphere 4. I do see there are far less options as far as official courses for 5, so maybe things have been consolidated a bit. Still, I wouldn't go into the training expecting it to be incredibly helpful to passing the exam - the bulk of your knowledge and preparation is going to come from self study. As dry a read as they are, VMware's whitepapers are a great resource, as is Mastering vSphere 5 by Scott Lowe. And most importantly, lab, lab, and lab some more.

scott28tt

Given that there's a lot of stuff in the exam that's not part of the ICM training, I'd take the training earlier in that timeline, and use the time after the training to "fill the gaps".

scott28tt

Have a look at the VCP5 tab on my blog for some useful information and links: VMware Training and Certification

pumbaa_g

After going through the Video Training, I have realized that I need to get some hands on practice on the lab. Unfortunately my workstation (I use the term loosely) of last 3 years is slowly dying on me (RAM Modules failing/some Motherboard issues).
I had requested for an quote from one of the VMware Authorized training partners near my place, its coming out to approx $550 for the 5 day classroom training. At this point I am not sure how much of hands on practice I can gain in the classroom sessions. I have requested them to let me know if they have any discounts/offers in the next few months. If something comes up, I will book it.
In the meantime, I am going through the study material and trying to work out a budget home lab build to play with at home
Till now I have the following
AMD Zambezi 8 Core processor (AM+)
Any decent AM+ Socket Motherboard with support for 32 GB RAM
16 GB RAM 1600 Mhz (4x4)
Basic Video Card nVidia GT550
2x 1 TB Hard Drive (have one 1 TB from my current build)
This is adding up to approx $730 I will use my current Samsung LCD 22" monitor/Gigabyte Cabinet and Power Supply to save some cost.
Any inputs on this?