VCP5 and EMC/NetApp classes online at Dallas County Community College

Zartanasaurus

MagnumRP wrote: »

Same here. I'm enrolled in the class too and haven't received any communication except for the debit card.

I'm in the VMWare class. He's letting students know about openings in the EMC/NetApp class.

Asif Dasl

datacomboss wrote: »

That's a nice set of flashcards. Taking my test next Saturday.

Good luck man! Let us know how it went...

datacomboss

Asif Dasl wrote: »

Good luck man! Let us know how it went...

It was pretty easy. Just read the book and take the practice test on the EMC website.

VCAP-CID and EMCSA up next. Maybe VCP-NV as well.

Asif Dasl

Congrats on the pass!

I will try to get this done by the middle of October. Kinda doing other stuff at the moment and it's fallen off the radar. Need to watch the lectures again and re-read parts of the book before taking that practice test.

Zartanasaurus

There's 1st couple of VMware labs are so easy. "Install ESX", "Install the vSphere Client".

tprice5

I am not sure if anyone following this thread is enrolled in the current data storage course but I was wondering if anyone had access to the labs yet? In his tutorial video explaining how to access netlabs (which he re-purposes from his vmware course) it shows a link to the labs that is not present within my view.

Zartanasaurus

Not doing the storage course, but he didn't enable labs in the VMWare course until the middle of week 2. He'll send an email and let you know when they're accessible.

rob3bb

according to the Instructor EMC labs will be ready 09/09/14 . you can use the vnx demo to complete the labs

Tim_

I'm enrolled in the introductory storage course, and I do not like the instructor. He keeps telling us about how we have to jump through his hoops to pass. Well, I'm not a college student. I don't need credits to graduate. I only care about the labs, and guess what? I still don't have access to them.

rob3bb wrote: »

according to the Instructor EMC labs will be ready 09/09/14 . you can use the vnx demo to complete the labs

Newman has been telling us "labs next week" since the beginning of this farce. I don't think I have the patience to put up with him again in the advanced class.

tprice5

Tim_ wrote: »

I do not like the instructor. He keeps telling us about how we have to jump through his hoops to pass.

In fairness, it is HIS class. Regardless, I don't think he is all that bad. It's a little off-putting when he boasts of his years in the biz and the world class organizations he has worked for but at the end of the day he delivers the content in an enthusiastic, upbeat manner, which for me, is much more palatable. Definitely preferable to the grumpy, monotone, old guy that has become somewhat of a trope.
Also, what hoops? Other than logging in and viewing the videos I don't think we've been tasked with anything else that I am aware. If I am mistaken please correct me so I can can knock out the assignment.

datacomboss

Tim_ wrote: »

I don't think I have the patience to put up with him again in the advanced class.

You wouldn't be the first to say this. lol

A much cheaper means to an end for me.

Took the VMware and EMC classes with Greg and got VCP and EMISA certs + future tax deduction.

Tim_

tprice5 wrote: »

Also, what hoops? Other than logging in and viewing the videos I don't think we've been tasked with anything else that I am aware. If I am mistaken please correct me so I can can knock out the assignment.

See what I mean? He keeps telling us that there are hoops, but I don't know what actually has to be done, either.

Tim_

Is anyone else having problems doing the labs? Newman created a pod for me, but its performance is atrocious. There is so much lag that I find it difficult to get anything done.

tprice5

I went to do my lab yesterday and got an error when launching the NetLabs environment. I screen-grabbed the error with Snipping Tool and sent it to Newman. Our conversation went like this ...

Me: "Sup with this error?"

Him: "Ohh, yeah. I sent out an email about that last week. You can either download the SIM or I can build you a pod"

Me: "This is my first email I've gotten from you so Idk what email you are using for my contact info but I haven't gotten anything. I'd like to just download the SIM. Could you please fwd me the emails?"

Him: "Log into eCampus and check what email you have as your contact info. It should be the one you registered with"

Me: "... Yeah, it's the same one I always use SoAndSuch@my.OldUni.edu. Could you please post the instructions to obtain the SIM on eCampus or fwd the emails?

and that was it. So yeah, I haven't done the lab yet.

For those of you aspiring to teach online, do not rely on email as a means to disseminate crucial information to all of your students. Blackboard, eCampus, or whatever your institution overpaid for should be the golden master repository of ALL relevant information for the course.

Tim_

Personally, I'd rather not have to check all of the tabs in Ecampus every day just to find out that there is nothing new there most of the time, so, in that sense, I prefer notification e-mails. Apparently, the lab environment only consists of this free demo from EMC.

http://www.emc.com/collateral/demos/microsites/vnxe/vnxe-demo.exe

Install it to your local computer, and run it from a browser. You can type anything for the username/password. I just started doing the labs with it. The only problem is that the demo does not seem to save your changes, so I guess all of the labs will be one-shot affairs. If any of them build on a previous configuration, then I will be in trouble.

tprice5

Tim_ wrote: »

http://www.emc.com/collateral/demos/microsites/vnxe/vnxe-demo.exe

Tim_, much thanks. Will try this out when I get back home from work in about ... 12 hours

tprice5

tprice5 wrote: »

Tim_, much thanks. Will try this out when I get back home from work in about ... 12 hours

Got it downloaded. Thanks again.

Did you already take the lab quiz? I was going to run through the lab and take the quiz but noticed it was no longer available. I don't recall him ever announcing any sort of deadline or did I miss something? Sent him an email. Hopefully can take it. If not, alwell.

Tim_

You're welcome, tprice5. Twelve hours is a long shift, but some people can't even find a job.

I took the first quiz, but I didn't see some of the things that were mentioned in the lab, so I couldn't answer all of the questions. Also, I don't know what the deadlines are for this class.

tprice5

Tim_ wrote: »

You're welcome, tprice5. Twelve hours is a long shift, but some people can't even find a job.

That is true. Happy to be employed and be able to provide for mine but true happiness comes from a balance between work, family, friends and personal time. Working 12 hour shifts with an hour long commute 5 days a week really throws off that balance.

Tim_ wrote: »

I took the first quiz, but I didn't see some of the things that were mentioned in the lab, so I couldn't answer all of the questions. Also, I don't know what the deadlines are for this class.

I didn't have issues finding any of the answers. I completely agree about the deadlines. Expectations should be clearly stated and in this case they are not.
My issue with the lab quiz is that you had to input text for your answer but it auto-graded it against a preset answer. This is problematic because simple syntax or wording could result in an incorrect answer. For example, one of the questions was ...

What is the model of the VNXe?
Possible answers: VNXe 3200 or 3200.

I emailed him to ask if he was going to be manually reviewing the auto-graded exams but did not receive a reply. Also I plan to complete Lab Quiz 2 tonight because I believe, based on last week's quiz, access to the quiz will end either tonight or tomorrow night.

Tim_

I received an e-mail stating that the deadline for quiz 2 is 9/23/14 at 11:30 PM CST.

By the way, many of the labs consist only of questions. That is such a disappointment.

tprice5

Tim_ wrote: »

I received an e-mail stating that the deadline for quiz 2 is 9/23/14 at 11:30 PM CST.

Thanks for the heads up. Still not getting any emails. Pretty annoying.

Tim_ wrote: »

By the way, many of the labs consist only of questions. That is such a disappointment.

Yeah, I've noticed. Pretty lame.

Also LUN != Lung. Cringe-worthy.

rob3bb

I'm also in the EMC class. I've had nothing but issues from the quizzes not accepting correct answers, the videos stopping , the lag time on the pods. At this point I just want the voucher and will study and read the book on my own time.
I have taken the stanly VMware course and everything worked great. This is course has been a disappointment

Tim_

tprice5 wrote: »

Also LUN != Lung. Cringe-worthy.

Do you pronounce it like "loon"?

rob3bb wrote: »

I have taken the stanly VMware course and everything worked great.

I second that. Stanly offer labs and lectures without the aggravation.

tprice5

Tim_ wrote: »

Do you pronounce it like "loon"?

I pronounce it like lung without the 'g'.

Asif Dasl

haha I second the "lung" comment!! I kept saying to myself "it's a LUN!", it sounds like the quiz assessments have changed since I took it - they were multiple choice. I personally liked the way he said "Stawrage" though.

For the money it's great but I felt like this course was too micro-managed, and like rob3bb I just wanted to read the book by myself instead of jumping through his hoops.

Saying that the course is NetApp too is a stretch, it was like 75% EMC ISM v2 - 15% labs - 10% NetApp. And then he advised us not to get a NetApp voucher because it was too hard and we needed the advanced course to pass it... well, it's not like we used a lot of time to cover it so why say it's a NetApp course too then? Just make it a EMC only course and make the EMC-ISM v2 book a prerequisite of the advanced NetApp course.

Tim_

tprice5 wrote: »

I pronounce it like lung without the 'g'.

That's the way I pronounce it. I was afraid that I had been making myself look stupid this whole time. I don't need any help to do that.

Asif Dasl wrote: »

Saying that the course is NetApp too is a stretch, it was like 75% EMC ISM v2 - 15% labs - 10% NetApp. And then he advised us not to get a NetApp voucher because it was too hard and we needed the advanced course to pass it... well, it's not like we used a lot of time to cover it so why say it's a NetApp course too then? Just make it a EMC only course and make the EMC-ISM v2 book a prerequisite of the advanced NetApp course.

That sounds like "bait-and-switch" to me. I can't say I'm surprised by it.

SamMerlotte

I can deal with mispronunciations. What I can't deal with is poor organization. Software missing from labs. The schedule being off. Not being given the direct answers from the quizzes after taking (unless I am overlooking). I want my vouchers though, so I will try to stay attentive.

Tim_

Testify, brother Merlotte! Newman just sent out an e-mail stating that most of us missed the same question on the second quiz, but he still didn't provide us with the correct answer.

Also, does anyone have a working copy of the "Week 5 Module 6" lecture? I keep losing the audio about halfway through it.

tprice5

Tim_ wrote: »

Newman just sent out an e-mail stating that most of us missed the same question on the second quiz, but he still didn't provide us with the correct answer.

I am pretty sure this is SMB, but yeah I laughed when I got to the end of the email and realized the answer was still not provided. I put CIFS down because their is a column titled "protocol" with "CIFS" filled in which lined up with the LUN in question.
At this point I think it is pretty safe to say I won't be doing the advanced course.

datacomboss

Greg has been very successful in IT as a manager of global storage infrastructure for a very large organization based here in D-FW , so I just fought through all of mispronunciations and disorganization and tried to learn as much as possible about VMware and storage from him.