40 Days until my VCP5 exam - let's talk strategy

mguernsey

So, as I said in the title, I have 40 days until I take my VCP5 exam (May 5th in case you're wondering). I need help formulating my study strategies so I can pass. I currently have a home network run on an ESXi box, plus I have a lab I put together in Workstation 10 with a traditional DC, SQL, vCenter, and a couple ESXi hosts. What are some other things I can do in the lab to maximize my exposure. The area I'm weakest at is probably Storage, since I don't happen to have a NAS/SAN or other variant sitting around to play with.

I'm currently reading Scott Lowe's "Mastering VMware vSphere 5" book, with "The Official VCP5 Certification Guide" by Bill Ferguson and Brian Atkinson's "VCP5 Study Guide" sitting in the wings.

Study suggestions and specific ideas appreciated (and yes, I have the blueprint and I am going down it, but I'd like some suggestions as well).

Thanks!

kj0

I don't have a NAS/SAN so I virtualize it. Check out ReadySetVirtual: Storage Pt 2 - Set up Nested iSCSI Target/SAN using OpenFiler on how to virtualize a SAN in Workstation 10.


Also, If you want to set up vFRC and vSAN check out this for creating a fake SSD so you can run it nested.
ReadySetVirtual: Create a virtual SSD in VMware Workstation for vSAN and vFRC


I've only got couple of weeks before my exam, I'm just doing what is in the mastering book and then LABbing what is on the blueprint.

GSXRules

Best thing you can do is look at the practice exams on Mylearn.vmware.com to get a feel for how the questions are written, then find a study buddy and write each other questions using the blueprint.

If you have Win2008R2 for AD/whatever you can also use it as an NFS/iSCSI target.