Fun with VCAP6-DCV Deploy

dave330idave330i Member Posts: 2,091 ■■■■■■■■■■
Went to take the exam this afternoon. Got into the lab environment and started launching Putty, PowerCLI, etc. Noticed that the backspace key wasn't working. Got the attention of the exam proctor and she switched me to another machine. Same problem on the other machine. Told the exam proctor that there's a technical problem with the lab environment and to create an incident report.

She gets on the phone with Pearson technical support and the technical support conclusion is that the lab environment has backspace disabled on purpose! icon_eek.gif Told them that that can't be right and to generate an incident report because there's no way I'm doing a deploy exam without a working backspace key.

She said she'll generate a report and I'll get a copy. Guess I'll figure out the next steps after getting the report.
2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman

Comments

  • TheFORCETheFORCE Member Posts: 2,297 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Really? wow does the backspace key make the exam that much easier that they had to disable it? LOL
  • EssendonEssendon Member Posts: 4,546 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Maybe the delete key works? I read somewhere this was done on purpose, apparently helps with stability of the lab. Other than the backspace key, don't ever make the mistake of opening up a console to a VM and clicking in the black space - once you do, you aren't ever coming out of it. Josh Andrews did a blog post, worth checking it for other nuances.
    NSX, NSX, more NSX..

    Blog >> http://virtual10.com
  • dave330idave330i Member Posts: 2,091 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Delete worked, but backspace didn't. If you're writing cli command, backspace is a lot more useful than delete. It did have a blurb about not opening console or VMRC to VM. Don't remember reading about backspace.

    Who would have thought:

    http://www.virtualizestuff.com/2016/08/02/vcap6-exam-interface-tips-tricks/

    Not taking the exam again until this fix these stupidity.
    2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
    "Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
  • scott28ttscott28tt Member Posts: 686 ■■■■■□□□□□
    This document is on the "How to prepare" section of the vmware.com page for the exam: https://mylearn.vmware.com/lcms/web/portals/certification/VMware%20Certification%20Platform%20Interface.pdf
    VCP2 / VCP3 / VCP4 / VCP5 / VCAP4-DCA / VCI / vExpert 2010-2012
    Blog - http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.com
    Twitter - http://twitter.com/vmtraining
    Email - vmtraining.blog@gmail.com
  • dave330idave330i Member Posts: 2,091 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Scott,

    Just because they documented the stupidity, doesn't make it any less stupid.
    2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
    "Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
  • scott28ttscott28tt Member Posts: 686 ■■■■■□□□□□
    dave330i wrote: »
    Scott,

    Just because they documented the stupidity, doesn't make it any less stupid.
    I don't disagree, just sharing for reference and for others.
    VCP2 / VCP3 / VCP4 / VCP5 / VCAP4-DCA / VCI / vExpert 2010-2012
    Blog - http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.com
    Twitter - http://twitter.com/vmtraining
    Email - vmtraining.blog@gmail.com
  • OctalDumpOctalDump Member Posts: 1,722
    The secure environment the exam is presented in restricts the use of some keys notably Control, Alt,Backspace, all Function keys and the right mouse-click button. Candidates are advised to practice tasks without the use of these key strokes.



    It makes me imagine all these VMware engineers never using right clicks or backspace, after being conditioned by practicing for the exam not to use them.

    Maybe that's how you can tell if someone is certified or not.

    I agree, it's an unsatisfactory situation.
    2017 Goals - Something Cisco, Something Linux, Agile PM
  • DPGDPG Member Posts: 780 ■■■■■□□□□□
    I bailed on a scheduled beta exam for this reason. Disappointed to hear that they still haven't fixed it.
  • tbgree00tbgree00 Member Posts: 553 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Yeah, Backspace disabled sucks. Copy/paste disabled sucked more for me. Someone pointed out you can use the virtual keyboard feature in windows to do the commands.

    I managed to pass the Beta in spite of this. We take a lot of tests that require memorizing arbitrary trivia and doing things we wouldn't do in production so I just worked through their restrictions. It sucks but I wanted that VCIX
    I finally started that blog - www.thomgreene.com
  • dave330idave330i Member Posts: 2,091 ■■■■■■■■■■
    I'll wait until they fix this or if I need it for for my VCDX pre-req. Already have a VCIX. The exam itself seemed simple enough (minus the exam environment itself).
    2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
    "Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
  • GSXRulesGSXRules Member Posts: 109
    Pearson was working on it last I heard (Oct '16) and they weren't sure why some of the keys were disabled anyway. 'Course they were also working on expanding the default resolution also. We were actually given a date for the resolution to be fixed but that's long passed by now.

    Also, the html documentation quit working in January and I haven't seen anyone post that it's been fixed yet.

    Look for people chatting about being on a VCAP7 SME panel and ask them if there was talk about fixes for these issues.
  • GSXRulesGSXRules Member Posts: 109
    OctalDump wrote: »
    It makes me imagine all these VMware engineers never using right clicks or backspace, after being conditioned by practicing for the exam not to use them.

    Not a (directly) VMware issue - which should be obvious if you've used HoL.
  • GoldenroseGoldenrose Member Posts: 11 ■□□□□□□□□□
    I agree with you, they should correct the issue. In my opinion, with this limitations in place they are trying to make the deploy exam environment, more like a real world with some stress. In other words, they are increasing the stress levels, by changing what we all used to do
  • dave330idave330i Member Posts: 2,091 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Goldenrose wrote: »
    I agree with you, they should correct the issue. In my opinion, with this limitations in place they are trying to make the deploy exam environment, more like a real world with some stress. In other words, they are increasing the stress levels, by changing what we all used to do

    The backspace issue was resolved when I retook the exam few months ago.
    2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
    "Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
  • GoldenroseGoldenrose Member Posts: 11 ■□□□□□□□□□
    dave330i wrote: »
    The backspace issue was resolved when I retook the exam few months ago.
    Good news!
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