I want to learn VMWare and earn a certification

Can anyone please point me in a direction? IE: read this book, take this test?

I have looked on vmware.com and the sticky notes at the top of this forum, but I am very new to VMWARE and missing something. There i Vcenter, Vspher, ESXi, etc etc. I'm trying to learn this in a home lab and put everything into perspective.

If anyone can please point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it. From what I gather on Vmware's site is I want to get the VCA-DCV certification.

Thank you in advance.

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xenodamus

A few definitions that may be helpful in your search:

ESXi - The vmware hypervisor that is installed on bare hardware to make virtualization possible.
vCenter - The vmware management server that orchestrates the functions of multiple ESXi hosts.
vSphere - The client console that is installed on an administrator's PC to connect to and manage the vCenter server.

I don't have any book recommendations as I've never formally studied for a vmware exam. The VCA is a good place to start, but it doesn't cover much technically. It's more like an overview of the vmware components, how they fit together, and what vmware products are used to address various technical challenges. There's a free 2 hour course on vmware's site to prep for this. The VCP is where the technical meat is at. But that exam requires you to take a course beforehand. There are plenty of books aimed at the VCP, though, that will be a good read.

ESXi is available for free, so your first step will be getting it installed on a physical box or VM and setting up a vCenter server to manage it.

I'm sure others will have more detailed suggestions to offer. Good luck!

Reibe

VMware has free eLearning for the VCA level. VMware Certified Associate Real world experience also helps but VCA focuses alot on terms and capabilities; all of which is in the eLearning.

tstrip007

Read this book: Mastering VMware vSphere 5: Scott Lowe: 9780470890806: Amazon.com: Books Sign up for this course ($180): VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage Build a home lab. Download blueprint and look at what you have to know: (VCP5-DCV) VCP-Datacenter Virtualization Take this test: (VCP5-DCV) VCP-Datacenter Virtualization

doodguy

tstrip007 wrote: »

Read this book: Mastering VMware vSphere 5: Scott Lowe: 9780470890806: Amazon.com: Books Sign up for this course ($180): VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage Build a home lab. Download blueprint and look at what you have to know: (VCP5-DCV) VCP-Datacenter Virtualization Take this test: (VCP5-DCV) VCP-Datacenter Virtualization

Thanks! I am going to go through every step you provided. MUCH appreciated!

PS: I read tidbits about free online test and also free online self paced learning? Did I mis read that?

BGraves

Look for the Stanley CC VmWare course offering that is on the forums here, they offer a great rate for an online VmWare college course that allows you to sit the exam to earn your VCP5 cert. I think there is a waiting list, definitely worth looking in to!

tstrip007

Actually seeing that the latest version of vSphere is 5.5. You may want to look at Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5: Scott Lowe, Nick Marshall, Forbes Guthrie, Matt Liebowitz, Josh Atwell: 9781118661147: Amazon.com: Books. Also what is your motive for wanting to learn this stuff?

SimonD.

I have put a couple of "Installing the Home Lab" articles on my site (installing SQL, creating DB's, installing Certificate Authorities, Installing vCenter, Storage etc) that you may find useful, have a look on Everything Virtual for those articles.

The VCA is definitely the place to start but one thing you don't mention is your other skills, just walking in to virtualisation is rare, you're more than likely to have come from a sys admin role previously (experience on Windows and or *nix OS's).

The three hour course on the VMware site for the VCA-DCV is well worth taking as well.

kj0

Scott Lowe/Nick Marshall Mastering vSphere 5.5 is what you want.

Although, if I am reading your first post right, you want to start right from the basics. best way is to probably start with VCA to grasp the concept and components. Then look at the VCP courses.

jibbajabba

Agree with kj0 - learn to walk before attempting the marathon ..

One thing you will need to do though - is labbing - that is essential, no matter what. This forums has tons of lab suggestions for people on a budget or not so budgety ...

Danielm7

Perfect timing with the thread, I was coming here to post the exact same thing. My only experience with virtualization is my own VMs at home for labs and such, using Virtual PC or VirtualBox. Now that I'm looking for a new job though it seems like most of the jobs I'm looking at also want you to have experience in wmware so I'm looking to dig into it on my own but mostly starting from scratch.

Edit: Looking at the learning resources on WMWare's site, it looks like there are 4 different VCA certs. Am I just reading that wrong or do you pick a specialty now and go into that?

kj0

DCV is probably the better one to start with as that covers your common infrastructure you might come up against. It also covers a broader scope of components.

I'm currently writing up a piece for my blog for those wanting to get started in the Vmware cert track. Should be up within the week when I get some more time.

scott28tt

Danielm7 wrote: »

Perfect timing with the thread, I was coming here to post the exact same thing. My only experience with virtualization is my own VMs at home for labs and such, using Virtual PC or VirtualBox. Now that I'm looking for a new job though it seems like most of the jobs I'm looking at also want you to have experience in wmware so I'm looking to dig into it on my own but mostly starting from scratch.

Edit: Looking at the learning resources on WMWare's site, it looks like there are 4 different VCA certs. Am I just reading that wrong or do you pick a specialty now and go into that?

There are different VCA certs:

DCV on vSphere
Cloud on vCloud Director (on top of vSphere)
WM on View (on top of vSphere) plus other Horizon Suite elements
NV - coming soon, but it will cover technologies that also sit on vSphere

You might notice that vSphere is the common element for all of these, so DCV is the logical start point.

scott28tt

The logical start point is VCA-DCV, vSphere is the platform for most other VMware technologies and all the DCV certifications are about vSphere.

Get that done, then look to VCP5-DCV, this is by far the most common VMware certification.

Danielm7

Awesome, sorry for the thread hijack and thanks for the tips.