If you have passed both the VCE310 and VCD310 exams and wish to apply for a VCDX3 certification:

• Download the VCDX3 Application & Handbook and prepare your defense for the week of February 7, 2011.
• The application will be due on November 22, 2010, at 5:00 PM PST.
• The final opportunity to deliver a defense in pursuit of the VMware Certified Design Expert on VI3 (VCDX3) certification will be at VMware Partner Exchange in Orlando, Florida the week of February 7, 2011.
• Please note that defense slots are limited and will be reserved for candidates who submit completed applications in the order received.

You have got a month and a half to submit your design, but I would definitely recommend to get it in as soon as possible. Make sure however that your Application Form is completely filled out. There are a bunch of tips to be found here.

For those who think they can still quickly register both exams to become a VCDX3

• Registrations for the VMware Enterprise Administration on VMware Infrastructure 3 Exam: VCE310 have been closed.  No new registrations for this exam will be accepted.
• Registrations for the VMware Design on VMware Infrastructure 3 Exam: VCD310 have been closed. No new registrations for this exam will be accepted.

Of course I can’t share any specifics with you regarding the questions as the VMware Certification Team would have to kill me if I would. However I do want to stress, and I guess that Jason and William had a similar experience, that this was seriously one of the most difficult tests I have done so far. The range of products (vCenter, ESX, vMA, vShield, Orchestrator, PowerCLI, Heartbeat) is huge which makes it really difficult to prepare for this exam. Keep in mind though that no one expects you to know the full range of products in-depth, but they do expect you to know how to solve things or how to set-up things. This could be particularly difficult with products like vShield, Orchestrator and Heartbeat. For me particularly this was a challenge as I tend to focus more on the architectural side these days, I guess being a technical consultant / implementation specialist would definitely help!

I guess the one reason you are reading this article is to make sure you prep well, here are some tips:

1. Read the VCAP-DCA blueprint!
2. L A B T I M E. Make sure you get enough time to spent in your lab. I can’t stress this enough as the test is 95% Lab based as opposed to the VI3 Enterprise exam which was roughly 40% Lab based.
3. Make sure you are familiar with vMA, PowerCLI, ESX, vCenter(and all the features like vDS, vSwitches, Host Profiles, VUM etc…), Heartbeat, Orchestrator, vDR and all the rest that you can think off.
4. Make sure you are familiar with the command line:
   1. esxcfg-* commands or the vMA equivalents (vicfg-*)
   2. esxcli
   3. PowerCLI
   4. vifp
   5. vmware-cmd
5. Did I already mention Lab Time?

VCAP4 – Datacenter Administration

Gain industry recognition for your technical leadership in the planning and administration of vSphere technologies. Learn more about VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Datacenter Administration certification and get started today.

1. Be a VMware Certified Professional 4 (VCP4)
2. Pass the VCAP4-DCA exam

VCAP4 – Datacenter Design

Gain recognition for technical leadership in data center design methodologies and principles of vSphere technologies. Learn more about VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Datacenter Design certification and get started today.

1. Be a VMware Certified Professional 4 (VCP4)
2. Pass the VCAP4-DCD exam

I was fortunate enough to be part of the development team for the VMware vSphere Design Workshop. Notice the “Workshop” part as this course is different then any other VMware course you have done so far. Indeed it is a real workshop and it is all about discussing design considerations with your peers and crafting a design based on specific requirements and constraints. Although it is not an official pre-requisite I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to become a VCDX. I hope you will enjoy this workshop as much as we did creating it.

Again a great job by the VMware Education Team, I just love this new concept. For those who can’t wait, check this section of the VMware website to see where they are scheduled. And for the Benelux readers, Eric Sloof is running three of these workshops soon… be there!

Source: VMware vSphere: Design Workshop

Module 1: Course Introduction

• Provide a general overview of the course

Module 2: Design Process Overview

• Discuss the design methodology, criteria, and approach
• Introduce an example five-step design process

Module 3: ESX/ESXi Host Design

• Identify useful information for making host design decisions
• Analyze best practices and host design alternatives

Module 4: vSphere Virtual Datacenter Design

• Identify useful information for making vCenter Server, database, cluster, and resource pool design decisions
• Analyze best practices and vCenter Server, database, cluster, and resource pool design alternatives

Module 5: vSphere Network Design

• Identify useful information for making network design decisions
• Analyze best practices and network design alternatives

Module 6: vSphere Storage Design

• Identify useful information for making storage design decisions
• Analyze best practices and storage design alternatives

Module 7: Virtual Machine Design

• Identify useful information for making virtual machine design decisions
• Analyze best practices and virtual machine design alternatives

Module 8: Management and Monitoring Design

• Identify useful information for making management and monitoring design decisions
• Analyze best practices and management and monitoring design alternatives

I read the course material this week and I can honestly say that it rocks! Of course I did not expect anything less becauseVMware’s performance guru Scott Drummonds was involved in developing this course. (Scott wrote an article about the training a month ago, you can find it here.) Below you will find a short description.

This hands-on training course explores the management of performance in a VMware vSphere™ environment. It provides the knowledge and skills necessary to make fundamental design decisions that enhance performance and to meet performance goals in an already-deployed vSphere installation. The course is based on VMware® ESX™ 4.0, ESXi 4.0, and vCenter™ Server 4.0.

source pdf

Like I said, heavily recommended for everyone!

• Configuration Maximums for VMware vSphere 4.0 (Updated 9/23/2009)
• http://www.simonlong.co.uk/blog/vcp-vsphere-4-practice-exam/
• Resource Management Guide
• What’s New in VMware vSphere 4.0

So who’s next?

Here’s a preview:

For those who are going to VMworld, Train Signal are sponsoring the VMworld 2009 Sunday night extravaganza, and also the VMworld 2009 Run. David Davis will be doing a “signing” / meet the author session on Wednesday at the VMworld bookstore from 12:00 till 13:00. If you want to have your copy signed be sure to get there on time.

As a start I would like to recommend the Deploy, Secure and Analyze course. The course covers 99% of the exam. If you don’t have the budget you could also use the following material to prepare:

• Enterprise Exam Study Guide
• VI3 Reference Card
• ESXCFG Commands
• VMbook – Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
• Performance Characterization of VMFS and RDM Using a SAN
• Setup for Microsoft Clustering
• DRS Performance and Best Practices
• VMware Consolidated Backup Best Practices Guidelines and Considerations
• Virtual Machine Backup Guide
• VI3 Security Hardening
• Resource Management Guide
• SAN System Design and Deployment Guide
• Fibre Channel SAN Configuration Guide
• ESX Server Configuration Guide
• Configuring and Troubleshooting N-Port ID Virtualization
• How NPIV-Based LUN Access Works
• Requirements for using NPIV

Besides these links my tip would be: Just do it!

ps: if someone has additional docs/links they would like to have added, leave a comment and I will add them to the list.

VMware will be providing onsite testing services at VMworld 2009. A great deal is available on the VCP exam (see my post at http://communities.vmware.com/thread/222191?tstart=0 ), but more importantly, the VCDX Enterprise Administration and Design Exams will be offered! You must be pre-authorized to take these exams, so if you are already in process to take the Enterprise Administration Exam, contact certification@vmware.com to inquire about the availability of the exam at VMworld. You can register at Pearson VUE for the Design Exam, but again you must already be in process and have authorization from VMware to take the exam. The link for registering with Pearson for the Design Exam is http://pearsonvue.com/vmware/vmworld/ . For the Enterprise Administration Exam only, you must contact us directly.

For those who want to do the Enterprise Exam check the mock exam that has also has just been released: Enterprise Administration Mock Exam.

Dave Convery also posted about discounts for these exams, which might be a nice incentive to get you guys studying!

The last part of the VCDX certification is the defense. In short: you will need to write a design, fill out the application and defend your design during a two to three hour session.

Although I can describe it in 30 words it is not as simple as it may sound. First of all your design needs to meet specific requirements. I can’t go in to the details unfortunately but when you receive an invitation you will receive all the prerequisites. Like me, most of you done numerous designs, but keep in mind it needs to be in English and so will your defense need to be. This is an extra barrier for many of the non- native speakers; I know it was for me.

The defense part:
75 minutes – executive overview and an in-depth design defense
30 minutes – design workshop
15 minutes – problem analysis

For the first 15 minutes, the executive overview, you can use a couple of slides. Like I said it’s an executive overview and its only 15 minutes so don’t go into the technical details, there’s no need for that share your experience and maybe tell about political issues for instance. These 15 minutes gave me the opportunity to get rid of my nerves.

The in depth design defense is self-explanatory I think. Just be prepared to get questions on every single aspect of your design, know it inside out and not only “what” and “how”, but especially “why”.

Next two are role-play based. The panel is the customer and you are the architect. By asking questions, white boarding, discussions you will need to solve an issue or come to a specific solution for the customer. This is something you can not really prepare. Although you may think you will have more than enough time, you will not have time enough. Time flies when the pressure is on. Keep in mind that it’s not the end result that counts for these scenarios, it’s your thought process!

I’ve read comments on the written exams; some thought they were too easy. I can promise you this will not be easy this is not a test you can study for and pass if you crammed all the details. You will need specific soft skills and a wealth of knowledge.

Good luck and enjoy the ride,