Virtualization, Cloud, Infrastructure and all that stuff in-between

A couple of weeks ago I sat the VCAP4-DCA Exam, I got my results about 14 business days after sitting the exam (it says 10, but I guess the certification team were busy) and I’m pleased to say I passed with a reasonable score.

I liked this exam, like the VI3 version it’s a live-lab exam you’re given a bunch of questions/scenarios to configure and have access to a full vSphere 4 environment via an RDP session. It’s all real-world type stuff, but don’t expect to get a result at the end, your lab work is analysed and you’ll be notified by email if you pass or not.

I guess I can’t say too much about the content of the exam due to the NDA but I would work on the basis that you have access to the same sort of materials and documentation as if it were the real-world and you’ll be expected to cover most parts specified in the exam blueprint and resources you should know what to look for, and understand what you are doing even if you can’t memorise exact syntax of commands.

Like my DCD exam I didn’t do any real specific preparation other than reviewing the online resources – my personal opinion with this level of exams is that you either know it (or know how to look it up) from experience or you don’t – just like the real world where you don’t memorise the contents of the configuration maxims document.

Keep an eye on the time – I pretty much ran out of time and had to carefully manage which exams I would tackle/skip; it’s not a quick multiple choice type exam.

So I now have a full collection of VMware Certs..

• VCP 3 & VCP 4
• VI3 Enterprise Admin and Design
• VCAP4-DCD and VCAP4-DCA

So that only leaves one more…