Saturday 21 August 2010

Save travel costs on UK-based ICM 4.1 courses

Global Knowledge UK have now created a schedule for live-online delivery of the new 5-day vSphere: Install Configure Manage course, these events will be run from the UK and as such will take place during typical UK working hours.

The live-online course is instructor-led, just like a regular classroom-based course, and those attending still get the same discussion and question opportunities with their peers and the instructor as they would if they attended in person. This course also still meets the training requirement of the VCP4 certification.

The key benefit of attending a course using this method of delivery is the savings that can be made in terms of travel and associated expense costs, in addition we have decided to create our own events of this kind to appeal to those based around Europe and Africa who may find the live-online offerings from VMware unsuitable due the time of the day that VMware run their events.

If you have any other questions or concerns about live-online delivery, please feel free to send me an email.

Can't decide whether to attend the new ICM course or the Fast Track?

Ever since I blogged about the new 5-day vSphere: Install Configure Manage course I've received emails from people asking about whether they should attend that course or the 5-day extended-hours vSphere: Fast Track course.

The new ICM course, available from August 23rd, has been updated for the vSphere 4.1 release - there is mention of those 4.1 features that are relevant to the course objectives, the software used in the labs is the 4.1 version, and VMware have also switched the host version used from ESX to ESXi in line with their recommendation that customers transition away from ESX and deploy ESXi. The new ICM course also contains material and labs that were not present in the now-retired 4-day ICM 4.0 course, this content has been brought in from the Fast Track, and was highlighted in my previous blog post on the new ICM 4.1. The new ICM material also brings the course content much closer to the objectives covered in the VCP4 exam blueprint, in comparison to the ICM 4.0 course.

The Fast Track course in it's current form will retire at the end of 2010, and has not been and will not be updated for the 4.1 release. Fast Track still contains some material and labs which do not form part of the new 4.1 ICM course, specifically around the vSphere CLI and how it can be used to administer host-level networking and storage.

If you're debating which of the courses to take, I would definitely suggest to consider the new ICM 4.1 course due to the points I make above.

VCAP4-DCD exam blueprint now available

The exam blueprint for the VCAP4-DCD exam has now been published, although it is not available yet via the main VCAP4-DCD page

Here's the link to the blueprint document:
http://mylearn.vmware.com/register.cfm?course=76644

The exam has yet to enter beta, so the blueprint still has some final details missing related to the number of items and the required passing score, but at least those wanting to take the exam can begin their preparation.

Tuesday 10 August 2010

VCAP4-DCA and VCP4 exam blueprint links

Well-known virtualization blogger Kendrick Coleman has published a version of the VCAP4-DCA exam blueprint in the form of a set of links to the key technologies and documents covered in the exam. It's the most comprehensive VCAP4-DCA guide I've seen so far, couple it with my recent blog post of beta exam review links and you've got an excellent set of resources.

Here' the link to Kendrick's VCAP4-DCA page:
http://kendrickcoleman.com/index.php?/Tech-Blog/vcap-datacenter-administration-exam-landing-page-vdca410.html

Simon Long did the same thing a while back for the VCP4 exam, and has been updating the links on his page to point to the documentation for vSphere 4.1. Simon has also started working on a VCAP4-DCA page similar to Kendrick's, the links will follow once Simon has caught his breath from starting a new job at VMware...

Here's the link for Simon's VCP and VCAP4-DCA pages:
http://www.simonlong.co.uk/blog/vcp-vsphere-upgrade-study-notes/
http://www.simonlong.co.uk/blog/vcap4-dca-study-notes/