Return of the Delta Exam

UPDATE: The VCP550D exam is now available til September 30th 2015.

VMware made a "delta" exam available (VCP550D) for those who were VCP5-DCV holders and wished to recertify - initially this exam was only available til the end of November 2014, but it's now been resurrected and will remain available til March 10th 2015 September 30th 2015.

Read more about the exam on this blog post.

Confirmation of the resurrection can be found on the VMware Education & Certification Blog.

New EUC Certification - VCP6-DT

VMware have released the new VCP level certification for their EUC products/solutions, the VMware Certified Professional 6 - Desktop (VCP6-DT).

This certification validates your skills in deploying a Horizon with View 6.x environment on vSphere, including:

• creating and administering virtual desktops
• configuring and administering View, Mirage and the Workspace Portal
• configuring host networking and storage
• working with DRS, HA, and other cluster-related vSphere features

Find out more about the certification, it's training requirements or recommendations, and the exam objectives here: VCP6-DT

Landing page for vSphere 4 certifications

vSphere 4 Certifications

VCP4
VCAP4-DCA
VCAP4-DCD
VCDX4

Full range of NSX Training and Certifications now available

Software-defined networking (SDN) is a red-hot topic in our industry for 2014 and beyond, with VMware being the leading visionary in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Data Centre Networking.

There are 3 levels of certification on "Network Virtualisation", all based around the NSX product:

VMware Certified Professional - VCP-NV
VMware Certified Implementation Expert - VCIX-NV (think of this as being at VCAP level)
VMware Certified Design Expert - VCDX-NV

Have a look here for the range of NSX training: VMware Education page

VMware Learning Zone - official video-based training

VMware have launched a new Learning Zone - a subscription-based service offering official training on many different products and topics.

Read more here: VMware Education page

vSphere 5.0/5.1 exams for VCAP certifications are retiring

VMware have announced that the vSphere 5.0/5.1 exams for VCAP5-DCA and VCAP5-DCD certifications will retire on January 31st 2015.

So, from February 2015 only the vSphere 5.5 versions of these exams will be available.

Read more here: VMware Education and Certification blog page

Quickest option to recertify your VCP5-DCV

VMware created a special exam for those wanting to recertify their VCP5-DCV - a delta exam for those who have passed the vSphere 5.0/5.1 exam - the code is VCP550D.

It's only available for a limited time, you can take it from any location, it's a lower cost than a regular VCP exam too.

Find out more here: VMware Education and Certification blog

You can download the exam blueprint and request exam authorisation here: VCP5-DCV Delta Recertification Exam page

Some quick tips:

1. Only request authorisation when you're ready to take the exam as you only get 48 hours from authorisation time to take the exam itself.
2. Focus on the 5.5-specific elements of the blueprint.

Update: The VCP550D exam was originally only available til November 30th 2014, but it has now been made available til March 10th 2015 which gives all VCP5-DCV holders the chance to recertify.

New VCP exam discounts - for current VCPs and NSX class delegates

The title of this post says it all really - VMware have 2 new promotion for discounts on VCP exams:

25% discount for current VCPs (to help reduce the cost of recertification):

https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=51574&ui=www_cert

50% discount exam voucher if you attend a class on NSX:

https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=51447&ui=www_edu

See the relevant pages above for all the terms, eligibility dates, etc.

Both promotions have been added to a page I keep in my bookmarks - the Training and Certification Special Offers page.

Common VMware Certification Questions

Have a question about VMware certification?

Well, you could email certification@vmware.com with your question and wait for a response, but in fact you're likely to find the answer via the list of KB articles on this page:

VMware Education & Certification Blog : Common Questions Answered

I created my own Top 5 of the questions I'm asked most often too:

VCP Common Questions

Isn't it great to be able to help yourself instantly?

New VCAP5-DCD exam for vSphere 5.5

First it was VCP5-DCV, then VCAP5-DCA, and now it's the turn of the VCAP5-DCD certification to have an exam specific to vSphere 5.5...

Learn more here: https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=47317&ui=www_cert

VCAP5-DCA - New vSphere 5.5 exam version available

Today sees the launch of a new exam for the VCAP5-DCA certification, VDCA550 which is based on vSphere 5.5.

The original VCDA510 exam based on vSphere 5.0/5.1 remains available, so be careful when you book the exam to make sure you're registering for the one that matches the software versions you've used during your preparations.

This is the same approach as VMware took for VCP5-DCV back in January: http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/vcp5-dcv-now-updated-for-vsphere-55.html

Passing either of the exam will meet the requirement to become VCAP5-DCA certified, the pre-requisite certifications remain the same.

The recommended training class vSphere: Optimize & Scale was also recently updated for the 5.5 release: http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrreg/courses.cfm?ui=www_edu&a=one&id_subject=46566

You can read more about the new exam and access the blueprint for both the VCDA550 and VCDA510 exams here: http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=47316&ui=www_cert

Josh Andrews from the VMware Certification team has created a post on his blog describing the new lab environment and blueprint changes: http://sostechblog.com/2014/04/07/vcap5-dca-update-for-vsphere-5-5/

VMware Training & Certification Promotions

Here's a handy page to have in your browser bookmarks - it lists all current VMware training and certification special offers and beta classes:

http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=41387&ui=www_edu

There's a list of global discounts and promotions, plus those that only apply to certain geographical regions.

You can also sign-up to be notified of new discounts and promotions here:

http://www.vmwarelearningpaths.com/notify_me?source=learning

Recertification policy for VCP level certifications

Well here's a change in policy from VMware - those that hold VCP-level certifications will now have to recertify in order to retain their certification and all the related benefits.

Here's the official announcement on the new policy:

http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=46667&ui=www_cert

There are 2 milestones to watch out for:

- If you earned all your VCP level certifications prior to March 10th 2013 you have til March 10th 2015 to recertify
- If you earned your most recent VCP level certification since March 10th 2013 you have 2 years from the date you earned that certification to recertify

You can recertify in any of these ways:

- Pass the current exam for the VCP level certification in the same discipline
- Pass the current VCP level exam in another discipline
- Pass a current VCAP level exam in the same or another discipline

Note: there is no training requirement for recertification - this is a shift in policy as previously individuals would have to take a What's New class (in the case of DCV) or even a full class as part of updating their VCP certification to a new version once a grace period had passed

Today there are 3 disciplines that have VCP certifications - Data Center Virtualisation, Cloud, and Desktop - expect to see VCP for additional disciplines such as Networking Virtualisation added in the future.

If you do not recertify by the relevant milestone your certification will be revoked and you will no longer be entitled to use the certification logo or represent yourself as VMware certified. To regain certified status, you will need to meet all the prerequisites for the specific certification.

At this time there are no recertification policies for VCA, VCAP, or VCDX certifications - but I suspect that will change in the future so watch out for other announcements.

New exam for VCP-Cloud certification

VMware have released another new exam this week, this time for the VCP-Cloud certification.

The new exam is based on both vCloud Director (v5.5) AND vCloud Automation Center (v5.2), and has the code VCPC550.

It's suitable for anyone who want to gain VCP-Cloud as their first VMware certification, you have to attend a class on either (or both) of the 2 products covered in the exam.

You'll find more details here: http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=46138&ui=www_cert

The original VCP-Cloud exam based on vCloud Director is still available, as is the IaaS exam for those who already hold VCP certifications in the Data Center Virtualisation (DCV) or Desktop (DT) disciplines.

VMware exam scoring

Josh Andrews from the Certification team at VMware has published a great post on his blog around the factors that are taken into consideration for the scoring of VMware exams.

Have a read for yourself:

http://sostechblog.com/2014/02/13/300-out-of-500-what-is-a-passing-score/

New role at VMware! (Want my old one?)

I'm coming up to my 2-year anniversary at VMware and was recently offered the opportunity to move into a new role - exciting times!

My new title is Global Technical On-Boarding Manager, and I'll be responsible for developing, managing, and coordinating the on-boarding program for new starters in technical field roles (SE/PSO/TAM) globally.

I will continue to manage the on-boarding activities and events that run in EMEA, including the 4-day START program delivered to hundreds of new field employees annually. I will also be contributing to other development and recurring events programs from a technical perspective.

This does mean there is a vacancy in my old team as a Technical Field Enablement Specialist - it's a very varied and busy role that involves designing and managing the enablement programs for around 500 technical field employees across the EMEA region.

It  requires working with field leadership in defining and prioritising enablement needs, managing bootcamps and other virtual training programs, sourcing budget, managing external providers, collaborating with business units and other content/delivery teams, and managing events.

The role is based out of VMware EMEA HQ in Frimley in the UK - if you think this might be of interest to you or someone you know please drop me an email - vmtraining.blog@gmail.com

VCP5-DCV now updated for vSphere 5.5

Now here's a first: Two different vSphere 5 exams for the VCP5-DCV...

VMware have launched a new exam which is specific to vSphere 5.5, and it has it's own dedicated code with PearsonVUE - VCP550.

As it aligns specifically to vSphere 5.5, the topics covered have also been updated to reflect the latest features - there's coverage of Single Sign-On, the vSphere Web Client, Data Protection, vSphere Replication, vFlash cache, and also vCenter Operations Manager (reflective of the move towards vSphere with Operations Management by VMware and their customers)

As well as being specific to 5.5, the exam format has also been changed to bring it in line with the other VCP exams for Cloud and Desktop - it's now 135 questions in 120 minutes. (The total length of the appointment when booking the exam will shows as 135 minutes as 15 minutes is allocated to a survey)

Passing either exam will achieve VCP5-DCV certification, so those already certified do not need to take the new exam - although they can if they choose.

Josh Andrews from the Certification team has posted a great article on his blog that talks more about the new exam: Link to Josh's blog

Josh mentions that the old VCP510 exam (for 5.0/5.1) and the new VCP550 exam will both be available for a "limited time", although the length of the period isn't stated on his blog post or mentioned anywhere on vmware.com

My recommendation if you're starting to prepare for your VCP5-DCV certification - get trained on vSphere 5.5 and look to take the VCP550 exam - good luck!