New exams, new training, new badges, new certifications - November/December 2016

It's been a hectic few weeks for me, so I'm a little late with some of these announcements - but I thought it was worth collating them together for you.

New course option for expired VCPs
First up, a new course option for people who've let their VCP expire - rather than having to take a full 5-day class as part of stepping back into VCP world, you are also now able take a What's New class to meet the training requirement.

The example given is for gaining VCP6-DCV by attending the What's New class for vSphere 6.5 - you'd still have to pass the same vSphere Foundations and VCP exams as a newbie, and you still won't get your expired VCPs renewed, but you'd save over £2000 (approx $2500) by taking only the 2-day What's New class.

VCAP6-CMA Deployment exam now available
A quick update from the beginning of November, the final exam for VCAP6-CMA Deployment is available - it's a live lab exam, focused around the vRealize Suite.

New training courses for vSphere 6.5, vRA 7.1, vCD 8.10, vRO 7.1, Horizon 7, and NSX 6.2!
The core training courses for vSphere 6.5 were launched as the product went GA, plus there's a bunch of new courses for other products too.

VCP7-CMA exam released
If you want to get VCP certified on the latest vRealize Suite, now you can.

VMware Certification Badges
A new way of sharing your v6 (and later) certifications - a digital badge that you can use online - on social media, a blog/website, your CV, or in your email signature.

Help the Certification team, give to the community, get certified
VMware are looking for Certification SMEs to help design and write exams - in return for giving back to the community, you'll be awarded the certifications you help with.

VCDX6-DCV is go!
And what a way to finish - the "big daddy" of all VMware certifications, the VCDX, is now available. VMware have published the blueprint and a handbook, and you can begin the application process for VCDX6-DCV now.

Phew! I'm off to make a cup of tea, while you click away and read up on these annoucements...

Retirement of VCP5-DCV exams - March 2017

The VCP550 and VCP550D exams for the VCP5-DCV certification are both set to retire at the end of March 2017.

Both exams are open for registration up to and including March 15th 2017, and the final date to take either exam is March 31st 2017.

You can read more about the retirement on this blog post.

If you need to take either exam, it's time to act - head to this VCP5-DCV page to check eligibility and to find the details on both exams - or check my VCP5-DCV page.

These are the final retirements in the v5 exam-based certifications (excluding VCDX) - it's v6 and beyond now!

VCAP6 - tracks and inheritance

VMware have cleared up the "rules" for existing VCP/VCAP holders around the requirements for earning VCAP6 certifications, and also whether earning a VCAP6 will mean inheriting a VCP6.

Rather than explain it all here, you can read more on their blog post.

Exam retirements - September 2016

VMware have now set a final retirement date for these 3 exams:

Exam VDCA550 for VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 — Data Center Administration (VCAP5-DCA)

Exam VDCD550 for VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 — Data Center Design (VCAP5-DCD)

Exam VCXN610 for VMware Certified Implementation Expert — Network Virtualization (VCIX-NV)

If you still want to attempt these exams before they retire, the last date for making a booking is October 31st 2016, and the end date for scheduling/taking the exams is November 30th 2016.

Each retiring exam now has an equivalent newer exam/certification available:

VCAP5-DCA > VCAP6-DCV Deployment

VCAP5-DCD > VCAP6-DCV Design

VCIX-NV > VCAP6-NV Deployment

VCAP6 Design exams - tips, tricks, and scoring

Jordan Roth from the Certification team at VMware has posted a couple of great articles about the VCAP6 Design exams on his blog The Cloud JAR.

These 2 specific articles give a great insight into the build and scoring of the VCAP6 Design exams that Jordan himself has worked on:

VCAP6 Design Tips, Tricks, and New Features

Scoring for VCAP6 Design Exams

I'd consider both articles to be "must reads" for anyone preparing for a VCAP6 Design certification - in any of the 4 solution tracks.

VCAP6 Deploy exams are go!

VMware have released 2 of the VCAP6 Deploy exams, specifically for the Data Center Virtualization (DCV) and Network Virtualization (NV) tracks:

VCAP6-DCV Deploy

VCAP6-NV Deploy

Both exams are available to schedule now, at participating Pearson VUE testing centres globally - use the links above to find out more about each exam, and to begin the registration process.

Read the official announcement here on the VMware Education & Certification blog.

Tips and Tricks for VCAP6 Deployment Exams

VMware have switched to using a new user interface for the VCAP6 Deployment exams, based on the Hands On Labs interface.

The Certification team has created an Exam UI Guide that gives guidance and tips to help make best use of the interface when taking exams - the easier the interface is to use the better, so you can focus on doing the required tasks!

Dave Davis from the team has also created a blog post with some extra tricks, and an accompanying video that brings the Exam UI Guide and his tips to life - great work Dave!

VCAP6 Design exams now available (DCV and CMA)

The VCAP6 Design exams for the Data Center Virtualization (DCV) and Cloud Management & Automation (CMA) solution tracks are now available!

As these are advanced-level certifications, there are pre-requisites for each, which you can review on the relevant vmware.com pages. You'll also find more information about each exam on their vmware.com pages:

VCAP6-DCV Design

VCAP6-DCV Design Exam (code 3V0-622)

VCAP6-CMA Design

VCAP6-CMA Design Exam (code 3V0-632)

As usual, the VMware Education & Certification blog was used to make the announcement.

If you took a beta version of these exams earlier in the year, your exam is now being scored against the final versions, and you'll get your results in the next 3-4 weeks.

VCAP6 "Deploy" exam betas available

Registration is open for the beta lab exams for these certifications:

VCAP6-DCV Deploy
VCAP6-NV Deploy
VCAP6-CMA Deploy

Appointments are only available initially at certain PearsonVUE locations in North America, though the beta may be extended to other regions.

Read more on this VMware blog post.

July 6th UPDATE: Testing centres in Europe, Asia, Central America, and South America have been added to the beta program, this blog post has more details.

VCAP5 exam retirements suspended

VMware have suspended the retirement of the VCAP5-DCA, VCAP5-DCD, and VCIX-NV exams as I mentioned in this previous post.

The new retirement dates will be set when the new VCAP6 exams are released, and from that point you'll have about 30 days til the VCAP5 exams will be killed off.

Note that there's no mention of the VCPC550 exam for VCP-Cloud in this new announcement, so I assume that's still retiring on June 24th as previously announced.

Read the announcement on this VMware education/certification blog post.

UPDATE: The retirement of the exams has now been confirmed - the deadline for booking a retiring exam is October 31st 2016, and the last day for scheduling/taking a retiring exam is November 30th 2016.

VCAPs - all over the world!

A few months back, VMware posted an infographic on global distribution of VCPs, they've now done the same for VCAP certifications. Check out this post on their Education/Certification blog for the new VCAP info.

A couple of things I noticed:

The USA, UK, and Germany seem to have the highest proportion of VCPs who have gone on to VCAP - 1 in every 9 VCPs in those countries also have a VCAP, compared to only 1 in every 20 VCPs having a VCAP in India and Japan.

I'm 1 of only 448 people in the UK to have a VCAP :-)

VMware beta exams

For a long time now, VMware have run betas of their certification exams - to have people like you help the exam development process and have items tested and validated prior to a final exam release.

Recent examples are the exams for the various VCAP6/VCIX6 certifications.

Read more about it here - including a list of recent or active betas, with the expected dates for the release of beta results and exam GA.

Simple VMware exam registration - yes please!

VMware and Pearson have done further integration work on their systems, resulting in a simple registration process for all VMware certification exams.

No more "exam authorisation" process, and no more having to maintain multiple Pearson logins for VCA/VCP and for VCAP/VCIX exams - just a single, simple process to follow.

All you have to do now is:

1. Go to the page for the relevant exam via the VMware Certification site
2. Click the "Register Now" link on the respective exam page
3. Login to your VMware myLearn account (there's a "one time only" confirmation page to click through)
4. Schedule and pay for the exam

It's great to finally have such a simple process!

Exam Retirements in June 2016

UPDATE: The exam retirements for VCAP5-DCA, VCAP5-DCD, and VCIX-NV have been suspended - read more here.

VMware have announced the retirement of 4 exams related to the older version 5 certifications:

June 2, 2016
VDCA550 for VCAP5-DCA (retirement suspended)
VCXN610 for VCIX-NV (retirement suspended)

June 24, 2016
VDCD550 for VCAP5-DCD (retirement suspended)
VCPC550 for VCP-Cloud

You won't be able to schedule any of these exams beyond those dates, so if you want to achieve those certifications you should act now!

If you already hold the certifications, or achieve them by the dates above, they won't be taken away from you. (VCP-Cloud falls under the VCP recertification guidelines/timing)

Each of the certifications above now has a newer version equivalent:

VCAP5-DCA > VCAP6-DCV Deploy
VCIX-NV > VCIX6-NV
VCAP5-DCD > VCAP6-DCV Design
VCP-Cloud > VCP6-CMA

The exams for the newer versions are either already available, or they will be before the retirement dates for the older version exams as above.

Don't allow your VCP certification to expire - here's why!

Don't allow your VCP certification to expire - once it's gone, it's gone forever!

If your VCP certification does expire, it would be like you never gained it in the first place:

• You would have to meet the regular training requirement for any VCP certification you wanted to obtain.
• You would not be able to obtain a higher-level VCAP/VCIX certification without first getting a new VCP certification.
• If you did gain a new VCP certification, your expired VCPs do not become "un-expired" - they would not show as current on your certification transcript.

Remember, you have 2 years from the date that you gained your VCP certification before it expires, and you can recertify by passing a VCP exam or achieving a higher-level certification.

You can view your transcript and expiry dates at any time by logging into your VMware Certification account and clicking the myTranscript link.

VCP550D exam availability extended til end of March 2016

VMware have announced that the VCP550D exam will now remain available til March 31st 2016.

VCP550D allows existing VCP5-DCV holders to recertify and extend the life of their VCP5-DCV for an additional 2 years.