As well as the VCAP4-DCA certification, VMware have also launched the VCAP4-DCD certification for those who are capable of designing VMware solutions around vSphere 4 in multi-site, large enterprise environments. The certification builds on the foundation-level VCP4 certification and gives architects the opportunity to use VCAP4-DCD as a step towards the full VCDX4 certificaiton.
To achieve the VCAP4-DCD certification requires two exams to be passed:
The exam will be a mixture of multiple-choice questions and a design exercise, and registration for the exam begins in August. The fee for taking the exam has yet to be set, but like the VCAP4-DCA exam it will be available at a large number of Pearson Vue testing centres around the world. Those who have passed the Design exam on VI3 as part of the VCDX3 program will be entitled to a discount on the VCAP4-DCD exam.
The official VMware page on the VCAP4-DCD can be found here.
The VCAP4-DCD exam will not have a compulsory vSphere training requirement, however VMware are recommending that the vSphere: Design Workshop be considered as the exam objectives are all met by the instructor-led workshop.
Those who are new to VMware training/certification who wish to pursue the VCAP4-DCD should follow this path:
VMware have now announced the new VCAP4-DCA certification for vSphere 4, designed to follow-on from the VCP4 and give those in high-level technical roles the opportunity to demonstrate their advanced-level technical skills in key areas of vSphere and vCenter technologies. The VCAP4-DCA also leads on to the full VCDX4 certification.
For the official VMware page on VCAP4-DCA, follow this link.
To achieve VCAP4-DCA, there are two exams that must be passed:
The blueprint for the new VCAP4-DCA exam will be made available soon, and there will be an invitation-only beta process for the exam too. The VCAP4-DCA exam will be the first VMware exam to be based entirely on live labs, and will cost $400 - registration for the exam opens on July 12th. Those who have passed the Enterprise Administration exam for VI3 will be entitled to a discount on the VCAP4-DCA exam.
The exam will be centred around three key areas of expertise in vSphere 4 - performance, troubleshooting, and security, and there will also be some exam content around automation. It will not be compulsory to attend any official vSphere courses to qualify for the VCAP4-DCA exam, but given the content of the exam VMware recommend that the advanced-level vSphere courses are considered to assist with preparation for the exam.
Here's an outline of the recommended course and exam sequence for those who are new to VMware training/certification who wish to pursue the VCAP4-DCA:
Here's a colleciton of lots of things I've learned about the new VMware Certified Advanced Professional certifications for vSphere 4:
- The DataCenter Administration exam will be 100% live labs
- Your score for the DataCenter Administration exam will not be given immediately on completion of the exam, just like the Enterprise Administration exam for VI3 today
- The DataCenter Administration exam will cost $400, the price for the DataCenter Design exam has not yet been set
- The DataCenter Design exam will be a mixture of multiple-choice questions, and a design exercise, as it is today for VI3
- The testing centres for the DataCenter Administration exam will be expanded to a significantly larger pool than it is today
- The new exams will be scheduled directly with Pearson Vue, only the VCDX design defence will need arranging directly with VMware
- The blueprint documents for the new exams are still in development and will be released soon
- The new exams will not have compulsory training course requirements
- The advanced-level Performance, Troubleshooting, and Security courses are recommended as preparation for the DataCenter Administration exam, the exam content is centred around those 3 key areas
- The vSphere: Design Workshop will be excellent preparation for the DataCenter Design exam, the workshop content covers all of the objectives in the exam
- The beta periods for both exams will begin shortly, and will be invitation-only
- VMware partner requirements will not include VCAP4 certifications at this time
VMware have now officially announced the three advanced-level certifications for vSphere 4:
1. VMware Certified Advanced Professional on vSphere 4 - Datacenter Administration (VCAP4-DCA)
2. VMware Certified Advanced Professional on vSphere 4 - Datacenter Design (VCAP4-DCD)
3. VMware Certified Design Expert on vSphere 4 - Datacenter Design (VCDX4-DCD)
I've gots lots of content ready to post later today, here's the official news from VMware.
VMware are currently developing a new specialist course title vSphere: Manage and Design for Security, the course will be available later in the summer, and will cover all the best practices for secure design, deployment and operations of a vSphere environment. The course objectives are:
- Identify vulnerabilities in the current design of a vSphere environment and recommend corrective actions
- Harden vSphere components as described in the security hardening guides for vSphere 4
- Use VMware® vShield Zones to provide firewall protection to virtual machines and monitor virtual machine network traffic
- Recommend configuration and change management policies, processes, and systems
This is planned to be a 2-day course with roughly 40% of the time spent doing hands-on labs. I'll post a fuller overview of the course closer to the release date, once VMware have finalised the course objectives and content.
Update on July 5th - corrected the course name in the title and body.
This summer VMware will be releasing a new course vSphere: Automation with vSphere PowerCLI, the course will give administrators an introduction to the vSphere PowerCLI and show them how to use it to perform a variety of different tasks in a vSphere environment:
- Automate VMware® ESX™ configuration
- Automate the provisioning of virtual machines
- Automate changes to virtual machine configuration
- Automate cluster operations
- Automate reporting
vSphere PowerCLI is an extension to Microsoft PowerShell, and contains over 100 VMware-specific commands (or cmd-lets in the language of PowerShell) - the course is currently in development and is due to be 2 days long with roughly 60% of the time spent doing hands-on labs with PowerCLI.
I'll post a more thorough outline of the course closer to the release date, once the content and structure has been finalised.
Update on July 5th - corrected the course name in the title and body text
In a previous blog post I told the story of VMware Xtra, a value-added project I've been working on for Global Knowledge UK, two other well-known UK-based bloggers have also now posted a review of the principle behind VMware Xtra and some of the content.
Tom Howarth posted his review recently on his excellent PlanetVM blog - here's the post.
Simon Long has also just added a review to The Slog - here's his post.
I also confirmed in the webinar last week that we are rolling out our Xtra program across other vendors, my colleagues are currently working on Cisco CCNA Xtra, and in development we also have Xtra content for Prince2, ITIL, and some key Microsoft technologies... they will all be added to the Global Knowledge UK site as and when they are ready.
I will also be adding lots of content to VMware Xtra over the summer, enhancing the current material and making Xtra an even fuller end-to-end learning experience.
