So this past Tuesday I took the VMware VCAP-DCD exam. I wanted to just share my experience as so many others have done in the past few months. I will also toss some tips out that may seem like common sense but when you focus on the goal I have found that it is possible that common sense gets "fuzzy".
So let's first talk about the exam. It was a great experience. The questions had a good mix of difficulty and persistence. Lots of good design scenario based questions.
A few items that should help:
READ. - Read every word and understand the complete scenario. Many of the questions look the same and it is easy to read a portion and miss the import of the questions.
PREPARE. - Preparation for this is not easy but if you read Scott Lowe's book on Design it helps a bunch. Then go over the blueprint and understand the concepts.
TOPICS. - There are some Diagram items that are based on the VMware design tool. It's not great but ... it works. Understand what VMware expects to see in Diagrammed scenarios. Kendrick Coleman and Sean Crooks have a bunch of great information on the DCD. There are a ton of resources on this topic so I won't recreate the wheel. But here are a list of the ones I thought helpful.
Helpful Links:
1st - vSphere Design Course was helpful on a number of fronts. Truly helping you to understand what VMware is looking for on this. Is it preparation for the test? Yes. Is it a guide that once you take the course you can hit DCD with no issues? Nope. The course is a nice guide for concepts and helps in terminology.
2nd - Blueprint. Hit up the blueprint if you want to take the test. It is a nice step by step that when coupled with the vSphere design course outlines the knowledge segments you can bone up on and know where you are weak. Linky to the blueprint is here - Click Here :) - Registration / login required. Do this as you'll need an account to request authorization to take the test with this account. If you don't want to make one you can get it here : Ver 1.5 blueprint (Download PDF).
3rd - Study Resources. I hear Train Signal has some for this. I haven't seen it but all their other stuff is usually good quality. P.S. - If anyone at Train Signal wants me to check out prep stuff for the VCAP-DCD or the VCAP-DCA please feel free to send me a copy! ;) lol.
Seans DCD page in progress - Sean's Link!
Kendrick's Experience - You can find his site here - Kenny's Link - At the time of this writing the blog is offline to me ... don't know why. I have sent out a tweet to Kenny to see what the deal is.
Phil the virtualizer - Phil's Link!
A bunch of others out there. These are the one's that helped me out.
You might want to know you HA options. This link may help - Duncan's HA DeepDive
Also do everyone a favor and know your DRS/HA, Roles, and Advanced Troubleshooting commands.
Without a minimal knowledge of these your going to stare at the screen for way too much time. You have 113 questions and 240 minutes. The diagrams and simulations are good, with the tool it is easy to waste time here. Don't do it!! Know what you need to know and if you don't mark it for review and come back to it! I ended the test with 26 mins left and then went into review mode ... I ended the review with 1 minute and 2 seconds left. I have yet to see an experience where one of my vBrosefs :) (New Term Chappy copyrighted! lol) has had more than 3 or so minutes on the clock when they end review.
So I think that pretty much puts a wrap on it.
One thing left though someone heard that I passed the DCD and then said isn't vSphere 4 out of date? I thought about this a bunch and have the following response.
For early adopters the DCD doesn't provide specific vSphere 5 stuff, true. With all the licensing stuff going on, I hear a number of different stands on upgrading to vSphere 5. What the DCD does prove is that your underlying knowledge is indeed sound and you have some design skills.
So is it based on vSphere 4? Yes.
Does it still show that your knowledge is valid? Yes.
Because it is based on vSphere 4, does it mean that your not an architect? Nope! Since you are a person that passed the DCD you just need to understand the changes in vSphere 5 and BOOM you're good to go.
Finally if anyone vPosers (vPosers are just what they sound like, posers who think that they know vSphere better than everyone just because they are old school.) pester you about your score and you don't feel the need to share. Tell them "My Design brings all the GEAR to yard. Darn right it's better than yours. I could teach you but I'd have to charge." LOL. [ insert "In Living Color" aww snap here! :) ]
Yeah it's like that. You know who you are! :)
Feel free to drop me a line if I should add links to this compilation! virtual chappy at gmail dot you know and no spaces.
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