Plain Virtualization

New changes are coming your ways for VMware certifications. A blog article just been release. 1. Prices of VCP, VCAP, etc. are all standardize to one single price, USD250. This is definitely beneficial for many especially those who are keen to persue the advanced level exam but having difficult to afford the exam fee which was much higher. 2. A mandatory course is no longer needed as an exam requirement. This will help many professionals who are experienced to get certified without having to go through boring course and spend to drag through the requirement.  Will this then bring down the certification value since course was required to ensure certified professional walk the talk as what they hold in credential? Answer to point 2, for people who are new and managed to pass the exam and get certified by other means, it can be identified easily. As the digital badges will be differentiated whether the exam was passed with a accompanied course or not. So during an interview, it can i...

I haven't been actively looking at VMware certification upgrade or into exam writing over more than a year. My certification has been at least 2 version back last was due to developing the initial vSphere 7.0 back in 2021. VMware has since remove the so call "expiration" of certification. Since due to Broadcom acquisition, was looking at my own certification making sure it is updated and all was dated 2021 version. Which means I would need to pass one exam which is current as documented  here . If your exam is just a year before, the requirement is just to attend a recommended course instead of an exam. So if you have not updated to the current year and is just one year before, a course would make the most sense. In my case, I would not have to take an exam if I have attend a course last year and to renew this year, would be another course. The good news is, if you own both VCP or VCAP of the same track and year, you only need to take the higher (in my case, VCAP) and do ...

If you happen to be learning how hyper-converge works and in this case, how VMware vSAN works, this is the post for you. Thanks to my team member, Kok Cheng Aw who shared this link . It is located under the TechZone section, Learn and Evaluate . If you choose under vSAN Demonstrations , you will locate the Infographic which is a bunch of animation that illustrate every single scenario on how vSAN works, how failure scenario happens, etc. This is really cool. In the past, we were to use heavy powerpoint animation to view such things (provided someone creates it). Now if all the information in TechZone and the Infographic at hand, you are now equip to take The VMware Specialist - vSAN certification. Wish I have that in the past, that makes life way easier to study and understand the technology. Hope this helps.

VMware has released a new exam, VMware Certified Specialist - vSphere with Tanzu. This is a badge exam and specific to vSphere with Tanzu which is new name for vSphere with Kubernetes. To earn the digital badge, would require you to pass not just the exam. But also, the VMware vSphere with Tanzu: Deploy and Manage [V7] course whether in classroom or on demand and in additional, passed at least VCP-DCV 2020. Check out here for more details.

Without any announcement made, the VCAP-DCV Deploy 2021 based on vSphere 7 is now available! It available for booking now. If you are interested in the VCAP-DCV Design 2021 based on vSphere 7, it is available at the same time here . If you head over to VMware VCAP-DCV Deploy  exam, you will see you are given two options based on vSphere 6.7 or vSphere 7. Not sure how long the vSphere 6.7 exam will last but at least the vSphere 7 now made available. You can refer to the exam guide here to understand what the questions are testing you on with the resources provided. I am glad to be part of the team to develop this exam. And this is not an easy effort to burn off many midnight oils for conference meeting since I am only one based out in APJ. It was a wonderful experience to have work with members in the team to develop this exam and getting our hands dirty to also test out validating the exam. All thanks to these folks and not forgetting the exam project manager,  Lourdes Soler ...

Little and was I made known that VMware has release a new certification for vSAN specialist. Over here , it has listed as vSAN Specialist 2019. Not much has changed from the look as it is an update from the first vSAN Specialist certification based on vSphere 6.5 to vSphere 6.7. For those who are keen, this is a testing center exam. Just make sure you understand the required knowledge from the Exam Guide and have deep understanding of vSAN. Good Luck!

Recently VMware announced some of the new exams and naming for 2019 here . These exams have also gone live here . There is also some confusion since some of us have taken for example VCP DCV 6.5 which is now be awarded VCP DCV 2019 if you have taken it this year. For those who have earned the VCP DCV based on 6.5 last year, 2018, you will be granted VCP DCV 6.5. However, moving forward this year, for VCP DCV either based on 6.5 or 6.7, you will be granted VCP DCV 2019 on passing.

There are two specialist certifications release by VMware, namely vRealize Operations and vSAN. Recently I took the attempt for vSAN Specialist Exam. Before we go into it, let see what is the requirement to take this exam. You need to have a valid VCP 6.x on any track. No course requirement but the vSAN Deploy and Manage is recommended. There is only a Digital Badge when you passed the exam and there is no certification for this exam.  The exam code is  2VB-601: VMware Specialist: vSAN 6.x Exam. Do check out the exam guide. However, the guide does not indicate the exam time and the number of questions. Total questions were 60 from what I encounter and the time is similar to VCP about 240 mins. Cost for me is SGD363 (this might differ for other countries). You are required to know everyone on vSAN from 6.0 to the latest now 6.6. Everything in these versions will be tested. It will be good to understand the concept and fundamentals of the technology as well all the fea...

If you have been following the exam news that has been release, starting from 1st April, the price of the exams for all level starting from Foundation, Associate, Professional, Advanced Professional and Expert have all increased.  You can read up the official post here . I will skip the Foundation and Associate exam since these are just entry level exams. Looking at Professional (VCP), Advanced Professional (VCAP) and Expert (VCDX), each has increased from $225 to $250, $400 to $450 and $300 + $900 to $995 + $3,000 respectively.  If you look at it its a gradually increase in tier except for the Expert level which one would think twice attempting with an increase over 130%.  With this increased, this exam will be a company sponsored exam moving forward and not meant for one to self sponsor himself at close to $5,000.  Though these prices are affecting the developed countries. Not sure why the move but it seems like VMware it controlling the number of people atta...

If you are not aware do read this blog by Ken Thacker.  This is going to be for the first time, VMware Education is opening up to the public, internationally to help craft its technical certification. You get to be recognized though earning a badge like this . I was lucky to be part of one of the Exam Items Workshop for VCP6.5-DCV.  It was an eye opener and also great commitment required.  For anyone who is keen on the above let me share with you what I went through in a short summary. Exam Items Writing is a 5 days WebEx and phone call happening at night in Singapore time (for me) over 8 hours.  It starts from 9PM to 4AM my time.  It requires at least 6 people to start the process at any one time.  If anyone could not make it and need to fall out and the number in the team is less than 6, the work cannot carry on. For the first night, it was introduction and briefing how to start and we break off from the call to start writing the questions after ...

Have been a long and hectic week for me.  Doing WebEx and call over 5 hours each time in the middle of the night.  Will talk about that in a later post. Took the VCAP6-DCV Design beta exam back in 16th Feb 2016 this year.  Results was a fail for me. However received an email from VMware Certification in Nov 2016 give me some hope. Seems that the marking system has some errors that need to be check on and through this the exam score might change.  It can be better or worse.  On 20th Nov, did a check and see that my status is still a fail. Just this week, I got this! A quick check in my VMware Certification Manager, is a Pass! I am glad I passed this time round.  But the purpose of this post was not about if I managed to pass or fail. What VMware could have done, they can well, keep quiet and let those who fail to remain failing so they will attempt the full VCAP6-DCV Design exam at a full cost (Beta is discounted as more ques...

How many times you find it difficult to schedule a VMware exam having to navigate between VMware and Pearson VUE site? You have to first seek authorization first before you can make any booking of a Professional or Advanced exam both require different authorization.  A post I did 2 years ago on the new system. As of 5th March 2016, these will no longer be needed.  You will no longer need multiple accounts; VMware myLearn and Pearson VUE.  All you need to do is just VMware myLearn account to register and you will be directed to Pearson VUE site and make your exam appointment.  No more exam authorization needed anymore! That what I call simplicity.  Finally!

Wasn't aware till my colleague mention about it here .  Design VCAP exams for the threes tracks namely: Data Center Virtualization, Cloud Management and Automation, Desktop and Mobility has been release. You can register for the beta exams while seats last.  So if you are keen to do the VCAP6 for any tracks, head over to the page.  At the time of writing, only the Data Center Virtualization and Cloud Management Design is available at USD100.  The date for the exam starts on 15th Feb 2016 onwards. You will of course need to meet the following requirements.  Using Data Center Virtualization VCAP6 as example, you will need:VCP6 or VCAP5 DCD/DCA. Upon passing, you will be granted VCAP6-DCD and if you are holding existing VCAP5-DCA, you will be also given VCIX6-DCV if the new certification roadmap announced earlier still applies. I will head over and register for it and update once again after I taken the exam.  Wish me luck! Update 8th Feb 2016 App...

Recently I tried the online proctored exam to renewed my Microsoft certifications.  Yes they do have expiry (just like VMware) after 3 years. Before I go on, why am I sharing this you may ask?  This exam is offered from Microsoft from Prometric.  I am seeing this possible to be row out perhaps in future for VMware as people are not able to make trips to exam center or there are none at their location.  Since VMware exam is also hosted at Prometric, this could be possible. I made my exam appointment online and schedule it just less than one hour from my exam time.  Yes online exam, can be scheduled as long they are available and not limited to operations hours like test center.  I took my exam at Singapore time 1AM. During the booking process, you will be task to test your machine to see if it can work and run the application which will eventually be installed on your laptop.  Sadly Microsoft do not support Mac and only Windows 7 and above with al...

With the release of vSphere 6, there were some changes to the certification as posted earlier. VMware announced the retirement of VCAP for vSphere Design and Administration and replaced it with VCIX which requires equivalent of both VCAP category exam with half the exam time . As announced recently, VMware Education has listen to feedbacks and instead of retiring VCAP certification all together it will still have it valid however VCIX will only been granted to individual with double VCAP for each track in Design and Administration except for VCIX-NV which will be the only direct VCIX certification with no option of VCAP. With this announcement, individual can now still be recognize in passing one of the category in each track and granted VCAP or VCIX for earning a double VCAP in any track. The upgrade path for existing VCAP does not change as announced earlier.  To achieve VCIX, existing VCAP with either category need just pass the other category in version 6. ...

With the new year of 2015, VMware education also did some amendments to their certification roadmap to adapt to the industry requirements.  However there isn't a big change but one major one I see is the VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) has been renamed to VMware Certified Implementation Expert (VCIX).  You can view more details here .  The roadmap diagram is as below: You can also find the more updated charts for version 5 and version 6 here . In fact I was seeing this coming since under Network Virtualization track it has already started with VCIX. Although VCIX6-NV started with only an administration exam, I believe all tracks will contain both design and administration exam as mentioned under VCIX section. The other change would be under the Cloud Management & Automation track where there are two different VMware Certified Associate (VCA) but only one VMware Certified Professional (VCP) track.  This will be focused on VMware vRealize A...

After the big event, VMworld 2013 at San Francisco and the coming Bacelona, there will be various events to carry on the information that was announced at the APAC regional vForum or VMware Solutions Symposium at individual APAC countries. Other than the announcements and launches of new version and products, there is also promotion for certifications announced here . I am going to take Singapore for example here where vForum 2013 will be held on 24th Oct where information of all the events are shown here . For Singapore, you will be able to take the certification exams like the new associates exams with 50% off the price and as well as VCP and VCAP exams at 75% off the price as shown here .  One thing as a reminder, if you are taking exams that need authorization, you will still need to go through this process which I posted here . The information on this page is rather confusing so here I am going to make a summary for easy understanding. Exams can be taken from 11th N...

If you have been doing your booking for VMware exams, you would know you can do it over at Pearson Vue website .  However if you have now try to do the same you might find yourself seeing the below page after login and unable to make any registration. VMware Education has recently revamped the way you make your exam booking.  Instead of viewing the information at VMware website and decide to schedule an exam and head to Pearsonvue, what VMware Education has done is let you do everything via VMware Certification site . Head on to VMware Certification site to choose a certification you are preparing for.  Here I am going to use VCP5-DV for example. You will find all the information for VCP5-DV including the course listing that is eligible to be certified.  At time of writing, only vSphere 5.1: Install Configure and Manager and vSphere5.1: Optimize and Scale are the only two courses (I am not here to explain how to be certified but to address the change). To...