When I started with VMware as part of the graduate program in February, I knew almost nothing about vSphere. In this post I’ll share some of the resources I used to go from zero hands-on VMware experience to VCP certified.
Official Courses
In order to be eligible to sit for the VCP-DCV certification if you hold no other VCPs, you must attend one of the recommended training courses.
The full list of courses is as follows:
- VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V7]
- VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V7] – On Demand
- VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V7]
- VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V7] – On Demand
- VMware vSphere: Troubleshooting [V7]
- VMware vSphere: Fast Track [V7]
- VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale plus Troubleshooting Fast Track V7]
- VMware vSphere: Advanced Administration Workshop [V7]
However, I would strongly recommend you take both the Install, Configure, Manage and the Optimize and Scale course if you can. While the Optimize and Scale course definitely goes above the requirements of the VCP, it will help to reinforce your understanding of the key vSphere concepts and cover some topics that are not in the ICM but are in the exam blueprint.
Speaking of the exam blueprint, make sure you download the official exam guide AND read it thoroughly (available here – https://www.vmware.com/learning/certification/vcp-dcv-7-exam.html), as it will help you focus your studies towards the content that is actually in the exam!
I’d recommend you attend your chosen course in person if possible – it’s a great way to make sure you stay focused and motivated, and you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions.
Study Guides
While the official courses are helpful, just taking the ICM is not enough to fully prepare you for the exam. I’d say the ICM covers about 60-70% of the content in the exam – you’ll need to go into a little more detail and make sure you cover off all of the exam objectives to be successful.
I read (or at least partially read) a number of unofficial study guides to prepare for the exam and found them to be very useful, as they are more targeted towards the exam blueprint objectives than the courses are.
Here are some of my favourite community study guides (and the best part is that they’re all available online for free!):
- Mike Wilson (@IT_Muscle)’s VCP-DCV 2020 Study Guide (https://www.it-muscle.com/vcp-dcv-2020-vsphere-7-study-guide-complete-pdf/)
- Shane Williford’s VCP-DCV 2021 Study Guide (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/shiney-new-vmware-vcp-dcv2021-study-guide-shane-williford/)
These guides are for previous year’s exams, but the content is still useful for the VCP-DCV 2022 as they all relate to vSphere 7.x.
There’s also an official Certification Guide from Pearson IT Certification – this one is quite lengthy, but it has a lot of quizzes and practice questions throughout the book (which I found to be harder than the actual exam in many cases). You can check this one out with a 10-day free trial through the O’Reilly learning platform (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/vcp-dcv-for-vsphere/9780135936610/) or purchase it directly.
Labs, Labs, Labs!!
While study materials are incredibly useful for this certification, nothing will build your understanding of vSphere as much as real hands-on experience. I’ve listed some options below that you could use:
- VMware Hands-On Labs
VMware Hands-On Labs are a completely free and very easy way to get familiar with vSphere – no hardware required, just access the online portal from your browser. I’d recommend starting with Virtualization 101 (https://pathfinder.vmware.com/v3/activity/virtualization_101) – it will walk you through the basics of vSphere with guided instructions. You can also just use these labs to test out different features and ignore the manual completely. The main limitation is that these labs are not persistent – so anything you do will be lost when the session expires. You can extend the session for up to 9.5 hours, but there’s no way to save your progress. - Course Labs
If you enrol in one of the recommended courses, you’ll be given access to an online lab environment to complete the course labs. Of course, you can also use this environment for additional study outside of the lab exercises. This environment is very similar to the Hands-On Labs platform but your session will remain active for about two weeks – so you’ll have a bit more time to experiment. - Homelab
The final option is to create a lab environment on your own hardware. I don’t think this option is absolutely necessary for the VCP-DCV, but it will give you great experience and be useful for your future VMware learning. Hardware can be expensive, so you can create a nested environment on a single host, and you can evaluate VMware products for free for up to 60 days.
Additional Study
Here are some additional ideas and resources that may also help your studies:
- Read the references listed in the official exam guide
- Practice whiteboarding/diagramming the key vSphere concepts to cement your knowledge
- Check out the VMware Docs site (https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/index.html) for more information and tutorials on how to configure each vSphere feature in your lab environment
- Read some VMware Knowledge Base articles – KBs are a great resource that cover a lot of common support topics (https://kb.vmware.com/s/)
Taking the Exam
As for the exam itself, you can currently take it online or at a designated test centre. That choice comes down to personal preference – just make sure if you go with the online option that you double check the equipment and space you’re going to use to take the test meets all of the requirements.
The exam is 70 questions across 130 minutes, which I found to be more than enough time. If you’ve made it this far down the list, you’re probably quite well prepared – but booking your exam date can be daunting, so one tip I used to help myself feel more confident was to keep a spreadsheet of exam objectives and mark off each objective when I felt confident explaining it and applying it in a lab environment. That way, you can measure your progress and make sure you’ve checked off everything you need to know before you book your exam. I’d encourage you to just give it a go through – taking the exam will help you get a feel for the type of questions asked and the areas you might need a little more study for.
Kader