Punching Clouds

The blueprint for the VCP for vSphere 4 exam has been released by VMware. For all of you existing VCP on VI3 — if you haven’t done so already, its time to get your labs set up and get cracking learning the new products and features. In a previous post I mentioned that existing VCP on VI3 will be eligible to take the VCP for vSphere 4 (VCP4) without having to take a vSphere 4 related class. This offer expires at the end of the year. Below is a brief list of the objectives that the exam will focus on. You can download the pdf for more details from the VMware Education site.

VCP for vSPhere 4 Exam Objectives

Plan, Install and Upgrade VMware ESX/ESXi

• Install VMware ESX/ESXi on local storage
• Upgrade VMware ESX/ESXi
• Secure VMware ESX/ESXi
• Install VMware ESX/ESXi on SAN Storage
• Identify vSphere Architecture and Solutions

Configure ESX/ESXi Networking

• Configure Virtual Switches
• Configure vNetwork Distributed Switches
• Configure VMware ESX/ESXi Management Network

Configure ESX/ESXi Storage

• Configure FC SAN Storage
• Configure iSCSI SAN Storage
• Configure NFS Datastores
• Configure and Manage VMFS Datastores

Install and Configure vCenter Server

• Install vCenter Server
• Manage vSphere Client plug-ins
• Configure vCenter Server
• Configure Access Control

Deploy and Manage Virtual Machines and vApps

• Create and Deploy Virtual Machines
• Manage Virtual Machines
• Deploy vApps

Manage Compliance

• Install, Configure and Manage VMware vCenter Update Manager
• Establish and Apply ESX Host Profiles

Establish Service Levels

• Create and Configure VMware Clusters
• Enable a Fault Tolerant Virtual Machine
• Create and Configure Resource Pools
• Migrate Virtual Machines
• Backup and Restore Virtual Machines

Perform Basic Troubleshooting and Alarm Management

• Perform Basic Troubleshooting for ESX/ESXi Hosts
• Perform Basic Troubleshooting for VMware FT and Third-Party Clusters
• Perform Basic Troubleshooting for Networking
• Perform Basic Troubleshooting for Storage
• Perform Basic Troubleshooting for HA/DRS and VMotion
• Create and Respond to vCenter Connectivity Alarms
• Create and Respond to vCenter Utilization Alarms
• Monitor vSphere ESX/ESXi and Virtual Machine Performance

A great deal of people have been asking about VMware’s certification program, and the VMware Certified Professional (VCP) on vSphere 4.  After the launch of the vSphere last week the questions have been piling up, with current VCP’s and aspiring VCP candidates wanting to know what to do and how to plan for the new certification program.

A lot of interesting questions have come up, such as:

• Is VMware going to make the VCP requirements like Microsoft, where potential candidates buy study books and take the exam?
• Will VMware require attendance at one of their certified classed as a VCP pre-requisite?
• What classes make you eligible for VCP?
• If I am a VCP on VI3, do I still have to take another class in order to be VCP on vSphere 4?
• Is there going to be an upgrade exam from VI3 to vSphere 4 VCP?

To answer those questions: it’s safe to say that VMware will not change the format for their VMware Certified Professional certification program to match Microsoft’s Certification Programs where you can buy a book on any exam topic published by MSPress or any other publisher, study the book and take the exam. Candidates will still have to attend a VMware Certified Class provided by VMware or one of their training partners. The value of this format is that people who want to become VMware Certified Professionals have to spend about a week of solid instructor led training with the adequate hardware and resources required to install, configure, manage, and learn about the VMware products. VMware is expected to release several training classes to cover all aspects of the vSphere platform. Currently there are two classes in the works and are about to be made available publicly, and they are:

• VMware vSphere 4: What’s New
• VMware vSphere 4: Install, Configure, & Manage

Other educationl offerings similar to the ones offered with the Virtual Infrastructure 3 platforms include:

• VMware Infrastructure 3: Deploy, Secure, & Analyze (DSA)
• VMware Infrastructure 3: Fast Track
• VMware Infrastructure 3: Design
• VMware Infrastructure 3: Skills for Operators
• VMware Site Recovery Manager

The new classes are not guaranteed to match the same topics as they did with VI3 since the vSphere platform has a lot more features and components to cover. So the new offerings will most likely change. From what I have heard there may be an upgrade exam to go from VCP on VI3 to VCP on vSphere 4, but these are just speculations. There hasn’t been any official word on this, so we will have to wait and see what happens in the upcoming weeks.
Take a look at the graph, which illustrates the possible re-certification path:

For those of you eager to get started with the preparation for VMware’s VCP on vSphere 4, I recommend you hit up the VMware website, the community blogs, and get started learning about the VMware vSphere 4 products and features. There’s no time like now to start learning because there will be a lot to unpack in order to become VCP on vSphere 4. If you are interested in being one of the first to become VCP on vSphere, I highly recommend that you keep your summer open and attend one of the two classes that I mentioned earlier!