VCAPs completed….what’s next ?

There is value in trying to achieve the tasks we find the hardest – it’s through the process we learn and improve. For me this is what achieving the VCDX is all about.

So why do I want to pursue it ?

A good question, and one that every candidate should ask of themselves. At first this was driven by my need to be one of those select few, the industry experts of which there are less than 200 world-wide. As I started on the VMware certification ladder towards preparing for the VCDX, from getting the VCP and then moving on towards the more advanced VCAP exams, my objective shifted. It was simply to be the best I could possibly be. Towards the end of 2014, this culminated in me transitioning to a solutions focussed company, with employees who had achieved their VCDX or were striving towards the same goals.

Ultimately I see this as an investment in myself – there is intrinsic value in the process, it is not purely about the end result for me.

The Impact

Many have said it – the impact to your personal life and family should not go without thought. This is not just in the writing of your defence paper but also in qualifying exams up until you start the VCDX process. I have a very supportive family, led by the most amazing wife anyone could ask for, and is the true measure behind my success.

Moving Forward

The community has never been stronger or more prepared to support those pursuing their VCP, VCAPs and VCDX.
I am currently formulating my defence, for which my design contributes a large part of my ongoing learning process.

Good luck to all those starting and those chosen to defend this year.

VCAP5-DCD Certification

The VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 – Data Center Design (VCAP5-DCD) certification is designed for IT architects who design and integrate VMware solutions in multi-site, large enterprise, virtualised environments.

The VCAP-DCD focuses on a deep understanding of the design principles and methodologies behind datacentre virtualisation. This certification relies on your ability to understand and decipher both non-functional and functional-requirements, risks, assumptions and constraints. Before undertaking this, you should have thorough understanding of the following areas :  Availability and security, storage / network design, disaster recovery – and by extension performing business impact analysis / business continuity, dependency mapping, automation and service management.

Key in this process is understanding, how design decisions relating to availability, manageability, performance, recoverability and security impact the design.

I have put together some of the vSphere 5 best practises referenced in the exam blueprint, I hope you find the information helpful if you considering taking this exam. vSphere 5 Design Best Practise Guide.pdf

In preparation for this exam, I found the following books very useful along with the documents provided in the exam blueprint.

• VMware vSphere 5.1 Clustering Deepdive – Duncan Epping & Frank Denneman
• VMware vSphere Design 2nd Edition – Scott Lowe & Forbes Guthrie
• Managing and Optimising VMware vSphere Deployments – Sean Crookston & Harley Stagner
• Virtualising Microsoft Business Critical Applications on VMware vSphere – Matt Liebowitz & Alex Fontana
• VCAP-DCD Official Cert Guide – Paul McSharry
• ITIL v3 Handbook – UK Office of Government & Commerce

Here is the VCAP-DCD certification requirements road map:

As mentioned before, the blueprint is key! – Here is a URL export of all the tools/resources the blueprint targets, this should save time in trawling through the pdf.

Section 1 – Create a vSphere Conceptual Design
Objective 1.1 – Gather and analyze business requirements
VMware Virtualization Case Studies
Five Steps to Determine When to Virtualize Your Servers
Functional vs. Non-Functional Requirements
Conceptual, Logical, Physical:  It is Simple

Objective 1.2 – Gather and analyze application requirements
VMware Cost-Per-Application Calculator
VMware Virtualizing Oracle Kit
VMware Virtualizing Exchange Kit
VMware Virtualizing SQL Kit
VMware Virtualizing SAP Kit
VMware Virtualizing Enterprise Java Kit
Business and Financial Benefits of Virtualization: Customer Benchmarking Study

Objective 1.3 – Determine Risks, Constraints, and Assumptions
Developing Your Virtualization Strategy and Deployment Plan

Section 2 – Create a vSphere Logical Design from an Existing Conceptual Design
Objective 2.1 –Map Business Requirements to the Logical Design
Conceptual, Logical, Physical:  It is Simple
VMware vSphere  Basics Guide
What’s  New  in  VM ware  v Sphere  5 
Functional vs. Non-Functional Requirements
ITIL v3 Introduction and Overview

Objective 2.2 – Map Service Dependencies
Datacenter Operational Excellence Through Automated Application Discovery & Dependency Mapping

Objective 2.3 – Build Availability Requirements into the Logical Desig
Improving Business Continuity with VMware Virtualization Solution Brief
VMware High Availability Deployment Best Practices
vSphere Availability Guide

Objective 2.4 – Build Manageability Requirements into the Logical Design
Optimizing Your VMware Environment
Four Keys to Managing Your VMware Environment
Operational Readiness Assessment
Operational Readiness Assessment Tool

Objective 2.5 – Build Performance Requirements into the Logical Design
Proven Practice: Implementing ITIL v3 Capacity Management in a VMware environment
vSphere Monitoring and Performance Guide

Objective 2.6 – Build Recoverability Requirements into the Logical Design
VMware vCenter™  Site Recovery Manager Evaluation Guide
A Practical Guide to Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery with VMware Infrastructure
Mastering Disaster Recovery: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Whitepaper
Designing Backup Solutions for VMware vSphere

Objective 2.7 – Build Security Requirements into the Logical Design
vSphere Security Guide
Developing Your Virtualization Strategy and Deployment Plan
Achieving Compliance in a Virtualized Environment
Infrastructure Security:  Getting to the Bottom of Compliance in the Cloud
Securing the Cloud

Section 3 – Create a vSphere Physical Design from an Existing Logical Design
Objective 3.1 – Transition from a Logical Design to a vSphere 5 Physical Design
Conceptual, Logical, Physical:  It is Simple
vSphere Server and Host Management Guide
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide

Objective 3.2 – Create a vSphere 5 Physical Network Design from an Existing Logical Design
vSphere Server and Host Management Guide
vSphere Installation and Setup Guide
vMotion Architecture, Performance and Best Practices in VMware vSphere 5
VMware are  vSphere™: Deployment Methods for the VMware® vNetwork Distributed Switch
vNetwork Distributed Switch: Migration and Configuration
Guidelines for Implementing VMware vSphere with the Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtual Switch
VMware® Network I/O Control: Architecture, Performance and Best Practices

Objective 3.3 – Create a vSphere 5 Physical Storage Design from an Existing Logical Design
Fibre Channel SAN Configuration Guide
iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide
vSphere Installation and Setup Guide
Performance Implications of Storage I/O Control–Enabled NFS Datastores in VMware vSphere® 5.0
Managing Performance Variance of Applications Using Storage I/O Control
VMware Virtual Machine File System: Technical Overview and Best Practices

Objective 3.4 – Determine Appropriate Compute Resources for a vSphere 5 Physical Design
vSphere Server and Host Management Guide
vSphere Installation and Setup Guide
vSphere Resource Management Guide

Objective 3.5 – Determine Virtual Machine Configuration for a vSphere 5 Physical Design
vSphere Server and Host Management Guide
Virtual Machine Administration Guide
Best Practices for Performance Tuning of Latency-Sensitive Workloads in vSphere VMs
Virtualizing a Windows Active Directory Domain Infrastructure
Guest Operating System Installation Guide

Objective 3.6 – Determine Data Center Management Options for a vSphere 5 Physical Design
vSphere Monitoring and Performance Guide
vCenter Server and Host Management Guide
VMware vCenter Update Manager 5.0 Performance and Best Practices

Section 4 – Implementation Planning
Objective 4.1 – Create an Execute a Validation Plan
vSphere Server and Host Management Guide
Validation Test Plan

Objective 4.2 – Create an Implementation Plan
vSphere Server and Host Management Guide
Operational Test Requirement Cases

Objective 4.3 – Create an Installation Guide
vSphere Server and Host Management Guide