VCDX 100 Celebration Treats Just Arrived almost on time for Christmas!

While VCDXSanta has missed Christmas day this time, he still delivered my VCDX gift box today. To be more accurate VCDXSanta has left my VCDX gift box at FedEX office and requested me to pick it up. When I went to the VCDX office I had no clue what the package I got and they refused to share any information about it with me on the phone. I was actually surprised to see how large of a package I got knowing that I did not order anything that big lately. As soon I read the address on the package I was able to tell its my VCDX goodies & swapped my phone and took a picture of the package at the FedEX office which got them to give me a weird look as I had no clue what package I am expecting when I arrived there and now shooting a photo of the package. Below is a picture of the box before even picking it up!

VCDX 100 Celebration gift box

I know I have not been the first to receive the package or share what included in it on a blog, as there was a nice blog post at http://www.gabbs.com/2012/12/17/vcdx-2012-christmas-treat/ which show pictures of each of the items and detail descriptions.… Read More

My VCDX Defense Trip & Tips

Today in the morning when I opened my e-mail, I could not believe my eyes when I got the congratulation letter for being VCDX#89 after defending two weeks back in Toronto. My trip running for VCDX has spanned over three years. I have completed the per-requisites for VCDX3 before the last VCDX3 defense, but I could not defend as it was held in the US and I failed to obtain the Visa on time back then. After that I have upgraded my design to vSphere 4 & passed VCP4 & VCAP-DCD and was looking for the opportunity to defend when the defense come close by & here its right in my town in Toronto two weeks back. During my VCDX Trip I have changed companies once, Changed position 3 times, changed countries three times, & even change continent from Middle East(Asia) to Canada(North America). It was a hell of a trip with all these busy moves, but it was well worth it. If things go all around again, I would still for sure run for it.

For those of you planning to attempt the defense I am going to give you some free tips below that I wish I would have followed before the exam.… Read More

VMware Design Exam Experience & Study Materials

I have taken my VMware Design Exam few days back, which I almost missed as my hotel totally forgot about my wake up call & my mobile (which I use as my alarm) ran out of battery. After taking the exam, I can not agree anymore with others who took the exam, its more of an administration than a design exam. Further, few questions did not have the right answer or did not work correctly. Two question where you do the matching did not have the proper answers rather had duplicate answers, which I have seen many posts about it from up to 1 year back. Its amazing that it has been not functioning for that long and never been fixed.

The last question which was the design drawing question was too short on time. I mean the amount of reading you have to do to answer the question & getting used to the drawing tools would really require more time than the amount provided on the exam. Yes, as many others the exam has timed out on me while I was only half-way done with my design.

Though after all I am glad its all over & I have successfully completed my VMware Design Exam & now got to start preparing my application.… Read More

VCDX – VMware Enterprise Administration Exam NPIV Chapter

I have earlier mentioned on my blog that I will publish my study guide for VMware Enterprise Administration Exam, but as I have been preparing for my design exam & killed with projects at work. I really had no time to put it all online. Further, it seems these exams are expiring soon. For that I have decided to only publish the most ignored chapters required for the VMware Enterprise Administration exam & VMware Design Exam. I will start with NPIV. When I was preparing for my exam beside the Exam blueprint NPIV was not covered in any study guide including the DSA materials. As I did not use it much in real life I had got a bit of exposure and note taken while reading the chapter about it in the Fibre Channel SAN Configuration Guide which should be almost of sufficient knowledge for both VMware Enterprise Administration Exam & VMware Design Exam as I assume at least. Below are my note of NPIV.

NPIV enables a single FC HBA port to register several unique WWNs with the fabric, each of which can be assigned to an individual virtual machine. When a virtual machine has a WWN assigned to it, the virtual machine’s configuration file (.vmx)… Read More

VMware VCDX Enterprise Administration Exam & my tough luck

I have scheduled my VMware VCDX Enterprise Administration Exam on the 1st of June 2010. I was planning to take 10 days off work before the exam for preparation, but I got stuck at a large project which has minimized my study time including travel to 5 days.

As I am currently based in Kuwait, the closest location I was able to take my exam in June was London. I have scheduled my exam for the 1st of June & booked my ticket for the 26 of May. As I had to travel to Hungary for training right after my exam I needed to obtain Hungary visa before traveling, which I had never obtained till the 31st of may. That has caused me to fly to London on the day of the exam. What made it more fun, I had to run from the airport to the hotel drop my luggage then head directly to the exam center after 8 hours flight. To make my day even better, I was not prepared for a cold rainy weather in london when I arrived, as it was smoking hot in Kuwait & the weather forcast for London did not mention anything about rain storm.… Read More

VMware VCDX Enterprise Exam 3.5 Study Guide

As VMware the Virtualization market leader has released their new certification VCDX & More question started poping up of how to prepare for the exam. As there is almost no official study book for VCDX up to the moment. I thought I would share two valuable resources to prepare for the exam. Please note this exam is intended for VCPs who have gotten a great exposure in designing & setting up VMware VI3 enviornemnt.

Official VMware Enterprise Administration Exam Blueprint v3.5

VCDX Enterprise Exam 3.5 study guide by PetervandenBosch

I hope these guide help all of us start preparing for the VCDX Exam. If you had done the exam, or have another good resource for preperation please share it with us in the comments. Thanks.… Read More