‘WIRE’ is a free self-paced learning platform to our Cloud Providers and Aggregation partners

VMware had released VMware WIRE for free to our Cloud Providers and Aggregators. It is a free self-paced learning platform with tons of amazing contents. WIRE offers VMware products and Solutions ennoblement for level (L100) sales level, (L200) Technical, and sometime (L300) Deep Technical. If you have been looking for great VCPP Training materials for your self or your team, here you have it and for free!

VMware Wire VCPP Solution Enablement Learning Path

WIRE is free for everyone to use and doesn’t require a partner central account. You can set up an account in the platform directly – please include all your details so we can put you in the correct team to serve you the correct content.

To use WIRE please login initially via http://bit.ly/SelfPacedWire where you can use a partner central account if you have one, or create one directly in WIRE, (again please remember to fill in all your details!) Once logged in you will be placed into the “VCPP Solution Enablement Learning Path” where you can view all the solution areas and various technologies within.

Watch the orientation course first and change your password so you can log back into WIRE, then save the URL or use http://bit.ly/GetEnabled for future access. If you have any questions on WIRE, you can contact: vcpp_gtm@vmware.com… Read More

Learn VMware vSphere resource management

As a part of my learn vSphere from Scratch video training, I have just released my latest lesson “Learn VMware vSphere resource management”, unlike other lessons in the series which were focused solely on someone learning vSphere from scratch, this lesson can be useful to more versed vSphere admins as well any one starting from scratch. This lesson cover the following topics in a great details:

– Learn about virtual machine autonomy.
– How does VMware vSphere Manage its resources?
– How is resource scheduling in vSphere work?
– How does Virtual Machines resource allocation, limit, & reservation work?
– How does ESXi host manage CPU & Memory over commitment?
– Learn more about ESXi extensive memory management techniques such as TPS (Transparent page sharing, ballooning, & swaping)
– What is memory compression?
– Find out what a VM is made of, & learn more about the files that make  up a VM.
– What the type of Virtual Machines disks VMware ESXi support, & when to use each format?
– What is a snapshot,  what to use it for, & how to use it?
– Learn how to manage virtual machines in the vSphere interface.
– Learn what each of the virtual machines setting mean & what is it used for.… Read More

Learn Virtualization & VMware vSphere from Scratch

Few months back I got to speak to different friends of mine in the IT field, who were specialized in networking, storage, SAP, Database, Hardware and so on. I was surprised they had zero to little exposure to Virtualization although they are well versed into their field of expertise. They even held highest certifications in their fields like CCIE & the equivalent for the different specialty. This has kinda surprised me as working with Virtualization/Cloud Admins on daily basis, I had thought most IT professional by now are well versed with Virtualization. This has proved being far from the true, the more I speak to IT Professionals outside the Virtualization field.

Figuring out that many IT Professionals are still stuck in the past within the physical infrastructure, I decided to explore the cause and try to help improve the situation. Asking my friends about the cause of not catching up on Virtualization although they are aware its rapidly changing every IT field. I asked my networking friends if they are already aware that there is more virtual network ports than there is physical these days and they were surprised of that fact. I asked them what will they do when 90% of the network ports become virtual network ports and a part of a virtual switch.… Read More

VMware VCAP5-DCD fresh tips

Last Saturday, I have thought it is finally the time to attend the overdue VCAP5-DCD exam. After obtaining my VCDX4, I have decided to award my self some break of doing certification exams, which got me to push my VCAP5-DCD exam beyond what I originally anticipated. Last Monday, I looked at the availability of the next exam slot for VCAP5-DCD in a nearby test center and Saturday 21st of June was it. That meant on Saturday morning while people are cheering for their favorite team to score in the World Cup, I was scoring through my VCAP5-DCD. The good part, I have won my game and got the “You have Passed” message at the end of the exam.

vSphere VCAP Design

I thought I might share my experience on here and some tips of what to study.

Let me start with my VCAP5-DCD experience:

  1. This exam is a real marathon. I went to the exam with this being expected already from what I have read on other blogs. While 4 hours for 100 Questions sound like a lot of time, I had only 3 minutes left when I got to question 90. It is important to note, I was already running through questions as quickly as possible as I kinda expected it to be tight on time, but still were barely got to Q99 when the exam timed out.
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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 Certified Professional on vSphere 5 – VCP510 Exam tips

I have just passed my VCP510 last Saturday upgrading my VCP4 to VCP5. As many of you know the last chance to upgrade your VCP is February 29, 2012 so not much time left. If you have not done so yet, then consider completing that asap to avoid having to being obligated again to attend a VCP course in order for you to be able to upgrade your VCP4 to VCP5. Below are what our website state as ways to obtain the VCP5 Certification.

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There are different paths to VCP5 certification based on your background. Choose your path and complete the three core validation components:

  1. Attend a qualifying VMware authorized course.
      Already a VCP4? There is no course requirement until February 29, 2012.
  2. Gain hands-on experience with VMware vSphere 5.
  3. Pass the VCP5 Exam.

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Just to ensure that you are aware that if you don’t currently hold any earlier version of the VCP Certification the VCP5 course is mandatory before taking the VCP510 exam to get the certificate. This is important to keep in mind, as you can take the VCP510 exam without attending the course but you will not be awarded the VCP5 certificate even if you pass the VMware VCP510 exam.… Read More

My VCAP-DCD Journey & Tips

My last 10 days were a trip to ….. I had been contacted by our certifications team and been informed that the dead line for the VCDX4 defense held in UK in may is March 21st. That e-mail just had started an alarm in my head as only 10 days was left, as I was still missing the VCAP-DCD & submitting a design to be eligible for attending the defense in May. Further, I was stuck with many customers proposals, sizing, & high level designs for that week. Being me I have decided to shoot for that dead line & that when an 18 hours work days started. I took two days and the weekend off & finished customers work that was in hand in the first 3 days & completed the design update from VI3 to vSphere in the first 7 days. The 3 days left I used them to cramp as much as possible of the VCAP-DCD materials that had thousands of pages to go through!!

Ok, so the testing center experience. Arrived with all kind of thoughts on my mind to the testing center who took about 20 minutes to be able to work their cam to get the picture of me required of the exam (As I needed more frustration by that time).… 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

MY VMWare Certified Professional on vSphere 4 VCP-410 Tips

I know I have been pushing back my vSphere exam for a while due to the amount of projects I am working on this year. I have finally passed my exam two days back with a blazing score of 494(haha thought it would be quite lower than this, but I guess the elimination process of answers that does not make sense had worked out very well on this one). I would love to thank everyone in the VMware community who had posted tips for the VCP exam especially Kumaran, Brian, Scott Vessey.  As my return to the community I have decided to post some tips for the exam:

First Tip: VCP-410 is not only covering your  daily VMware work, its more than that. I have seen many questions in the VCP-410 exam, which I had never needed to use before in practice or have came across it once every few years. You will have to know the VMware material very well, do not show up to the exam only with your work experience. Read & read more of VMware vSphere Documentation.

Second Tip: The exam cover VMware networking in way more details, than most VMware enviornment require. Make sure you know VMware networking very well  & get familiar with terms like beaconing, Promiscuous Mode, vdistributed switch.… 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