Category Archives: VCP

VCP6-DCV Delta Exam Experience

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VCP6-DCVI recently took and passed the VCP6-DCV Delta Exam (2V0-621D), so I thought I’d share my test and study experience.  I also hold a VCP5-DCV but this test was different.  The VCP5 test had a lot more situational knowledge questions where I felt the VCP6 exam was more book knowledge questions.

Questions

A good portion of the questions on the exam are around permissions.  Things like how they are applied, what permissions allow what as well as how permissions flow by level (global, local).  There are also questions regarding limits and reservations on VMs.  An image was shown with VMs given a set memory allocation but some had a high share value and others a normal value.  You are asked which VM is given priority.

Study

My study suggestion would be to make sure you’re comfortable with permissions, new features in 6 and limits in 6, as well as shares.  As always, the VCP is best taken after you’ve worked in an environment previously.  If you are unable to play in an environment at work, build up a quick lab at home.  There are dozens of articles out there that show you how to create a small lab with very minimal hardware. Finally, make sure to go over the blueprint that VMware has for the exam.  Make sure you are comfortable with everything in it and if you’re not, then you know what you need to study.  Blueprint can be found here.

VMware also provides a practice test for you to take.  You can take it up to 100 times.  I found that several of the questions on the practice test were very close to questions on the actual test.  The wording may have been different but the format and complexity of the question were very similar.  The practice test can be found here.

Best of luck on your exam!

My VCP5-DCV Experience

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I recently took and passed my VCP5-DCV (510) exam.  To be honest, it wasn’t what I was expecting and there were other ways that I could have better prepared in hindsight.  Hence the reason for this post, to share my experience with those preparing or thinking about taking the exam.

My first tip would be to have confidence going into the exam.  If you’re thinking about or preparing to take the exam, then you already have experience with vCenter and virtualization.  So walk into the test center like a boss and own that exam.

Second, take as many practice exams as you can find.  I found a few that helped.  A great site I found was here (mwpreston.net).  VMware also has practice exams on their mylearn site. A tip for the mylearn site is if you get all the questions right, you can’t take it again.  So you should purposely get some questions wrong so you can continue using it.

Third, if you can, build a lab and play with things you normally don’t use.  Add some virtual iSCSI adapters if you don’t use iSCSI, etc.  Be prepared and expect to see things on the test that you have never used before and use your best judgement to answer the questions.

Fourth and finally, read as much as you can.  I’m sure we’ve all been in the situation of cramming for an exam.  The night before, trying to read the entire textbook to suck as much knowledge out of it as possible.  I would suggest giving yourself ample time to prepare and get comfortable with topics on vCenter, vDS and Standard Switches, and storage adapters.

With all that said, the first tip is the most important.  Have the confidence you know this stuff and that you have prepared.  Don’t second guess yourself when answering the questions and go with your gut feeling.  Take the practice exams, study the basics, and pass!

Best of luck and if you have any other questions, drop me a line.