Passing the VMware VCAP6-DCV Design exam

For vSphere 5 and vSphere 6, VMware released advanced exams, testing the ability of a person to deploy, administer, and design complex virtual environments. The exams for vSphere 6 are the VMware Certified Advanced Professional 6-Datacenter Virtualization Deployment (VCAP6-DCV Deployment) exam, which focuses on deploying and administering a VMware vSphere environment, and the VMware Certified Advanced Professional 6-Datacenter Virtualization Design (VCAP6-DCV Design) exam, which focuses on designing an enterprise VMware vSphere environment. VMware has introduced a new certification, VMware Certified Implementation Expert-Datacenter Virtualization (VCIX6-DCV), which is obtained by passing both the VCAP6-DCV Deployment and VCAP6-DCV Design.

The current VMware Certification path is mapped out in the following flowchart:

VMware certification path for datacenter administrators and architects

The VCAP6-DCV Design exam tests your ability to design enterprise virtualized environments. To be successful, you must have an in-depth understanding of VMware's core components and the relationship they share with other components of the datacenter, such as storage, networking, and application services, along with a mastery of VMware's datacenter design methodologies and principles. All the exam objectives, including study resources, can be found in the exam blueprint. VMware exam roadmaps and the VCAP exam blueprints can be found on the VMware Certification portal page at https://mylearn.vmware.com/portals/certification/.

The final stop on the VMware certification path is the VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX). The VCDX certification requires you to create a VMware vSphere design, submitting the design to VMware for review, and then defending the design before a panel of VMware Design Experts.

Getting ready

Before you are eligible to take the VCAP6-DCV Design exam, you should have obtained the VMware Certified Professional 6–Data Center Virtualization (VCP6-DCV) certification. Besides the training required for the VCP6-DCV certification, there is no other required training that must be completed in order to sit for the VCAP6-DCV Design exam. When you are ready to schedule your VCAP6-DCV Design exam, you must submit an exam authorization request to VMware. When you submit the exam authorization request, VMware will verify that you have met the certification prerequisites and provide you with the access necessary to schedule the exam.

At the time of writing this book, the VCAP6-DCV Design exam is in beta, and the final version has not yet been released. The VCAP6-DCV Design beta exam consists of 31 questions with a time limit of 240 minutes. The scoring of the exam has yet to be determined. The beta exam questions are comprised of a mixture of multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, and design scenarios. The final release of the VCAP6-DCV Design exam will likely be very similar. For details, refer to the VMware Certification portal at https://mylearn.vmware.com/portals/certification/.

How to do it…

The VCAP-DCD exam for vSphere 5 was one of the most challenging exams I have ever taken. Here are a few tips to help you prepare for and successfully sit the VCAP-DCD or VCAP6-DCV Design exam:

• Study the material on the exam blueprint: The exam blueprint lists all the objectives of the exam, along with links to documentation related to each exam objective.
• Review the vSphere 6 release notes and product documentation: The release notes and product documentation will provide an overview of the features available, the requirements that must be met to support implementation of the new features, and the best practices to implement features to support design requirements.
• Schedule your exam: Scheduling your exam sets a goal date for you to work towards. Setting the date can provide motivation to help you stay on track with your studying efforts.
• Watch the APAC vBrownBag DCD5 series: The APAC vBrownBag did a series of podcasts focusing on the VCAP-DCD exam for vSphere 5 exam objectives. Even though these podcasts focus on version 5 of the exam, many of the design methodologies and concepts are similar. These podcast are still relevant and provide a valuable study resource. The podcast can be found at http://www.professionalvmware.com/brownbags.
• Get familiar with the exam design interface: On VMware's VCAP Certification page for the DCD exam, there is a UI Demo that will help you get familiar with the design interface that is used in the exam.
• Practice time management: It is very important that you are aware of the amount of time you are taking on a question and how much time remains. If you get hung up on a multiple-choice question, take your best guess and move on. Conserve time for the more complex drag-and-drop and design scenario questions.
• Answer every question: A question left unanswered will be marked incorrect and will not benefit your score in any way. A guess has some chance of being correct.
• Study the material on the exam blueprint: I know this has already been mentioned once, but it is worth mentioning again. The exam blueprint contains all the testable objectives. Study it!

There's more…

For up-to-date information on the VCAP6-DCV Design certification, to download the exam blueprint, and to book the exam once it has been released, visit the VMware Certification portal page at https://mylearn.vmware.com/portals/certification/.