The VCAP4-DCA is the VMware Certified Advanced Professional exam focused on Datacenter Administration. This is going to raise the level for VCP’s who want to show that they know their stuff. The exam is 100% hands on lab based exam material.  The VDCA410 exam consists of approximately 40 live lab activities and a short pre‐exam survey consisting of 9 questions. Live lab activities consist of multiple tasks, where each task is scored. The total number of activities provided is based on the total number of tasks. Because of this, the actual number of lab activities may vary slightly between exams.

The scoring for the exam is not fully worked out until after the Beta period is over. The scale for scoring this exam will be like other exams and will have a range from 100-500.

For now the exam is available in English and countries where English is one of the languages will get an additional 15 minutes of time for the exam.  The retake policy will require someone to wait 10 business days before they are able to try again. Something different or at least I have not noticed this before is that once you achieve a passing score you are not allowed to take the exam again.

Since you cannot yet book this exam the pricing is not yet available. According to earlier estimates from John Hall of VMware this exam should be in the $400 range depending on your location and exam provider.

You can find out all of the details on VCAP and download the blueprint from here.

About Brian

Brian is a Technical Architect for a VMware partner and owner of this website. He is active in the VMware community and is helps lead the Chicago VMUG group. This blog Virtualize Tips was started to document and remember things that I come across while working with tech.

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The curriculum for this class was designed in part by the infamous Duncan Epping a VMware consultant. According to Duncan the class is a real workshop and it is all about discussing design considerations with your peers and crafting a design based on specific requirements and constraints.

The class schedule can be seen here and they are available starting in April around the world. The cost for the class is around $1800 and is a 3 day long session. There is a course outline listed below. The class is around 19 hours of instructor led training that breaks down to be 60% lecture and 40% lab time.

Course Outline
Module 1: Course Introduction
• Provide a general overview of the course
Module 2: Design Process Overview
• Discuss the design methodology, criteria, and approach
• Introduce an example five-step design process
Module 3: ESX/ESXi Host Design
• Identify useful information for making host design decisions
• Analyze best practices and host design alternatives
Module 4: vSphere Virtual Datacenter Design
• Identify useful information for making vCenter Server, database, cluster, and resource pool design decisions
• Analyze best practices and vCenter Server, database, cluster, and resource pool design alternatives
Module 5: vSphere Network Design
• Identify useful information for making network design decisions
• Analyze best practices and network design alternatives
Module 6: vSphere Storage Design
• Identify useful information for making storage design decisions
• Analyze best practices and storage design alternatives
Module 7: Virtual Machine Design
• Identify useful information for making virtual machine design decisions
• Analyze best practices and virtual machine design alternatives
Module 8: Management and Monitoring Design
• Identify useful information for making management and monitoring design decisions
• Analyze best practices and management and monitoring design alternatives
Design Workshop
• Small group case study workshop to practice using the methodology, criteria, and approach required to design a vSphere virtual datacenter

About Brian

Brian is a Technical Architect for a VMware partner and owner of this website. He is active in the VMware community and is helps lead the Chicago VMUG group. This blog Virtualize Tips was started to document and remember things that I come across while working with tech.

Mail | Web | Twitter | LinkedIn | More Posts (170)