I just wanted to spend some time to tell you about two great books recently released by Pearson publishing. Both are focused on VMware vSphere 4 and will help you do two things…learn more about vSphere and how to administer it, then help you to pass the VCP-410 exam which is needed for VMware Certified Professional (VCP) certification.

The first book, VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise by Edward Haletkyis now in its second edition which includes details into the new features found in vSphere 4.1. As you may or may not know, Edward runs VirtualizationPractice.comand has been a virtualization evangelist for quite some time. In addition to the blog site, Edward is also the moderator and host of the Virtualization Security Podcast. If you’re looking to expand your vSphere knowledge I’d strongly suggest checking out this book, there is even a free chapter available for download.

Once you’ve read Edward’s book and have configured your own vSphere environment in your home lab, the next thing to do is prepare for the VCP-410 exam. VCP4 Exam Cram: VMware Certified Professional, 2nd Edition has just been revised to include all of the latest updates to the VCP-410 exam. Elias Khnaser takes you through what is needed to become VCP Certified, it provides coverage and practice questions for every exam topic. The book contains an extensive set of preparation tools, such as quizzes, Exam Alerts, and a practice exam, while the CD provides real-time practice and feedback with a 75-question test engine.

There you have it, two great reads on expanding your knowledge around VMware vSphere 4. You don’t have to take my word for it, but the job market around virtualization is growing like crazy so learning as much as you can and becoming certified is the clear cut way to jumping into this great line of work!

Get Your Contest On!

Would you like a free copy of the VCP4 Exam Cram? The nice people at Pearson gave me 10 copies to give away and one of them could be yours! I’ll make this contest really simple, I will be giving away 5 copies to readers that comment on this post and 5 copies to followers on Twitter. That means you have 2 chances to win!

Chance #1: Post a comment on this page expressing your interest in becoming VCP Certified.
Chance #2: Follow me on Twitter(@rick_vmwaretips) and send a tweet to me that says you want to become VCP Certified (example:  @rick_vmwaretips I’d love to get my hands on the VCP4 Exam Cram!)

UPDATE: Contest is now closed, I will be notifying the winners tonight and they must respond by Monday to receive their prize. Entries made after 2/24 at 8:30am PST are ineligible.

Fine print:  Contest ends February 24 at 8:30 a.m. PST.  Winners must respond by February 28 at 11:59 PST or prize will be forfeited.  US residents only.

Posted under Certification, Good Reading

You may have heard me on Friday via Twitter that I’ve passed the VCP4 Beta (along with a list of others). Today I received an e-mail making it official, along with a selection of great goodies!

The list of goodies included a VCP4 Hat, VMware Certified Professional button and some really sweet (sarcastic) light up glasses…which will probably come in handy on Wednesday night!

Well, thought I’d share that with you guys. VMworld so far has been a blast.  Time to sign off and head to the Welcome Reception, where a select few will receive a very special VMwareTips.com polo shirt, button and VMnut sticker!

Posted under Certification, VMworld

Three hours and 270 questions later, the VMware VCP4 Beta Exam is complete.  Let me just tell you,  I was not prepared at all for this exam - no studying or even using vSphere at all today.  I’ve been so busy that the only thing I reviewed was the Configuration Maximums in my car for about 5 minutes before the test.

Because of the NDA I cannot get into great detail about the exam.  The process is extremely standard for Pearson VUE tests; sign in - verify ID - sign electronic signature - take picture. Then get escorted to an awesome home built PC with your VCP411 test ready to begin!

Out of the 270 questions, it felt that about 35% of them were fit of a VCP4 exam - the rest seemed a little more advanced, perhaps a Master or VCDX level even. But, perhaps they’re working on making the VCP a little more difficult?  I will say that you will need to know someof the Configuration Maximums, but not a lot. It would definitely benefit you to know about Paravirtualization, NPIV, iSCSI, Fault Tolerance, Host Profiles and dvSwitches.

With that said, I feel that I did pretty good, left a lot of comments - knew I wouldn’t have enough time to comment on every question, so I did skip some (thanks to VCDX Design Exam Beta for that experience). Hopefully I will find out my results in the 6-8 weeks advertised on the invitation, and not the 3-4 months I’ve been waiting since taking the VCDX Design Exam.

Posted under Certification