VMware Edu & Cert Community
Krenztor
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

How to study for 3V0-622?

A few days ago when I started planning to study for 3V0-622, I was concerned at the lack of materials.  After some research I found it was mostly just a lack of recently published material and that much of what was useful when studying for VCAP5 is also useful for VCAP6.  Now I have a list of all the resources listed below.  I've downloaded over 170 MB of PDFs from the links listed below which amount to thousands of pages of materials along with several books.  So I'm now faced with the opposite problem I started out with which is an overwhelming amount of materials.

I've already passed the VCAP-DCA so I'm pretty well versed in administering VMware products, but I haven't done any design before.  I want to spend as much time as is necessary to pass this test but I don't want to study in too much excess.

I am hoping that some people who have passed this test can give me an idea of how long it took to study for this and about how many materials you ended up needing to cover.

Books:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118407911/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - VMware vSphere Design

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1785283464/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I22S44OYKRVS96&colid=3Q6WQHEKISXX0 - VMware vSphere 6.x Datacenter Design Cookbook

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0996647708/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I142F3YSUGTPQA&colid=3Q6WQHEKISXX0 - IT Architect: Foundation in the Art of Infrastructure Design

Links:

https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=88743&ui=www_cert - Blueprint

https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/certedu/certification/vcap - VMware VCAP forum

https://plus.google.com/communities/101159195928964402221 - Google VCAP Design forum

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2rC-8e38bUXAB-VaBem953POgFDrk-Iw - vBrownBag VCAP 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx2d2ejXhFc&list=PLgKUP8MebCghOsDIgTRjK_x5dJmPgquFq - vBrownBag VCAP 5

https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/designing-vmware-infrastructure - PluralSight course

https://ha.yellow-bricks.com/ - HA deep dive

https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vmware-validated-design-pubs.html?ClickID=byeqvknenmuq6vusd61m6y... - VMware design documents

https://storagehub.vmware.com/#!/vmware-vsan/vmware-r-virtual-san-tm-design-and-sizing-guide - Virtual SAN design guide

http://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/nsx/vmw-nsx-network-virtua... - NSX network design guide

http://download3.vmware.com/vcat/vmw-vcloud-architecture-toolkit-spv1-webworks/index.html - vCloud Architect Toolkit

http://www.virtualtiers.net - Unofficial practice test #1

http://www.elasticsky.co.uk/practice-questions/ - Unofficial practice test #2

https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/login.cfm?ui=www_edu&RedirectURL=https%3A%2F%2Fmylearn%2Evmware%2E... - VMware practice test

http://www.thecloudjar.com/scoring-for-vcap6-design-exams/ - Exam tips/tricks #1

http://www.thecloudjar.com/vcap6-design-tips-tricks-and-new-features/ - Exam tips/tricks #2

https://vcloudburst.wordpress.com/2017/03/25/vcap6-dcv-design-experience/#more-78 - Exam review

7 Replies
Krenztor
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Since I haven't received any replies I'm thinking I might have worded this question poorly.  Let me put it this way.  When I studied for the VCAP-DCA, I knew exactly what I needed to study for.  I've been a VMware administrator for many years now and the study guide gave generalities of what I needed to study which was able to read into and understand what they really meant.  For DCD though, I've done very little extensive design work.  I built my own home lab and have worked on numerous small and large environments which I understood from top to bottom, but just haven't had to design them.  When I read the blueprint, it is about as clear as mud to me what VMware is actually looking for.  For example:

"Determine performance-related functional requirements based on given non-functional requirements and service dependencies."

That to me doesn't mean much.  Maybe to someone who has done plenty of design work they would understand.

Also, in my mind, design seems like it should be pretty straight forward though I know it isn't.  I'm listening to the vBrownBag videos and a lot of what they cover seems pretty easy to understand.  I'm not sure if they just aren't covering the materials that are on the exam or if I'm not seeing the complexity in what they are discussing.

Just hoping to get some good resources that will be prepare me for the test and hopefully help me see what type of material will be covered.

Reply
0 Kudos
ITaaP
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I am in the same boat as you. I felt that the DCA had a good blueprint, and I just studied the areas that I needed to. I have rescheduled my 3V0-622 three times already because I don't feel like I know what to study to pass the exam. I almost feel like taking the exam just to see what it is like. Then study and re-take. But that is a waste of $400.

https://tactsol.com https://vmware.solutions
Reply
0 Kudos
Krenztor
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I'm glad that I'm not alone.  Hopefully there are some veterans of the Design exam that can help clear things up a bit

Reply
0 Kudos
ITaaP
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

These are the top two sites I decided to use for studying.

VCAP6-DCV Design – Study Resources | vThing

VCAP6-DCV Design Exam Experience – vJenner Blog

Of course they both have a lot more links in them. I also got the VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5-Data Center Design book. I know it is older, but I would think a lot of the information is still relevant.

https://tactsol.com https://vmware.solutions
Krenztor
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

One thing I'll say is that the vSphere Design book by Scott Lowe feels like reading a history lesson.  I'm three chapters in and at least half of it is made irrelevant due to dated references to vSphere 5.1.  It's quite amazing how different 6.x is compared to 5.1.  Discussions about whether to use SQL databases or the Windows vCenter take on a whole different context with 6.x than it did with 5.x and so do many other things.  I'm going to continue on with this book for now but I wish I had gone with VMware vSphere 6.x Datacenter Design Cookbook instead

Reply
0 Kudos
Konflikt
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

ITaaP​ I am glad that u liked my study resources (vthing). Have you passed it?

Reply
0 Kudos
rsk007
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

I'm preparing for the VCAP 6 Deploy (3V0-623). Can you please share material if you have any.

thank you.

If you found my answers helpful please consider marking them as helpful or correct.

Santhosh Ranga
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/santhosh-ranga-43a88b124/
Reply
0 Kudos