I took the DCA 5.5 on Thursday, and after studying/labbing off and on(mostly off) for 7 months I still found the exam really tough.
This is how I prepped....
Here's my opinion/tips on the exam....
Hi ARich
Thanks for your exam experience very helpful for those prepping. I am giving my VCAP-DCA510 in 9 days and constantly looking at the forum for updates and feedback. It is great they dropped Auto deploy and Image Builder from the old exam. I have decided to give my 510 exam and not 550 as I do not have lab equipment for 5.5 and cannot update my hosts
Can I ask you when you perform a task do they say do it via the CLI only, or do they just expect you to complete the task successfully regardless of what method you use?
Well done for passing. Will let you know my outcome when done.
Regards
You may be asked to write out or fix PowerCLI commands or basic scripts, perform tasks that can only be done via PowerCLI or are impractical otherwise (such as create or modify 100 VMs.)
As far as command line goes....
There isn't much you can only do in vCLI outside of some storage/security functions (claim rules, satp configurations, custom FW rules, ect...). For the most part you can do almost everything in the client and if really doesn't matter at all how you finish the task, as long as you finish it. But there was some points where the lag was so annoying that it seemed faster to do some stuff in CLI as opposed to gui.
However I will tell you this, like Josh said, atleast be familiar enough with PowerCLI to fumble through some VERY basic commands, or run a script and decipher the errors it may produce.
Hi Guys
Thanks for letting me know. So I will make sure to study on PowerCli commands. I am getting the hang of Esxcli and esxc-cfg but not much powercli usage.
Also ARich do you know if a questions asks you to setup a switch called "vSwitch3" and you set it up and call it "vswitch3" will you be marked incorrectly. Should it be case sensitive?
Also how may hosts did you have in your lab exam? Some people suggest 2 for the DCA510 and 5 hosts in the DCA550
Regards
Rushad
No capitalizations matter anywhere. IPs must be exact, most misspellings are allowed - I suggest you always make sure to get the first few characters correct tho.
2 hosts in DCA510, 5 hosts in DCA550. Which means in DCA510 when you do things like firewalls or certificates and you make a mistake you end your exam. In DCA550 you just shut down one host and maybe lose one extra item.
rushad61, discussing specific exam questions and scenarios is prohibited by the NDA and can result in decertification.
FYI
Sorry JoshuaAndrewsVM did not meant to break any NDA rules
thanks for sharing ARich,
7 months looks great for a good preparation however you felt it was a really hard exam...kinda worried now
BTW what was your score?
what's the difference in VCAP5-DCA and VCP5-DCV ? I'm still confused as to which certification should I take to renew my VCP-510 which is about to expired after 15 March 2015.
You're already a VCP5-DCV holder, passing the VCP510 exam was what earned you that certification (along with meeting the training requirement).
VCAP certifications are the next level up from VCP - have a look here: Certification Roadmap
The VCAP5-DCA is a hands-on lab exam for experienced vSphere administrators - the other VCAP for vSphere is VCAP5-DCD, it's a design exam.
This page explains the options you have to recertify your VCP: Recertification Policy
Thanks for the info, also busy prerparing for my VCAP and thought 3 months intensive preparation should be enough, now you have me worried...
Congratulations on your pass though.
Cool, thanks man !