Some VCAP-DCA exam questions

[farkasharry]

I am taking this exam on friday and still have some questions I could not find any answers for it:

Several exam takers mentioned that there are only the ESX servers and vma. What about PowerCLI? Are there explicit questions or tasks MUST be done with PowerCLI? If it is not installed, there is no point learning it, isnt it? (except the very useful real world skills)
Are there any tasks that MUST be done by using VMA/CLI/vSphere client/PowerCLI or is it my choice, which tool I take to complete the task?

A last one: I have read that vscsiStats is not installed on the ESX server. Do we need to install it during the exam or are all tools preinstalled?

I guess, these questions are not subject of the disclosure to be signed...

Thanks in adnavce for your help!

[weinstein5]

The exam is self contained and all the tools you will need will be present - in regards to the PowerCLI I would review the DCA exam blueprint as it will present the topics covered in  the exam and what skills/knowledge you will need to be able to demonstrate.

[scott28tt]

This was my review of the exam that I posted after I'd taken it: http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.com/2011/07/vcap-dca-exam-review.html

[firestartah]

Hi

As the guys mentioned, if it is on the blueprint it is in the exam. So if you skip something mentioned on the blueprint you are taking a massive risk which i personally would recommend not doing as this exam is a whole other level above the VCP5 and due to the time constraints knowing all possible ways of doing things and ways to do tasks faster thereby giving you more time to answer more questions is always a good idea

Good luck

Gregg

[farkasharry]

Thanks for your replies. I am sleeping/eating/dreaming in the last couple of weeks with the blueprint and study guides from Ed and Sean and with the Trainsignal videos under my pillow but after reading some VCAP-DCA exam experiences, these questions were still not answered in my head.

I am using PowerCLI quite a lot at work (and appreciate its speed and simplicity) but was wondering that nobody mentioned the powerCLI software in the lab. I assume, it will be a powerCLI script to do tasks with...

I only discovered the VIX part, that is totally unknown to me. Does anyone have a good deep dive for me?

At work, I have the pleasure to even work with Heartbeat and vShield, but even after spending several hours on Orchestrator, it turns out to be a black hole to me...

A last question... How are they checking the results? Is it a manual check of each setting or rather a script? If I need i.e. to replay recorded ESXTOP data, or plan capacity how can they see if it has been done?

[firestartah]

Hi

For orchestrator, cody bunch did a brown bag all about it with a number of top orchestrator professionals which helped in my understanding of the technology. http://professionalvmware.com/2011/01/vcap-dca-brownbag-section-8-orchestrator-follow-up/

The marking is done by a person, how exactly they score it I don't think anyone knows.

Gregg

[scott28tt]

There is at least one PowerCLI task in the exam. The exam is scored on how well you have completed the prescribed tasks, not how you did the tasks.

Those of us that have passed this exam tend to be very protective over it's content as many of us only had the blueprint and a few other resources to work with when we took the exam.

[milton123]

Content should be available for VCAP-DCA exam.

You can find out some blog.

milton123 

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

Remember also that some features on the blueprint (see: Auto Deploy) are managed exclusively by PowerCLI.

And one of the classes suggested is the PowerCLI (ie Automation) class.

You will be at a significant disadvantage with no powerCLI knowledge.

[scott28tt · Accepted solution]

For VCAP5-DCA, you're right that AutoDeploy is included in the blueprint topics, Update Manager PowerCLI is also mentioned.

But for VCAP4-DCA, I would describe the required level of PowerCLI knowledge as pretty basic.