VCAP-DTA anyone booked it yet?

[krismcewan]

I have taken the plunge and booked this. 

Thankfully its not untill March (earliest I could book with work constraints)

Hopefully 5 years of Installing and configuring view w.ill put me in good stead with this.

The blue print seem straight forward but with it being a practical im hoping that i have done it all before anyway

[StuartCarrother]

I'd be interested in hearing about your experience - thinking of doing the DTA VCAP series next

[firestartah]

The vBrownbag APAC team have started covering the VCAP-DTA which may be of some help

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/professionalvmware-vbrownbag/id468638808?mt=2

[StuartCarrother]

I'll check that out - Thanks

[thewiganer]

I'm also putting together a study guide at www.virtual-fabric.com if it helps, looking to sit in the next month or so.

[AndreTheGiant]

Here my exam experience:

http://vinfrastructure.it/2013/12/my-experience-with-vcap5-dta-beta-exam/

Lab is really a must for this exam (more than in other Admin exams).

[krismcewan]

Thanks for That Andre.

I have had a look at the vBrownbags but for some reason my local Itunes only shows episode 1 and 4 nothing else.

So far i have been using the VirtuallyVirtuoso study guide and supplementing that with my knowledge and experiences along with quite a good KB article or 20.

I am trying to get autolab up and running but its painfully slow on my ancient ESXi hosts.

Does help that i am in a customer doing a view upgrade for them at the moment but its not a Full install to get my hands on.  

the Blueprint is pretty good but some obscure references that only during the exam im sure i will realise what they mean.

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

16+GB system with VMware Workstion should get you 1 host, one vcenter+composer server, one connection server, a domain controller and some space for nested VMs.  You should also have enough capacity to spin up a security server or second connection server or second host, etc.

[krismcewan]

thats fair enough if you have the cash to buy a new system.

ill have to struggle along with my 3 12gb ram hosts and slow disk for now

i Have a fully functioning vsphere 5.5 and view 5.3 environment running happily.  But wanted to put in 5.1 to upgrade to 5.2. 

[firestartah]

Also Chris Beckett has been breaking down the DTA objectives here : http://virtual-fabric.com/category/vcap-dta/

I see you have already seen Steve Dunnes notes at Virtually Virtuoso.

Gregg

[krismcewan]

Yep  got both of those

Chris has only gotten half way through which is not good for me sitting the exam next week

Steve you can see didnt have time towards the end of the guides to do much as he has lots of links in to documentation.

Giving up on autolab as the FreeNas box that comes with it has just had a catastrophic failure and wont boot properly.  Just building my own Windows Templates and starting again.  wasted to much time on trying to get a lab together when i could just rebuild myself.

[thewiganer]

Yeah I'm not going to complete the guide within the next week, it's surprising how much time it takes to go through each of these objectives! I am planning on sitting in the next three weeks or so, so you may see things accelerate shortly.

Good luck anyway, let us know how you get on.

ChrisB

[krismcewan]

Im down in Leeds tomorrow as its mt closest center for VCAP  yep Tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am panicking now

I have created a new quick study guide which i will make available once i have sat and passed the exam. Based on available guides (listed above) and things I have added and found.

I am not releasing it if its a load of crap.

Chris do i have permission to use bits of your guides if i wanted to release.  Obviously linking to you in appreciation.  Its not as detailed as yours sort of like flash cards.

[krismcewan]

WELL I SAT IT TODAY

all i can say is what a mare,   The LAG on the test is so bad its worth about 20 mins of your time just waiting for screen refresh and flipping between windows.

you do need to know your stuff.  what i was quizzed on was a mixture of the basics and the down right indepth.

as usual coming out its a case of,  bugget should have tried that,  and should have tried this.  but to be honest you worry about the time more than knowledge.  i ran out and without the lag i think i would have done it all and not missed out a question.