the current version design tools have issue?

[hongqiyaodao]

some object can not build the dependencies! and i want know if this influence the results and the score

[momperoi]

i saw this issue too in my test, for example creating a vapp, sometimes a vm would not stick to the vapp..leaving me with doubt if the system registered that the vm was properly placed on it.  I would also like to know if this does affect score as the design portions weigh heavy on your score

[Bill_Oyler]

When I was on the master design question (the 30 minute question), Flash Player crashed after about 20 minutes, and the whole exam froze.  Pearson needed to reset the whole question and I lost all my work.  Fortunately they restarted the 30 minute counter, but it did not give me much confidence in the reliability of this simulation tool.

[imompero]

Same issue happened to mine, i had to do a little convincing because at first they only wanted to give me the time i lost when it froze, not the work that I lost....Was a great disruption to my exam unfortunately

[JPM300]

Hey hongqiyaodao,

Could you PM me your experience and which items wouldn't allow you to build the dependencies.  Also was this the 5.1 exam or 5.5 exam

[AC81]

I took the exam this morning and failed.  I just hit Next on the master design question (after 40 minutes), then it errored - Adobe pop message with a location to the log file.  I called the moderator, went out out the room, a case was logged with Pearson and after logging out and back in to the exam it presented me with a blank master design question - all my work, gone.  I mentioned this to the moderator, she checked with Pearson and they confirmed that the time resumed (1h50 left).  This was what the timer was on before it crashed.  Sure, but I had to do the design question all over again, so I really was short on time - the last 10 or so questions were so rushed.

Also I just read the post - are the VMs supposed to be anchored to the vApp when they are dropped on it? I have just realised that for this question (and others which involved placement within an object) - I know for sure they didn't as I moved the outer object then had to move the contained items separately.  Does this mean it likely hasn't picked up on the placement correctly?!

I have a case open with Pearson for the crash, so let's see what that brings.

[Bill_Oyler]

That's a great question about icons being "anchored" to things like vApp or Distributed Switch Port Group, etc.  What are the criteria for an icon being properly "contained" within another object?  If as much as 1 pixel overlaps, does that count as "correct"?  Or does 50% of the icon need to overlap the container?  Or does 100% of the icon need to be completely contained within the object?  Finally, if you move the containing object and the child icons do not move with it, does that mean something is wrong with the simulator (i.e. they are not anchored), or is that expected behavior?  These are questions that VMware really needs to answer.  The exam is stressful enough that being concerned about icon placement should not be something we need to worry about.

[AC81]

I have just emailed VMware with my Pearson Vue incident number and I also asked for clarification on the objects within objects - overlapping, anchored, etc - so I will update with any meaningful response if I get one.  This should be clarified at the start of the exam exactly what is expected!

[imompero]

cool thanks, i am scheduled for Nov 3rd, so probably won't hear from them in time, but hopefully it is getting resolved.   I really hope my design doesn't getting wiped out like last time.

[imompero]

Well i took the test today again and unfortunately i have failed, 284, 3 points higher then last time.  I know a lot of people have passed this test but there seams to be something wrong, the wording on some of the design questions are not clear. I also experienced the issue with objects not being able to anchor to other objects.  happened in the vapp design and one of the storage designs, there was nothing i could do to get all the objects to be  anchored.  Most were anchored but not all.  I would imagine that this would effect the score.  Also narrowly avoided the system crashing on me as it did in the first test, during the storage design there were a lot of objects and the system got really slow.  Waited a solid minute in between some of the movements of objects, at one point the entire design shifted to the left of the screen, requiring me to shift everything back.

What i feel is the major problem of this exam is that there is no way to know if you are ready, I score about 96% on the pearson vue practice exam without even blinking an eye.  Studied all the white papers in the blueprint, saved screen shots of the different design scenarios and studied those.  Got RPO and RTO's down pact, requirements, constraints, risk, srm vs metro cluster, all the good stuff.  And the increase in points from the last time in August was 3 points.  Either I am totally missing something(which is more then possible) or the study docs just aren't sufficient.  Something is missing that I am just not seeing, even though I putting a lot of effort in it.

[1fizgigSGRP]

I took and failed the DCD550 exam recently. I agree that wording is not clear. A problem I had was my master design appeared to be missing elements it said I had to create connections to. These elements were not on screen, nor were they available under the Create options.

Unfortunately the Pearson test exam that comes with the VMware Press book you refer to is not helpful and does not look or feel anything like what the exam holds. It certainly doesn't cover off the topics well enough to be what I consider to be an Official Cert Guide - it pretty much seems to rehash what was in the DCD course material, but doesn't give you any clues.

What also was not great - our trainer had not done the exam, no communication that VMware examples were available to us on our transcript - which incidentally you have to apply for, get no response to that request, and/or multiple out-of-office emails or failed deliveries. Oh, and 3 days for the course is not enough - our trainer admitted he'd just taken an internal session the week before and that had gone for 4 days - and that's internal to VMware! Seems an issue that VMware don't recognize there isn't enough time to properly do the labs and discuss anything in 3 days for the rest of us at the coal face.

I had issues with the design tool, where deleting items took between 5 and 10 seconds, and you couldn't do anything until it had completed the deletion, and occasionally this occurred on move as well.

It also looks like the exam blueprint has undergone a revamp, but I notice that a number of the docs are still vSphere 4.1 - you'd think these would get updated also.

Plus the whole focus almost solely on FC storage solutions gets a bit tiresome. Yes, FC is a lossless storage, but in the real world outside of North America we don't always use it, and it is not always the best option. In fact I have not implemented an FC solution for several years.

I'm going to reschedule the exam at a later date, and go through everything again. I hope to pass, but more I hope VMware updates its practices of allowing trainers to train without having done the exam, fix their design tool, and improve their exam.