Which one would you recommend vor the VCP 550 exam: VMware® Certified Professional- Data Center Virtualizationon vSphere® 5.5 Study Guide: VCP-550 by Brian Atkinson or Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 by Scott Lowe?
Thanks in advance!
I used Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 by Scott Lowe. However, I am not familiar with the other book. To me the strength of Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 by Scott Lowe was it is NOT a study guide. I say that for the following reasons.
I attended the required version 5.5 course. That resulted in my notes and the provided course book. The course book had a lot of excellent slides but not a lot of text. VMware states that attending the course will not guarantee that all the material required to pass the exam will be covered. The latest blueprint says the course will cover about 80% of the exam. I used the course book as my guide. I then found sections in Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 to provide supplemental text/information.
Additionally, I used the blueprint https://mylearn.vmware.com/lcms/web/portals/certification/VCP_Blueprints/VCP5-DCV-VCP550-Exam-Bluepr... as a guide.
Both of them are excellent books. However, Brian Atkinson's Study-Guide has been written for the purpose of preparing you for the VCP5-DCV exam, and focuses on VMware's blueprint. It explains the different features, and contains step-by-step labs which you can/should follow to become familiar with these features. With that said, please remember that the blueprint changes over time, and you will certainly need to read other documentation as well to prepare for the exam.
André
Neither is complete resource. I can tell you from experience, it was the VMware resources themselves which helped the most. The PDF documentation on their website is way better than any book you pick up off the shelf.
I've never used anything other than the blueprint, the documentation, and the software to help me pass a VCP exam.
The blueprint is what the item writers are given to develop the items.
Another awesome free guide is:
http://go.veeam.com/vcp-vcap-study-guide-sponsorship.html
It was done using the Blueprint and works well, also includes a guide for the VCAP-DCA exam.
Also the vsphere documentation center:
Then a lot of playing and breaking and fixing...
The Veeam guide is not updated for vSphere 5.5.
Be careful, VCP exams are extremely specific.