Help a Beginner

[transamfire85]

Hello everyone,

If this isn't the right place to put this, let me know!

I'm new to vmware and the IT world in general, though I have always had a love for computers.  I've built several PC's and have troubleshooted nearly every computer my immediate family has ever owned.  That being said, my knowledge of networking is limited to a two PC home network.  What would be the suggested education path to success in this world of virtualization?  I've seen the classes vmware offers but it seems like a solid background in networking is required first. 

At work we use vSphere, View Administrator and View Client.

Thank you!

[rcporto]

From VMware, I will suggest you first take a look at VCA certifications that will help you understand some foundational topics.

Check this URL for more information, including Free Learning: VMware Certified Associate

[Cyberfed27 · Accepted solution]

Is this for your job? If so find out what you are responsible for and learn that stuff first. If you are talking in general to educate yourself and prepare for the IT field I would go about it by first getting a firm understanding of TCP/IP networking. There are a million books and tons of sites online where you can learn for free. Learn about DNS, subnetting, IPv4 protocols, routing, gateways DHCP, VLANs, ect...

That knowledge will be critical to ANY career in IT.

For VMware again, you can get tons of free information online or even watch YouTube videos they have a ton of VMware How-To's.

There are also books. I wouldn't recommend the VMware classes just yet. Get a solid understanding of networking and server operating systems. After that you can consider diving into one of the 5 day VMware classes that teach you the basics. This is costly training and most people get their jobs to pay for it. You must attend a VMware certified training class before you can get certified in VMware. That's a ways off for you right now.

Best of luck! Keep at it. Tinker and tinker often, break stuff and figure out how to fix it. That's the best way I've learned!

[transamfire85]

Thank you both!

This is for my job but they have me doing everything from setting up ESXi host clusters to troubleshooting why some service isn't starting with Windows on a server.

Currently reading Networking for Dummies then I'll move on to the VMware trainings and maybe check out some Windows Server info.

[Cyberfed27]

Yeah if its job related get your networking down solid. That's the building block for everything else.

To this day I'm often puzzled at some senior level admins trying to troubleshoot problems without them checking the fundamental basics of networking. More times than not its something trivial related to networking, especially on new server build outs.

Welcome to I.T. where you are expected to be a jack of all trades and know every hardware/software platform. Push and push hard for paid training by your employer. Prepare for gray hairs