Good Day, Jason
Couple of comments there on the last Q:
1-) I think you meant that "VM network must be able to handle 2.34 Gbps not 2.43 Mbps"
2-) You have to add a port group for Backup Network.
3-) Try to minimize the standard switches a bit, and tell the user to put X number of port groups per a standard switch.
4-) what about policies..?? what do you mean by putting policies in lower right corner..?? I think all to be Reject. Not a challenge 
In addition, you mentioned that request twice.
5-) It'e better to make a special connector for fail-over connection. I mean, if a port group will have an active and a passive connections, the active will be a standard connector and the passive will be another one.
Nice Q, brother
PS. PM me your twitter account.
Thanks for the update,
Will do, I think I still have to activate my twitter account if I remember correctly as it wasn't working last time I tried 
Yeah I'm going to try and get that last question squared away hopefully on Sunday. We'll see this weekend is a little hectic
Thanks again, hope to have an update soon.
Hey all,
Sorry about the lack of updates recently, I will be re-writing my DCD on Oct 18th, so for the next little while I will be keeping my head down and preparing for that again. I am however currently putting together another study package that I will post here shortly once I'm finished. This will include all the blog sites I will be using, my study notes from the sites / the courses on plurasite and some other information. Aside from that if I get some time between study sessions at home I'll try to fix up some of the code on the last question and or add some new material if I come across some things in my studies.
Till then wish me luck
***** Study Pack *****
Here is the study pack I will be following this time on my latest DCD attempt. My goal is to try and break down the extream amount of information out there to the core values on the exam and hopefully get a pass this time around Any advice on this is always greatly appricated!
***** Questions ******
Question Point system
100 questions
6 - Design questions
10 - Drag-n-Drop
84 - Multiple choice
Score Breakdown
Multiple Choice: 1pt per question
Drag-n-Drop - 10pt per question
Design Question - 25-50 points
That leaves me 2.4min per question, however I will be rounding down to 1.9min per question to give me some wiggle room. Now I will be spending more then 1.9 min on the design / drag-n-drop questions obviously, however each multiple choice question will only get 1.9min, then if I feel uncomfortable with my answers I will mark it for review. If I have time at the end of the test I will go over them again and double check my numbers.
***** Network Design ******
Great breakdown on MANY network design to handle any standard configurations and not so standard.
*******************************
***** RPO, RTO, WRT, MTD ******
http://defaultreasoning.com/2013/12/10/rpo-rto-wrt-mtdwth/
***************************************
*******Storage - Managing Paths **********
default path options:
Takeaways:
VMW_PSP_FIXED: The Default policy for active-active storage devices is VMW_PSP_Fixed
VMW_PSP_MRU: MRU is the default policy for active-passive storage devices
VMW_PSP_RR: RR is the default for a number of arrays and can be used with both active-active and active-passive arrays to implement load balancing across paths for different LUNS.
Path Policies effects:
Active/Active Array
Most Recently Used: Administrator action is required to fail back after path failure.
Fixed: VMkernel resumes using the preffered path when connectivity is restored.
Round Robin: No fail back.
Active/Passive Array
Most Recently Used: Administrator action is required to fail back after path failure.
Fixed: VMkernel attempts to resume by using the preferred path. This action can cause path thrashing or failure when another SP now owns the LUN.
Round Robin: Next path in round robin scheduling is selected
*******************************************************************
Links and Blogs(* are links I will be focusing more time on):
* http://nickmarshall.com.au/vcap5-dcd-study-guide/
Great breakdown on all the sectinos on the blue print. (Videos)
http://paulpmeehan.com/2013/12/16/vmware-vcap-dcd-exam-round-2/
General experience run down, with some good explanations o nthe Conceptual, Logical and Physical Design which I feel is the back bone to this exam
http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/
Vmwares technical white papers, great source of how everything ticks
* http://paulpmeehan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Best-Practices1.pdf
A really well done collection of best practices all compiled into one wonderful document
* http://www.virtuallanger.com/2012/09/30/vcap-dcd-5-document-package/
Document package, long with a PDF inside which has a really good run down on the blue print
http://thesaffageek.co.uk/vsphere-5-study-resources/vcap5-dca-dcd/
Another breakdown on the experience with another good collection of resources to check out
http://imallvirtual.com/vcap5-dcd/
Another great blog on the experience break down with another plethora of good material to look/go over
http://www.virtuallyvirtuoso.com/vcap-dcd-study-pack/
All the documentation the blue print talks about / links all sourced into one 170MB package. Great for offline reading
* http://virtuallyhyper.com/2012/08/vcap5-dcd/
Another great breakdown on the blue print
The PDF attached is a PDF out of one of the blog links documentation packages and is not own. Full credit goes to the owner/creator I just found it a really good study resource.
Also if anyone wants my personal notes they can PM me and I will share them.
I hope this has helped,
Cheers and good luck!
Beta Update 1.7.... at least I think where at 1.7
Minor update.
I managed to finish the code for the scissors prior to leaving to write my exam. It up and live now.
How deleting connections now works:
- Click on the Scissors Icon, your mouse cursor will turn into little scissors
- However over the line you would like to delete
- Due to issues with changing the mouse icon to look like a pair of little scissors it was hard to find the pointer part of it. So what would happen is you would however all over the line till you finally found the right spot. To combat this I changed it so once you are on the spot where it will allow you to delete the line it will change to a hand pointing at it. Then once you click the line will be deleted. So to recap, click scissors, move over to the line you want to delete, once you see a pointer hand over the line you wish to delete click on it.
If people don't like this I can remove it pretty easily, but I wanted it to me as much like the exam as possible.
Speaking of exams I will give my breakdown on my most recent attempt at the DCD later today.
Cheers and until then.
Okay so 2nd re-write Exam Experience:
Before I get into the second re-write lets re-cap my first write so we gleam into what I did wrong last time and what I improved on.
First Write:
First write was a interesting exam. I felt A LOT of my time was used up on figuring out the exam and how things worked. On top of that many of the design or drag-n-drop I was re-reading a few times to make sure I understood everything as they wanted. Another thing I did wrong was I wasted way to much time on some of the multiple choice questions. Lastly due to poor time management I ran out of time missing, 1 drag-n-drop, 1 design question, and 10 other questions. My final score on my first exam was 276. Something tells me last time had I been able to finish I might of squeaked by on that one, but no one will ever know :smileysilly:
Conclusion:
- Time management was poor, ran out of time and didn't get to finish all questions on the test
- Spent to much time on the design / drag-n-drop absorbed time I couldn't afford.
- Spent to much time on 1 point mulitple choice questions, especially the calculation ones as I knew most of them, but the time it took to calculate everything could of been better spent elsewhere
Second Write:
Second write I went in with knowledge from the first exam so I was familiar with the tools, so time was saved there. I went in with a different time management plan this time. My plan was to mark the longer multiple choice questions for review then come back to them once I finished everything else to insure I finished all the drag-n-drop and design questions this time as they are worth the most points. My study material was more precise this time around with material I felt was more of the core pieces which would be picked on.
So the first thing that went wrong was my time management. Even with the new plan to skip the longer multiple choice questions I found myself still giving them around 1 min - 2min then flagging them for review and moving on. Something in my brain just wouldn't let me pass an question unread :smileysilly: This will need to be corrected :smileysilly: However the time I saved with being more familiar with the tool seems to absorb this extra time spent. The next thing wrong with my time management was even though I was holding my self accountable to 2min a question except for Drag-n-Drop and Design questions. Even my time being managed this way I still found myself rushing. I know on one of the Design Questions I'm pretty sure I could of done a much better job on the connections however I had the question completed, glanced at it, then looked at that ever looming clock counting down and figured "it would have to do" as I didn't want to waste anymore time re-doing a large portion of the question. Long story short I went in with a better plan but still faltered on some parts of the execution. However this time around I did finish ALL the questions and got to see the review screen I had about 40min left after finishing everything so I had time to double back to some of my longer multiple choice questions again, but not all. However again even with doubling back to re-read and calculate the calculation questions I found myself constantly obsessed with the time. In my mind it was better to get through as many of the questions I had flagged with that 40min as possible with a rushed effort then taking my time with each one. I figured the numbers where better if I managed to touch all the questions again even if it was fast effort opposed to taking my time with say 5-10 out of the 50+ I flagged. Now I don't know if this helped or hurt me, guess we'll never know.
So what did I do better:
- I managed my time better, as I was able to finish the exam. This was not without fault however
- I believe I did a much better job on the design questions and drag-n-drop questions.
What do I need to still work on :
- Better time management, with more focus
- Calculate cluster sizing faster
- Better manage / answer Multiple choice questions
The end result was I sadly missed the passing score again with a 290 
So close but yet so far away. This stung a little however failure is a good thing sometimes as it resets your expectations and can be the fuel for success. Good things came out of the last failure, as had I not failed the DCD on my first attempt the simulator and extra material I built for myself and the community would of never been built. I will go back to the drawing board and re-adjust my questions and focal points. Most of all I will hopefully find an answer to the biggest question I have now. Which is what do I study from here? I have read over ALL the material at least 3 times.... if not more. So even though the exam points out the sections you struggled with, these are all sections I have read over many times. So when I find the answers I'm looking for I'll be sure to update this forum and simulator with some new questions that will hopefully better assist people who which to challenge this exam.
Sorry I don't have better news but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes :smileysilly:
Cheers and good luck to anyone else preparing or taking a test in the near future!
So sorry for that my friend
You can achieve it next time
At least your experience will guide us..
Try to be active on twitter and our study group..may be we can help..
That is a bummer. I have seen some really smart guys just miss the mark. I'm starting to wonder if you need pure luck to pass this exam. I eat, sleep and breath design and still have not passed.
