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Krenztor
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VCAP-DCD after DCA question

I recently completed the VCAP-DCA which was a royal pain to study for!  Took me 6 months and probably 300-400 total hours.  That was far longer than I wanted to spend but I ended up finding it necessary to do so.

I'm now toying with the idea of doing the VCAP-DCD but want to find out from others who have taken both that and the DCA whether they found that the DCD requires as much study time or if it is less.  Just from reading the blueprint I would guess it is a far more basic test because it is just done with diagram and drag and drop questions.  No worrying about PowerCLI, SSH, advanced configuration settings, etc.  Sounds like it would be more straight forward but I just hope someone can verify this for me before I consider getting serious about pursuing it.

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JPM300
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Hey Krenztor,

I have a simulator at www.virtualtiers.net which will give you an idea of what the DCD will be like.  Mind you there is no longer multiple choice questions on the exam.  Also keep in mind the answers on the simulator are not gospel or a dump by any means, the tool is to be used to get familiar on what the exam will ask of you and how to use the design canvas.  At the end of the simulator is a Study Pack created by myself and the community.  It hones in on the area's that you will need to study on prior to attempting the DCD.

The biggest problem with the DCD is it is design and very open ended.  The study material isn't as cut and dry as the DCA is.  The DCA you had a list of things you had to lab out and know cold before the exam, when it comes to design its not so cut and dry.

I would also suggest taking a look at the google+ DCD study group.  There is a tremendous amount of good information there.


Good luck and happy studying,

Hope this helps

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JPM300
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Hey Krenztor,

I have a simulator at www.virtualtiers.net which will give you an idea of what the DCD will be like.  Mind you there is no longer multiple choice questions on the exam.  Also keep in mind the answers on the simulator are not gospel or a dump by any means, the tool is to be used to get familiar on what the exam will ask of you and how to use the design canvas.  At the end of the simulator is a Study Pack created by myself and the community.  It hones in on the area's that you will need to study on prior to attempting the DCD.

The biggest problem with the DCD is it is design and very open ended.  The study material isn't as cut and dry as the DCA is.  The DCA you had a list of things you had to lab out and know cold before the exam, when it comes to design its not so cut and dry.

I would also suggest taking a look at the google+ DCD study group.  There is a tremendous amount of good information there.


Good luck and happy studying,

Hope this helps

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RyanH84
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Hi,

The post above is a great resource and I've taken a look at the preparation for i.

The DCD does have multiple choice quesitons unlike the DCA but it also has some very open end design questions where you really need to be able to read what is being asked carefully and design according to the requirements.

There are some videos on Pluralsight which are quite useful in understanding the concepts of design, there is also a lot of vBrownbag videos that cover the DCD in more detail. I think the DCD covers a lot of reading and practice of doing designs. This is the key to passing from what I've read. I'm focussing on reading a few books and practicing designs on whiteboards/etc to help get there.

I'm also waiting for the VCIX-DCD to be released so that I can use my VCAP5 and VCIX-DCD to become a full VCIX. I think they are expecting to have more information on this by Q4 this year. Just something to consider!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regards, Ryan vExpert, VCP5, VCAP5-DCA, MCITP, VCE-CIAE, NPP4 @vRyanH http://vRyan.co.uk
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Krenztor
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Thanks guys!  That really helped out a lot.  I took both of your suggestions and made a list of study items out of it.  I think I will wait for VCIX-DCD since that will get me a higher level certification if I pass it.  I'm guessing it will be quite a while before there is a decent enough amount of study material on it to take it though.  Thanks again!

Google+ DCD Study Group - https://plus.google.com/communities/103910393937429082483

Practice test - http://www.virtualtiers.net/

Videos - http://www.pluralsight.com/courses/designing-vmware-infrastructure

vBrownbag - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx2d2ejXhFc&list=PLgKUP8MebCghOsDIgTRjK_x5dJmPgquFq

Storage design book - http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-VMware-vSphere-Storage-Victor/dp/1782174850/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1...

Official VCAP-DCD book - http://www.amazon.com/VCAP5-DCD-Official-Cert-Guide-Certification/dp/078975018X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&q...

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JPM300
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Hey Krenztor,


I'm currently waiting for the opportunity to write the DCD6 beta or the VCIX DCD beta exam.  Once I write that I will be working on a re-write for the simulator and creating a new batch of study material around that as well so keep an eye out Smiley Happy

Happy studying and good luck!

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sagarkmaru
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Can you share me how you prepared for the exam and your experience ?

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JPM300
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Hey Sagarkmaru,

I did what everyone else did which was go through as many design books as I could, went through every DCD course on Pluralsight I could get my hands on.  Read all the papers the blue prints lines out.  However now I would highly recommend going through the google + DCD Study group and becoming part of the community.  Ask lots of question, read through the whole page as it has a tremendous amount of information.  I would also go through the sim once at www.virtualtiers.net and get the study pack at the end.  The study pack has a good outline of where you should focus your studies while going through all the design information.  Aside from that, this exam is one of those tricky ones where there isn't really a check list to work through.  Good luck and happy studying.

Hope this has helped!

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