This is a page to hold various resources to study for the VMware Certified Advanced Professional- Datacenter Design on vSphere 5. I plan on going for the VCDX, so hopefully I will be taking this test repeatedly since it is the test for upgrading the VCDX to the next version.
If you are just starting out, make sure to bookmark The Saffa Geek, he is the touchstone for links to various resources.
Free Online Training
I cannot recommend Alastair Cooke’s APAC vBrownbag enough. I listened to every session, and it was a real pleasure to meet Alastair at VMworld 2012. He is a helluva of a nice guy.
Next up for me is the training class for VMware Capacity Planner 2.7. Its a free, online class for partners to get access to Capacity Planner- I figure it will help with DCD. Log into mylearn.vmware.com to register for it. There are quite a few other free training classes as well.
I have to try to sit through this one again, its like watching paint dry Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Design [v5.X]
Paid Training
I recently attended the VMware Design Workshop before VMworld 2012 in San Francisco, and it was very, very helpful. The debates in class are great and the material presented by the instructor is a lot more in-depth than anything you will get in one of the basic classes. This can be a tough class to get though, because it isn’t given often and when it is it is usually a long flight away.
Links
No its not simple, but yes you need to know this: Conceptual, Logical, Physical: It Is Simple (not!). This is a bit of a slog, but you have to understand this if you want to move on from being an engineer to an architect.
The best document I have seen of a VMware design is by Duncan Epping, et. al., Cloud Infrastructure Achitecture Case Study. I really like the how the document is laid out, and I plan on using the same type of format to list assumptions, constraints and risks in my VCDX design document. Another document that dovetails with the case study is vSphere 5.0 Hardening Guide – Official Release. This spreadsheet lists hundreds of configuration parameters in a very nice format.
