Another VCIX-NV Fiasco at Pearson Vue

Hi All,

I blogged about my first experience in Jan. 2015 after appearing for this VCIX-NV Exam at Pearson Vue test center. Just came back home after having a very disappointing exam experience at Pearson Vue Exam center and thought to just write about it to have it properly fixed by both parties.

Today I went for VCIX-NV (VCXN610) after confirming my appointment yesterday. Drove 30 mins to get there and finished the security procedures on time. Proctor took me inside the exam room and logged me in for the exam and I've started the exam and first surprise, "can't even login to Control Center"...booooom. This happened to me for the first time as appeared for the other similar exams before  (e.g. VCAP exams), but never had this exact issue.

Soon after reading the error, raised the hand,and proctor came and he stopped the exam, called the support person right away.  After 10 mins of remote troubleshooting, they gave a green signal to proceed as its been checked by the support person so Proctor gave me the credit of lost time and I've started the exam again and same thing happened again, the RDP connection was not setting up to the Control Center and getting the same error  "Contact the Testing center administrator or VSS administrator". Called the proctor again.

As the testing was NOT done properly by the support person (who was from Pearson), now Pearson Vue support person engaged VMware Certification support person on the phone. He tried and couldn't fix the powercli error and decided to move me to another station and start the exam again. 

I started on a different station and it took 20-30 seconds just to connect to Control Center through RDP session (or their jump box). Once logged in opened firefox browser and opened few tabs to work optimally to do multitasking. But later realized that was a bad move.

Latency was all over the place and also a square grid was coming up on the whole screen which was not clearing even after refreshing the screen or changing tabs in the browser. The whole connection is so sluggish and feels like its running on 14.4 Kbps modem connection as you can see the page is loading frame by frame. Upon asking Pearson Vue representative, he mentioned that that is being handled by VMware Certification and its in their Lab Latency so they cant do anything locally about it. Even when switching between the tabs n the browser the screen does NOT even load within few seconds. I did not expect this and I am sure if I continued with it and could not even finish 5 questions within the whole Exam Time.

So I called the proctor and he stopped the lab again. He called the Pearson support again and who in turn engaged VMware support. The whole circle started again and no "corner" of resolution found as its a circle.

And while waiting to hear back from the support staff, it's already more than an hour from the start time and I could not even connect properly to the Lab Infrastructure, so they gave me the incident number and asked to reschedule the exam. Glad I did not have to pay for the exam again as there is a policy they have where, if they cant fix the technical issue within 30 mins then, attempt is not considered and candidate can appear for that exam again at the next available schedule.

Now the trouble not stopped here..called up Pearson Vue after coming out of the center as they dont want to call the scheduling staff and I could not even call them from within the center. I just dont wanted to keep the matter in limbo after leaving the testing center but the proctor suggested that with the incident number the scheduling co ordinator should be able to pull up your details and help you reschedule the exam. So I called up and got a person who informed me that their system is in under maintenance, please try calling again after 15 mins.

Tried calling 4 times on 15 mins interval but and their system was still down and no one could help me to reschedule as they don't have ETA from their IT Team. Finally decided to call once reached (after 45 mins of drive) home, and now on hold for more than 1.45 mins and yet no one is available to take the call. Still listening to their hold music. 

What a latest technology Pearson is having that no outbound calls allowed to notify the caller on when the system will be in working status or even to just send an email to the caller that system is back up so please call in to reschedule. Now that the call center moved to India, not sure how they are going to attend the callers after their system maintenance with increased inbound calls.

No IVR notification about "system maintenance for exam rescheduling" so that the caller can just listen to it and hung up without wasting time to get the rep on the phone and then he verifies the identity and eventually states the system is down.

And on top of that each time you call you must listen to their 3-4 mins of greeting and there is no way to skip it either. So looks like Pearson Vue believes, everyone else have free time so really no care been taken. Recent changes of merging with VMware Certification, not sure how the portal looks like or which features are available but will find out soon once they finished the merge as still don't see "Manage Account" or "Schedule Exam" buttons under myVMware portal.

Now in this whole waiting game. my personal schedules are totally messed up and which affected my daughters class schedules too and I'm sure Pearson won't do anything about it. If they really care then someone may call and at least discuss about the hassles I had to go through and offer something to make a better future experience/service. And I am sure its not a lot I am asking :-).

Already ranted once about the latency in 2014 when I gave the exam for the first time. But both, Certification team at VMware and Pearson have to really think about some solid solution as I'm sure this is not the first time happening or I'm not the only one faced the issues multiple times with exam scheduling/rescheduling and Lab latency.

Its hard to believe that this is not even 1% of what they are able to do with the technology available on their hands in today's world.

I am going through just plain simple "pain". Irony is even after a year, we are still at the same status with Pearson Vue and nothing improved from the user experience perspective nor in the area of stability of the lab environment. They point to VMware when the issue occurs, so my request here is to sort this out for a vast community out there who are using their technology to make the career and sustain the family or for any other valid/genuine purpose. Please respect people time and money they are investing and don't let them go through this situations as I am sure this can be solved by putting necessary efforts and if required, I am ready to provide feedback and can also request other members of VMware community to come up and do the same.

At this time still waiting on the phone after 2.30 hours of hold time as need to get this exam rescheduled and not sure which date will be available at the soonest. Hopefully by tomorrow I will get someone as cant hold overnight :-).

===

Update:
To my surprise I just now received the Exam Score Report even if I did not attempt a single question, and still was able to score 100 marks.

This doesn't look right to me and needs to be fixed.

Update (at 3.15 p.m. CST):

So a responsible Program Manager of Pearson called me today morning who read this blog post too, and assured to take care of the issue through his back channel at VMware.

In the mean time as per their policy I had to contact VMware Team who issued me a Voucher and I rebooked the Exam for April at the same center. So hoping VMware will fix the issue specifically for this exam before that day by doing required testing and investigation.

Thank you for your time.

Please share and care !

Request to extend a chance for VCDX5

Hi,

I am taking the Liberty here to request VMware Education to extend the chance for Appearing a VCDX 5 Defense after the schedule of Oct 2015.

Now for me, there are reasons behind it which includes personal and work related that I could not prepare on time for this and now dead line is just 10 days away.

I have put lot of time individually to attain the required certifications (VCAP5-DCA and VCAP5-DCD) with the support of my Family and this is over few years of time which covers the time of a new born and a Toddler in the house. With other factors (e.g. work changes and family - main two factors for anyone in any industry) its very difficult to manage the whole planning of preparing an Application and then Defend the same, and to prepare the application alone requires lot of dedication and time, as this is just do or die situation (being optimistic but one never knows) which I wants to attempt and experience this dangerously beautiful journey. Now I am not sure how much important it is, for you to bother about my reasons, I guess not much, but still look at this situation from the other side of the Fence and try to realize the situation from a stand point of a professional, a common man, a family member, a community contributor. and a Father.

So here is my profound Request, to all the decision makers to give the VMware Community one more chance to defend after Oct 2015, which may fall into next year, as I am sure there are others in the community who are under the same condition as me and can stand with me for the above request.

Now one thing I want to make it clear here that, this will be 1st request so far of such kind, and while thinking about it a lot, I decided to echo my thoughts through this post, and its not my intent to take this in any negative way.

With all respect, I will definitely honor the decision, taken by the program authorities and will hope other would do the same. One thing I have learned that, to achieve something you need to put the effort first, so I am considering this step as an effort rather than sitting idle.

This is no way to avoid any future plan on attaining the certifications to attain VCDX, but just a simple request to give one more chance to over all VMware community enthusiasts out there, who are dedicated, focused and being professional to attain this Elite certification which has a tremendous value.

I'm leaving this post here in your capable hands to decide about this Request and urge to give a second thought before making a decision, which infact, can change so many lives (including the person/s and their family).

Update:  (As of 13th May 2016)

VMware just announced today that the VCAP5 Exam Retirements are suspended and the Registration remains open for now. So now this will give chance to the candidates who wants to do the VCAP5/DCA-DCD based on vSphere 5.0/5.5 versions and also prepare for their VCDX.

Here are the exams still available to appear for.

VCAP5 Design Exams:

• VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 — Data Center Design (VCAP5-DCD)
  Exam #VDCD550

VCAP Lab Exams:

• VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 — Data Center Administration (VCAP5-DCA)
  Exam #VDCA550
• VMware Certified Implementation Expert — Network Virtualization (VCIX-NV)
  Exam #VCXN610

So wish you all the very best !

Crossing my fingers !

Please Share and Care !!

VCAP5-DCD cleared and now one step closer to VCDX !

Hi,

All the readers out there who has been through the journey of VCAP-DCD will know the feeling of pressing the button "End the Exam" and which gives you the one moment of shock, which runs through your whole body and every single tissue of the body is waiting for the next screen.

"Congratulations you have passed the VCAP-DCD Examination"

That screen gave me immense pleasure and for minutes,hours and now days its still giving me the same pleasure in installments :-).

Wow, what a journey. The DCD and DCA are one of the most difficult exams I have ever taken and everyone can vouch the same who has been through the journey as me.

Thank You Note

I really want to thank my friends and colleague who have helped me through this DCD Exam journey and contributed their knowledge and their invaluable time they have provided. We have formed virtual study group and exchanged ideas and prepared to tackle this challenge.


Bas Raayman - @BasRaayman

Gregg Robertson - @greggrobertson5

Marek Zdrojewski - @MarekDotZ

Bobby Stampfle - @BobbyFantast1c

Alex- Correa - @AlexCorrea305 and his friends.

Michael Webster - @vcdxnz001 is my mentor and guided me through this journey.

Exam experience:

I went to another Pearson Vue location for a change for this Exam which I gave based on version vSphere 5.1 and Bingo ! Found it lucky ! :-)

BTW this Exam is retiring today itself so no more vSphere 5.1 but going forward only 5.5 version is available at this time. So many people have asked about the same through Twitter so thought to clarify as everyone is interested in knowing the experience for 5.5 version. Hopefully someone who has passed the version 5.5 can put their experience for others.

It was a new center opened in West of Toronto and 30 mins drive was not far. and went through regular security check in process and get started. No hick ups in the Exam except on time the Adobe Flash decided to stop responding and I just waited for few seconds and it came back normally and yes this was during making a 3rd Design. I almost finished 100 questions leaving 1.25 mins to spare. So thought to take a scheduled break, 1st time I took this break as this was my 4th Attempt :-). Yes I never gave up. This is a Devil exam if you ask me. Especially the content is not what you do on daily basis so you WILL find it more challenging than others who are not in the same boat as you.

So I used that extra time and started reviewing the questions again from # 1. Made some changes in my selection of the answers too while thinking over the options I have selected in MC, and D&D type questions and actually one Design Question as well. But at the end, everything was worth to get a Pass.

"A Pass is a Pass" - as they say, but getting 317 is little more to satisfy myself as just not at the Edge.

Exam Preparation/Tips and Resources

Now for the preparation, I took long time as busy with Family, personal matters, other certification exams time to time with various tracks etc. but I gave myself a break of few months between the attempts and literally spent my own time in preparing for the same. I have seen that most people don't do that (spending vacation time) to prepare for an Exam so in that regard  I have to say a big "Thank You" to my wife and my family to support me through this journey and also in advance for the VCDX. With two little kids it IS difficult to study in breaks and give such tough exam, But my friends, hard work pays off. Period.

For the resources I have used all known resources which are available freely to everyone but will still list out here for the reference.

1) Official vsphere Design Workshop material - Student Guide and Lab Guide
[The courseware is more than enough for this Exam :-)]
2) Official blueprint to keep track of the subjects and reading
3) 2nd Edition vSphere Design book by Scott Lowe
4) Pluralsight videos by Scott Lowe on vSphere Design
5) Managing and Optimizing vSphere Deployments - by Harley Stagner and Sean Crookston
6) VMware vSphere Building a Virtual Datacenter - by Eric Maille and Rene-Francois Mennecier
7) VMware vSphere 5.x Datacenter Design Cookbook - by Hershey Cartwright
8) vSphere Design Best Practices - by Christopher Kusek and brian Bolander
9) Storage Implementation in vSphere 50 - by Mostafa Khalil
10) Gregg Robertson has listed most resources here for DCD so check them out.

10) There is a visio like tool used in the DCD Exam to draw the design and I found the link on Josh andrews' blog  which led me to http://virtualtiers.net/ developed by the community members. I used that to practise the Design questions listed on the site and also tried creating few fictitious designs on my own and use the tool to create a design. This way you can get familiarize with the tool and the time can be minimized for placements of objects in the Exam.

Though this tool is experimental as still undergoing some improvements but its not bad at all. I really recommend to the future candidates who are preparing for 5.5 version to practice the Design items.

11) Some ex-TSEs of VMware has developed a nice Study Guide for VCAP-DCD at http://virtuallyhyper.com so dont forget to check that out. It is very intensive and well written guide covering all the blueprint subjects. You will find some other study guides links as well there.

12) No doubt apart from the reading material you should have experience working in Virtualization architecting and developing solutions and also understanding the terms and technologies to be used.

As the exam is retiring today I wish the good luck to all who are on this path to VCDX for their DCD on 55 version. Once the version 6 will be out it may change as well but time will tell the availability for 5.5 version for now.

Please share and care !!

Wish me Luck for VCDX !

VCIX - NV Resources, Tips and Exam Experience

Hi,

Recently I had some days off at the end of the year and thought to use them properly so I booked the VCIX-NV and VCP-NV (yes in that order only :-)).

First of all, I will list out the resources which I used to prepare for VCIX-NV.

The Exam is based on NSX for vSphere version 6.0.2.

1) Blueprint for the VCIX-NV (Yes this is the Primary)

2) HOL Labs 1403,1424,1425 (Enrol few times and make sure you understand all the Tasks you are performing)

3) Official NSX for vSphere Documentation (The Documentation is based on NSX-V 6.1 version)

Read the Installation Guide and Admin Guide very carefully. Understand the overall objective for using particular NSX Feature/s.

4) VCIX Study Guide Series posts by Martijin Smit

5) There is a VMware blogs which you can find here.

6) Hands on. (which I didn't except the HOL as dont have the HomeLab). This is a key as you can test all kinds of scenarios possible as per the blueprint. I understand not everyone has ability and can afford the HomeLab [ like me :-( ] has to rely on alternate resources like HOL. Second problem could be the NSX bits which is again not possible to get for everyone who is trying to achieve this certification.

Now lets come at the 2nd part of the post which is about the Exam Experience at Pearson Vue.

Now as most of the people know in the community and this has be brought out earlier too by various people in the form of various blog posts which is related to the Latency issue while doing the live lab at Pearson Vue Testing center and I had similar issue few times. I called up the proctor three times where either I had the issue when the task was not finishing up after clicking OK button in the vSphere Web Client and waiting till its finished which took long time but cant do anything else until that task is over. One time I cant even click OK on the menu and then Proctor called up the Tech Support and as I watching and listening the whole conversation, no troubleshooting steps actually been performed and automatically everything came to normal. The proctor did freeze the session each time but I got only 15 mins for all the time loss which to me is not enough as I think I wasted almost 25-30 mins just in waiting. I have already addressed this internally and hopefully it will be fixed in near future.

Few Tips for the future candidates.

a) Try to setup the putty sessions to all the possible components which you need for either verifying configuration or part of troubleshooting

b) Use vSphere C# client to make changes in the configuration which I find is faster than Web Client.

c) Read the task carefully and make sure you finish all of them and using both vSphere c# and Web client together will minimize the overall time.

d) Write down the passwords and other information about the login credentials on the sheet Pearson is providing as you may need them

e) Not sure how to keep track but do mark the questions answered fully or partially on the sheet so that you can go back and check if anything needs to be finished later on.

f) Dont spend too much time on one task and now this is the advice everyone is giving whomsoever took the VCAP exams but it DOES makes difference here in VCIX as there are only 18 tasks to finish within the same amount of Time as other VCAP Exams.


Clarification on VCP-NV inheritance on passing VCIX-NV:

So many people in the community are under the impression that once anyone clears the VCIX-NV exam will automatically inherit VCP-NV which is not true as per the response I have received and it is clear in the course datasheet and other details available right now.

VCIX is not similar in that sense as VCAP. If someone passes any VCAP level exam then it is possible to inherit the VCP certification upon passing VCAP but with VCIX, it is not the case.

Logically thinking, why the person has to appear if he is capable of passing VCIX? Which to me is a valid question but still awaiting a reply on that Internally. I will update this post once I receive a response from VMware Education Services.

So I did have to admit that I postpone my success till next attempt of VCIX-NV :-)

As VCP-NV was out of the way on the very next day of VCIX attempt, hopefully I should be able to knock it down next time as not blaming anything I will have to just focus on the missed areas and also deep dive again in NSX !!

Wish me luck !

Share and care please !

NSX Certification - All Tracks Available Now

Hi,

With recent announcement today by VMware Education about the VCIX-NX track for VMware NSX all the tracks are now available to become VCDX-NV for VMware VMware NSX/Network Virtualization.

You can request the authorization for the VCIX-NX on the certification page.

All other details are there as well.

VCP-NV related details are here.

VCDX-NX related details you can find here.

Blueprint for VCIX-NV

VCIX-NV recommend courses 

VMware NSX for Internetworking Experts Fast Track [V6.0]

VMware NSX Install, Configure, Manage

VMware VCIX Course Datasheet

There is an advantage for having valid CCIE Data Center or CCIE Routing & Switching certification and you can verify that here.

So now go get them. Good Luck !

Share and Care please !

VMware NSX based VCP-NV - Lets hits it !!

Hi,

Recently VMware has released the Certifications based on VMware Network Virtualization

1) VCP-NV

2) VCDX-NV

Now any one can download the Blueprint for VCP-NV from the site and it covers mainly the following topics.


Section 1 – Define VMware NSX Technology and Architecture

Objective 1.1 – Describe the Benefits of a VMware NSX Implementation
Objective 1.2 – Describe VMware NSX Architecture
Objective 1.3 – Differentiate VMware Network and Security Technologies
Objective 1.4 – Contrast Physical and Virtual Network Technologies
Objective 1.5 –Explain VMware NSX Integration with Third-Party Products and Services


Section 2 – Plan and Configure vSphere Networking

Objective 2.1 – Define Benefits of Running VMware NSX on Physical Network Fabrics
Objective 2.2 – Describe Physical Infrastructure Requirements for a VMware NSX Implementation


Section 3 – Configure and Manage vSphere Networking

Objective 3.1 – Configure and Manage vSphere Standard Switches (vSS)
Objective 3.2 – Configure and Manage vSphere Distributed Switches (vDS)
Objective 3.3 – Configure and Manage vSS and vDS Policies


Section 4 – Install and Upgrade VMware NSX

Objective 4.1 – Configure Environment for Network Virtualization
Objective 4.2 – Deploy VMware NSX Components
Objective 4.3 – Upgrade Existing vCNS/NSX Implementation
Objective 4.4 – Expand Transport Zone to Include New Cluster(s)


Section 5 – Configure VMware NSX Virtual Networks

Objective 5.1 – Create and Administer Logical Switches
Objective 5.2 – Configure VXLAN
Objective 5.3 – Configure and
Objective 5.4 – Configure and Manage Logical Routers Manage Layer 2 Bridging


Section 6 – Configure and Manage NSX Network Services

Objective 6.1 – Configure and Manage Logical Load Balancing
Objective 6.2 – Configure and Manage Logical Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
Objective 6.3 – Configure and Manage DHCP/DNS/NAT
Objective 6.4 – Configure and Manage Edge Services High Availability


Section 7 – Configure and Administer Network Security

Objective 7.1 – Configure and Administer Logical Firewall Services
Objective 7.2 – Configure Distributed Firewall Services
Objective 7.3 – Configure and Manage Service Composer


Section 8 – Perform Operations Tasks in a VMware NSX Environment

Objective 8.1 – Configure Roles, Permissions, and Scopes
Objective 8.2 – Describe NSX Automation
Objective 8.3 – Monitor a VMware NSX Implementation
Objective 8.4 – Perform Auditing and Compliance
Objective 8.5 – Administer Logging
Objective 8.6 – Backup and Recover Configurations


Section 9 – Troubleshoot a VMware Network Virtualization Implementation

Objective 9.1 – Identify Tools Available for Troubleshooting
Objective 9.2 – Troubleshoot Common NSX Installation/Configuration Issues
Objective 9.3 – Troubleshoot Common NSX Component Issues
Objective 9.4 – Troubleshoot Common Connectivity Issues
Objective 9.5 – Troubleshoot Common vSphere Networking Issues


For those who wants to know how the exam looks like than have a look at the practice exam released by VMware Education and also by @pmcsharry which you can find here.

I will try to cover each objective separately and if possible I can also present it on vBrownBag (if time and resource permits as don't have Lab for NSX) but till then lets just get started here with the study.

Mainly the documents referred for covering the objectives are all released by VMware and the information can be formed under the Whitepapers mentioned in the Blueprint.

I have updated my NSX Resource post today as well so take a look at it here to study more about NSX. All the documents/Whitepapers can be found here.

If you feel if I missed anything while covering the objectives then please leave a comment to get in touch with me an I can update the post at the earliest with your feedback.

Enjoy reading and wish you good luck towards your journey of VCDX-NV :-) !!

Share and care !!

VMware Recertification Rants / Favors

Hi,

THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT A RANT OR A FAVOR at all regarding the upcoming change for the VCP certification but instead its about How to prepare oneself to cope up with such change.

Full announcement of the VCP level re certification  is made recently on 7th March on mylearn.vmware.com and from then I have seen lot of posts about discussing specifics about this step of VMware Education Services.

Here is a complied list of blog posts I have seen saw far from Twitter

VMware Certified Professional  Recertification - By Christian Mohn

VCP Certification Expiration Check your Transcript - By Florian Dahl

VCP for Life - By Vladan Seget

New post: VMware Certification Changes - By David Klee

VMware Certification Expiration - By Adam Eckerle

New Post VMare VCP Required Recertification - By Martjin Smit

The new  VMware Recertification Policy - By Jonathan Frappier

My thoughts on  VMware Recertification - By Patrick Kremer

VMware Recertification Policy - By Eric Sloof

VMware  New Recertification Policy - By Marcel Van Den Berg

VMware Recertification Expiration - Good or Bad? - By Avaram Woroch (A really good read)

VMware Introduces a Re-certification Process - By Tom Howarth

VMware VCP Recertification - By Joshua Andrews

VCP Recertification - By Matt Cowger

Recertification policy for VCP level certifications - By Scott Vessey

VMware's New Re-Certification Policy - By Cody Bunch (vBrownbag)

VCP is now coming with an Expiry - By M W Preston

Is the VCP the new VTAX? - By Gabriel Chapman

VMware Announces a Recertify Deadline to its VCP Certification - By David Marshall

ZOMG! VMware VCP Certifications Now Expire, The End is Nigh? - By Chris Wahl

For more information please visit the main VMware site.

http://www.vmware.com/go/recertification

As far as I can say  there would be only one choice - Take it or Leave it. This is THE fact/truth.

With changing products release the schedule can be changed from 2 yrs to 3 yrs so it all depends.

We cant assume that if the product is not released within 2 years then what happens to the cert which depends on the newer version. My understanding is "That will not be too much difficult to figure out" by
VMware Education and the Product Managers works at VMware. So leave that decision up to them.

Now the question remain is "What YOU can do about this change?"

You just need to plan ahead on your choice and decision for getting the product knowledge (for specific stream of specialization) in which you are dealing with daily basis and only thing you need is to have proper knowledge of that product and experience. Once you have that you don't need anything else in terms of the Test / Certification requirement/s. You can easily attain them by remaining within the requirements set to get the certification. @eck79 (Adam Eckerle) has shed the light very well in his blog which is mentioned in the above list.

Please do send an email directly to certification@vmware.com for any concerns you might have regarding the change and Feel free to leave a comment if any update is required. I will be updating the post with any new links I found anywhere so keep checking it daily.

So Trust yourself and wishing Good Luck to you all.

Share and care !!

Visio Stencil Links for VCDX Defence with updated Links

I'm putting here all the links from where you can download the#VMware #Visio #Stencils if you are preparing for VCDX Defense or just doing any presentations / designs.

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-11498 

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/24068 

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-13703 

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-13702

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-14908

https://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-12204 

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/400678

Multi Vendor collection http://www.visiocafe.com/ 

Various Contributors

http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-stencils.html 

http://technodrone.blogspot.com/visio-stencils-happy-holiday-to-you-all.html 

http://graffletopia.com/stencils/475 

http://www.vi-tips.com/2009/05/visio-stencils-for-vmware-icons-and.html 

http://virtualisedreality.com/vmware-and-related-visio-stencils/

http://www.thevesi.org/downloads.jspa

http://xtravirt.com/presentation-pack

http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/phoward/

http://vmtoday.com/2012/09/new-vmware-icons-visio-stencil-download/

http://rodos.haywood.org/2009/02/vmware-diagrams-ppt-not-visio.html 

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/prod_cat_visios.html

http://vsphere-land.com/generalvi3-links/stencil-graphic-links.html

http://www.techhead.co.uk/vmware-vsphere-powerpoint-graphics-visio-stencils

http://www.vmguru.com/index.php/articles-mainmenu-62/general-mainmenu-63/33-visio-stencils

Some View Visio Stencils by Ray Heffer

http://www.rayheffer.com/2684/visio-stencil-set-vmware-vsphere-horizon/

vCO specific Visio Stencils by Josh Townsend

http://vmtoday.com/2014/03/vcenter-orchestrator-visio-stencil/

http://communities.vmware.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/11498-6-60388/VMware-Stencil2-vSphere.zip 

http://communities.vmware.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/11498-6-60389/VMware-Stencil1-vSphere.zip 

http://viops.vmware.com/home/docs/DOC-1338 
http://viops.vmware.com/home/docs/DOC-1406 

Some Diagrams by @HanyMichael 

http://www.hypervizor.com/diagrams/ 

NSX Visio Diagrams on VMware Blogs by Nikhil Kelshikar

VCAC 6 icon Pack by Ryan kelly

Juniper Visio stencils

Good Luck !!

Share and care !

Need 5 mins of your valuable Time

Hi All,


Back in 2012 the announcement of vExpert for 2011 was made and I was not selected based on the standards and criteria but I took that as a challenge and committed to myself to do blogging about all VMware related technologies and actively started blogging from April 2012 onwards and here I am with 70 Blog posts so far.

This blog is dedicated to all the VMware Community and to the people who are using VMware on a daily basis.

Spreading knowledge is the key for me when it comes to VMware. I am not in the race but just to get the support from you in one of the categories such as the following would be highly appreciated.

"Best New Blog"

"Best Networking Blog" 

"Best Storage Blog"



There are others blogs out there but if you think a single blog post helped you then Vote for my blog just for the support and extend the help to contribute more and more going further.

It will take few minutes of your time but will make more long time effect on me and will give enough fuel for the upcoming years. I expect nothing else as your invaluable Vote will have everything.

Use the following link to vote and urging not to do any Fake multiple voting.


http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1165270/Top-vBlog-2013

Thanks for your time and appreciate all the help you are doing to recognize the efforts




Share and care !!

Cheers !!

Vote for the "Best New Blog" of 2012

VCP-IaaS Objective 3.2 Configure and Generate vCenter Chargeback Reports

In preparation for the VCP-IaaS Exam majority of the blueprint items are covered by @lhjartarson on his blog, but few objectives are probably in progress or never finished so to help the readers and the VMware community I am putting down here "Objective 3.32 Configure and Generate vCenter Chargeback Reports" from the blueprint of VCPVCD510 Exam Blueprint Version 1.2 (Updated 26 July 2011).

Objective 3.2 – Configure and Generate vCenter Chargeback Reports

Knowledge

• Identify vCenter Chargeback report types
• Identify components of the reporting dashboard
• Given a reporting requirement, determine what report type should be run
• Schedule reports
• Manage archived reports
• Generate custom reports

There are four types of reports one can generate in Chargeback Manager 

vCenter Chargeback Manager enables you to generate following reports for a chargeback hierarchy and for entities in the hierarchy.

1 Cost Reports - A cost report provides the cost and utilization information for each computing resource for the hierarchy or entity on which the report is generated based on the cost configured in the hierarchy and the cost model selected during report generation.

2 Usage Reports - A usage report is similar to a cost report except that it provides only the computing resource utilization data. This report type is useful when you only want to analyze the resource utilization for various entities in a hierarchy.

3 Cost Comparison Reports - A cost comparison report enables you to compare the costs for each resource and entity based on two different cost models.

4 Showback Reports - A showback report lets you analyse how the costs are distributed among the entities based on a specified distribution policy. This report type is useful when you know the total cost and want to analyze how this cost is distributed among the entities by selecting different distribution policies.

Report Dashboard

vCenter Chargeback Manager provides a report dashboard that displays various graphs providing information about the resource cost and usage for a selected hierarchy or entity for the last 30 days excluding the current date.

The report dashboard displays three charts, Cost per Resource, Cost per child Entity, and Cost per Day, for

the selected hierarchy or entity. The dashboard also provides an option to view the following Top N reports:

1 Top N most expensive VMs

2 Top N least expensive VMs

3 Top N CPU consuming VMs

4 Top N Memory consuming VMs

Here, N can take the values 10, 20, and 50.

For a hierarchy that includes a vCenter Server that is integrated with VMware vCenter Operations, the Dashboard provides the following details:

• The Cost per Resource bar chart in the Cost projection tab shows cost for each resource, which is color coded, for the past 30 days and projected data for next three months in sets of 30 days each.
• The Cost per Day graph in the Cost projection tab charts the variance in the total cost for the entity for the past 30 days and projected data for next three months.
• The Cost Optimization tab lists the following optimization opportunities: Oversized Virtual Machines, Undersized Virtual Machines, Idle Virtual Machines, and Powered Off Virtual Machines.
• For each optimization opportunity, the corresponding virtual machines along with the configured and recommended resource-cost details are listed.

NOTE

• The graphs and optimization reports are generated only if the vCenter Server user, which was used for adding the vCenter Server to vCenter Chargeback Manager, has either the Global.vCenter Operations User privilege or the Global.vCenter Operations Admin privilege assigned on the root folder.
• Cost projection reports are enabled only with pure usage-based cost model, else graphs based on only past 30 days data are displayed. If the hierarchy is less than 30 days old and is not back-dated, then the graph based on the available data is displayed.

Scheduling reports

When creating a report, you can choose to schedule the report generation from the Create Report screen. You can schedule cost reports, cost comparison reports, and usage reports. Showback reports cannot be scheduled. Other than the create privilege for report and schedule resource types, you must have read privilege on the hierarchy, chargeback hierarchical entities, and cost models to perform this task

On the Schedule page and set the scheduling parameters.

Option                                                  Description

Report Creation Time                    When the report has to be generated.

Recurrence Pattern                         How often the report has to be generated.

Range of Recurrence                      Till when the report has to be generated periodically.

Managing Archived Reports

The Archived Reports page of the Reports tab displays a table listing all the reports archived in the application.

This includes manually generated and saved reports as well as reports generated by report schedules.

All the reports generated by a single schedule have the same name but different Created on and Billing

Period values. 

The reports are listed in the ascending order of their creation time. You can view an archived report by clicking it.

1 Export Archived Report - After a report is generated and archived, it can be exported to the required format at any time.

2 Email Archived Report - After a report is generated and archived, you can send it through email to one or more recipients.

3 Delete Archived Report - You can clear the archive by deleting unwanted reports.

4 Advanced Search for Archived Reports - You can search for specific archived reports by using the advanced search feature of vCenter Chargeback Manager.

Ultimate VCAP5-DCD / VCAP5-DCA preparation Links

I have read so many blogs out there discussing and preparing you for VCAP5-DCD. For VCAP5-DCA I did not make any preparation except doing some tasks in my home lab as I have appeared for the BETA exam and passed it.

These blogs are no doubt not to be under rated or such for those who are getting ready as they add more value of course. Now this is not some kind of judgement about which blog is good/bad but actually the nature of content which brought me to a position where I can just suggest to read them/go through while preparing for the exams. So don't go and compare one to another. All the information available through blog posts by our community members are equally important and valuable in their own stance. To add to that this is not some kind of competition where there is a winner or the 1st rank will be given, but simply the Quality of the Content which matters.

But to me one blog just came on the surface while I was looking at the content for VCAP5-DCD

http://virtuallyhyper.com/2012/08/vcap5-dcd/

This blog site is maintained by our 3 Engineers of VMware, Jarrett, Joe and Karim. I have personally work with them on numerous occasions and the stuff they have put on the blog is top notch. They have blended the information from everywhere possible to make the flow lot smoother while you are reading. The best thing is to have the links ready for further reading if one needs to dig deeper in a subject. They have also written for VCAP5-DCA so you can check that out too.

Recently @ForbesGuthrie passed his VCAP5-DCD and he mentioned in his Tweet that he used this blog for the preparation. So this is one of the use cases I would say :-) while recommending this site.

 

Now I have not meet him yet but know him as he was one of the writers of VMware vSphere Design 4 book which help you preparing for VCAP-DCD Version 4. Now most of the content you can definitely use for Version 5 as well as far as the design methodologies and principles are concerned.

One day I was researching for some specific issue and then found about the www.thefoglite.com. This is another Top recommendation for VCAP5-DCA by Ethan Rowe (@rowe_ethan)

http://thefoglite.com/vcap-dca5-objective/

Now at the same time I don't want to miss a chance to give the credits to @JoshCoen (Blogpost) and @jaslanger (Blogpost) for their respective contributions for VCAP5-DCA.

Hopefully this will help you in preparing for both VCAPs along with other resources out there which may includes various blog sites, videos, online sessions etc. etc.

My 2c.

Good Luck to all going for VCDX  !!!!!