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 !

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 !

VMware Network Virtualization Fundamentals Course

Hi,

After acquiring Nicira, VMware has developed a solution for Network Virtualization with a product called "NSX".

Based on the announcement done at the VMworld 2013 there will be a VCA-NV certification based on  Network Virtualization concepts and recently I saw a Tweet from VMware Education Service about a Self Paced (3 hours) course on Network Virtualization Fundamental.

You can register for it here. You can enroll for it and do it on your own pace.

Once the announcement made about the per-requisites and other requirements for VCA-NV one can attempt for it but till then I believe this is the only source to know more about what "Network Virtualization" is and go through the content.

I have already blogged about the NSX Resources before which I will update once VCA-NV becomes GA.

I will be posting few more items on NSX so keep watching this !!

Share and care.

Enjoy NSXing.

VCAP Design Boot Camp

Hello,

Recently John Arrasjid @VCDX001 Tweeted about doing a VCAP Design Boot camp and invited people from the Community who possess VCAP certification (in any order) to contribute to the idea.

I am one of them who was lucky to have the spot and able to add inputs and provide Feedback.
The great thing about this Boot Camp is that its covering all the VCAP level Design certification tracks viz in View (EUC), Datacenter (DCV) and vCloud  (Cloud) areas. And not only that it has the resources available through VMware Education as well as from any additional External resources which helps a candidate achieving the certification depending on his/her expertise.

John has done a fantastic work after moving in to VMware Education Group and I am sure this will help people plan their paths and achieve the same with proper resources on hand. A big Congrats and Thanks to others who ever contributed to this idea and make it happen a Great Help for the VMware community.


This boot camp involves the Process, Exam Formats, Simulation Tool for each track so that candidate can be made aware of the what the Exam will look like and what kind of Questions he/she will get and by having the proper balance between the nature of the questions, resources etc. it will help one to do proper planning to go for this Cert and achieve them.


More details about the Barcelona Boot Camp you can find on the community page.

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/458743

The Boot Camp will be held on October 13th 2013 at 9.30 A.M. and will be Led  by John Arrasjid, Jon Hall and Linus Bourque. All from VMware.

Attendance will be First come First Serve basis so make sure you register for it on time. One needs to send the information to mbrunstad@vmware.com before Oct 10th 2013.

Hope you find the information from this VCAP Design Boot Camp useful and spread the word.

Share and Care !!

VMware Network Ports Diagrams (vSphere, vCloud, vCenter, SRM, VR, VCD, Update Manager)

For long time there are various Diagrams when it comes to configuring Firewall and make the changes on the Network to provide access to certain person to certain product.

There is lot of work done to make a singular Diagram available now.

A KB is also published http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2054806 which has a link to the PDF file.

But here is the Pictorial view of the Ports which includes the products such as vSphere, vCenter Server (w Linked Mode), VMware Update Manager, vCO, vCloud Director, ESXi, vSphere Client etc.

The port information are integrated on the diagram using information from various KB articles mentioned below.

1012382, 2031843, 2039095.

@simonlong_ has recently blogged about VMware Horizon View 5.2 Diagrams for Internal and External facing Designs.

Internal Facing

External Facing

While we are at the Firwall Diagrams you can refer the SRM diagrams blogged by Grant Orchard (@grantorchard and also refer the KB article 1009562 for details tables.


vSphere Replication

Site Recovery Manager

SRM and VR

SRM and VR

@Hany_Michael has contributed towards developing the diagram which is documented under KB 1030954. He also blogged about various other diagrams on his blog here.


vCloud Director Diagram

Hope you enjoy using all the Diagrams and configure your environment accordingly to make them secure and also go with your requirements.


These are also helpful in studying for VCP or VCAP exams as well.

Care and share please !


Cheers !!

VMware Certifications List with recent name change

Recently VMwrae Education Services has renamed all the available Certifications including VCDX.

Here is the full List of all the certificates except the once highlighted in Red which are coming soon.


CLOUD (vCloud Director based)

VMware Certified Professional – Cloud (VCP-Cloud)
VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Infrastructure Administration (VCAP-CIA)
VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Infrastructure Design (VCAP-CID)
VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Governance (VCAP-CG)
VMware Certified Design Expert – Cloud (VCDX-Cloud)



DATA CENTER VIRTUALIZATION(vSphere 4.x and 5.x based)

VMware Certified Professional 4 – Data Center Virtualization (VCP4-DCV)
VMware Certified Professional 5 – Data Center Virtualization (VCP5-DCV)
VMware Certified Advanced Professional 4 – Data Center Administration (VCAP4-DCA)
VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 – Data Center Administration (VCAP5-DCA)
VMware Certified Advanced Professional 4 – Data Center Design (VCAP4-DCD)
VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 – Data Center Design (VCAP5-DCD)
VMware Certified Design Expert 4 – Data Center Virtualization (VCDX4-DCV)
VMware Certified Design gpExpert 5 – Data Center Virtualization (VCDX5-DCV)



END USER COMPUTING (VMware View based)

VMware Certified Associate 4 – Desktop (VCA4-DT)
VMware Certified Professional 4 – Desktop (VCP4-DT)
VMware Certified Professional 5 – Desktop (VCP5-DT)
VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Desktop Design (VCAP-DTD)
VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Desktop Administration (VCAP-DTA)
VMware Certified Design Expert – Desktop (VCDX-DT)


For more information on each one visit the site here. 

Care and share please.

Good Luck !!

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  !!!!!