During the last few weeks, I have been gathering lot of information’s and book marks about the exam preparation and time has come for me to give a bit to the community. for those of you who don’t know about the Exam, the current VCP 4 holders can upgrade to version 5 without taking the course which will save us few ££/$$ but you need to sit for an exam before the end of February (still 47 Days Left from now).

Below is a diagram copied from VMware which will show the exam/upgrade process and what you need to do to Certify yourself.

The theory (reading) won’t be enough and I must recommend procuring yourself a small Lab, few computers (1 or 2) where you can get your hands dirty installing and configuring, breaking and fixing your vSphere Lab. over at eBay, you can find some descent 2nd hand desktops and even servers which can support ESXi. Make sure that you drop a visit to the VMware HCL before buying anything.

At Techhead.co.uk has setup a page on his blog where you can get a rebate of some few HP Proliant MicroServer for around 100£, these are really a good investment and one of my colleague have already invested in 3 and he is happy as a bunny.

In the other side of preparation, you can find anything and everything on the net and one of the obvious location that need a pilgrimage is of course the mother Land vmware.com

I’ve set up some few links to little documentation that worth a look at. These are all hosted on VMware website but more and in-depth documentation can be found there too.

My Recommended Links:

VMware vSphere 5.0 Basics Document

VMware vSphere 5.0 Installation and Setup

vCenter Server and Host Management Guide for vSphere 5.0

VMware vSphere 5.0 Examples and Scenarios

Installing and Admnistratoring vSphere Update Manager for vSphere 5.0

vSphere 5.0 Security Guide

VMware vCloud Requirements for a Cloud

VMware vCloud Service Definition for a Public Cloud

VMware vCloud Service Definition for a Private Cloud

VMware vSphere 5.0, Licensing, Pricing and Packaging

VMware vSphere Networking Guide

VMware vSphere Storage Guide

VMware vSphere Storage Appliance Installation and Configuration Guide

VMware vSphere Storage Appliance Administration Guide

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

VMware Virtual Machine Administration Guide

VMware OVF Tool User Guide

vSphere 5.0 Availaibilty Guide

vSphere Resource Management Guide

VMware Data Recovery Guide

vSphere Host Profiles

vSphere Troubleshooting Guide

vSphere 5 Command Line Guide for Service Console Users

vSphere 5 Configuration Maximums

Other than that, Trainsignal have a really good learning resource and it is also worth investing in VMware vSphere 5 Training  by David Davis and Elias Khnaser have done an excellent job (as the usual) and gathered around 17 Hours in three DVDs and this This course covers exam objectives required for you to pass your VCP5. You can have these Audio and Videos on multiple formats and available on your computer phone or even on your video Player (I’m using Zune).

One more resource that can be used for your preparation is the Mastering VMware vSphere 5 written by Scott Low. Scott has already published the same for version 4 and this version 5 is a real deal. Over at Amazon you can get a copy for 21-25£ and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed reading his work. Mike Preston over at blog.mwpreston.net has written an interesting overview worth reading as well

Again as stated earlier, hovering the internet I came across these wonderful blogs about the Exam study and preparation for VCP5.

You might also hover on this piece or Art vRefrence Card 5.0 by Forbes Guthries over at vreference.com which has tones of information like storage, networking maximums and loads and loads of information.

Exam Blog Posts:

-         VCP 5 The original blue print by vMWare.com

-         VCP5 information and preparation and Post related to vSphere 5  by Scott Vessey

-          How To Pass The VCP5 Exam from petri.co.il

-          VMware Certified Professional 5 out at valCo Labs

-          What’s new part1, part2 and part3 by Simon Greaves

-          VCP 5 Blueprint by Mike Preston

Experiences from the follow VCP 5:

-          Exam Experience over at rayheffer.com

-          The Exam Review by Scott Vessey

-          One of the first people to pass this exam by vjason.com

-          Eric Sloof’s VCP5 Exam experience by ntpro.nl

-          VCP5 Exam Experience by TheSaffaGeek

Some Practice Exams:

Few but huge resources found on the net and I advise having some tests before taking the official exam.

-          VCP 5 Practice Exams  at simonlong.co.uk

-          The official VCP5 Mock Exam  at mylearn.vmware.com

-          Kalen Ardnt VCP5 Quiz – kalenarndt.com

Well surely this post will grow and grow over time and I would be pleased to have some feedback or maybe add some links to interesting sites you might suggest.

UPDATE:

For those of you who are sitting for the VCP5 Exam, I’ve just received a Tweet about a  25% discount.

Use: copen25 and you will get your 25% back, Note this will expire on the 31st January so Hurrrryy!!

Good Luck!!

If you are plaing to pass your VCP, lots of videos and learning stuff are available at the VMware.com website and also the Simon long blog is one of the best to test your knowledge.
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