Passing the VCP for vSphere 4

Tonight I took and passed the VCP410 exam, upgrading my VCP for VI3 to the latest release. The scoring is between 100 and 500, with 300 being the pass mark. I got 338 which wasn't great; I actually found the exam pretty tough (being at 6pm on a very warm day probably didn't help either!).

As with my CCNA post, I thought it might be useful to share some of the resources I used to study.

I used both Scott Lowe's Mastering VMware vSphere 4 and Mike Laverick's VMware vSphere 4 Implementation.  Both were very good at explaining the underlying technologies, but both had sections that were out of date. Always compare with the official VMware docs!

I also used the following sites:

• Simon Long's blog and (practice exam)
• vReference
• B3RG

The essential VMware exam blueprint and online documentation is a must read.

I also set up a home lab using virtualised ESX servers on my ML115 using the 60 day trial licences. Getting hands on is essential and having an environment where breaking things is not a problem makes revision much easier.

In addition to this, I work with VMware nearly every day (not every component and feature, but I get regular, hands on experience).

The NDA prevents me from talking about questions in the exam, but I will say this: I thought the mock exams were much easier than the real thing. I was getting > 90% in the mocks, so was slightly disappointed to get such as low pass score. Having said that, I'm extremely relieved that I don't have to go back to more revision!

Onto the next thing now...