VCP5 Study Guides, Books of Note, and VMUG’s

The title is obviously self explanatory. Now that I am back working in the VMware space 24/7 its time to buckle down and knock my VCP5 out. Yes I am lame and missed the free test opportunity for VCP4 holders. Which reminds me, if you sign up for VMUG Advantage between now and May 15th you get a voucher for the VCP exam, not to mention a whole plethora of other goodies. That right there is a no brainer.

That said, I think the homelab will need a little cleaning up.

One thing I did want to share was what I consider some of the better resources out there for those who are looking at taking the VCP exams.

For starters, every Wednesday at 5:30 PST the #vBrownbag crew get together and host the best free, online, live community discussion around all things VMware. The VCP5 series finished early last year, as well as the VCAP. They are working on the VCDX bootcamps right now. There are also a lot of technology specific presentations around performance analytics and the various networking, storage, and advanced VMware technologies (VXLAN, vCloud,Clustering ect).  I’ve presented in the past and the people involved are highly knowledgeable. Many of the presenters are VCDX holders who are taking time out of their schedules to give back to the community. Go check out the main vBrownbag site. I’ll be reviewing all the VCP5 Sessions which are listed here:

BrownBag Follow-Up: VCP5 with Gregg Robertson

BrownBag Follow-Up: VCP5 Objective 1

BrownBag Follow-Up – VCP5 Obj. 2 Networking w/ Scott Lowe

BrownBag Follow-Up – VCP5 Objective 3: Storage

BrownBag Follow-Up – VCP5 Objective 3: Storage

BrownBag – VCP5 Objective 5 (David Davis) Follow-Up

BrownBag Follow-Up – VCP5 Objective 6 w/ Josh Atwell

BrownBag Follow-Up – VCP5 Objective 7 with @btobia

Also, my buddies Jason Langer and Josh Coen have been putting together a top notch VCP exam blueprint: http://www.virtuallanger.com/vcp5/ there is also one for VCAP-DCD/DCA that are worth checking out.

Other highly valuable resources for study are Simon Longs VCP5 practice exams and and Eric Sieberts super overview of all the new stuff in vSphere 5

One more handy goody is Forbes Guthries awesome vReference Cards.  I usually have a blow up version printed and hanging near my desk for quick reference.  Forbes also is the co-author of what I’ve always referred to as the vSphere Design Bible: vSphere Design which he co-authored with Scott Lowe

And while I’m in a spreading the linkage goodness mood, let me throw in other resources I’ve found valuable from a book standpoint:

Cody Bunch’s Automating vSphere with VMware Orchestrator Book and Mostafa Khalil’s most excellent Storage Implementation in vSphere 5

Well that’s it for now. Just had a week of mega awesomeness learning about the SimpliVity Omnicube. I can’t wait to dive deeper into a platform that I find absolutely amazing. Game changer gets thrown around a lot in the technology sphere, but this is one case where its absolutely valid. If you want a live demo of the Omnicube click here to sign up. Also if any of you are going to be at the San Diego VMUG on April 30th or the Silicon Valley VMUG on May 1st, come by and see me at the Simplivity booth. These are both User Conferences that will have a lot of great information to give back to the community.