2V0-622D – VMware Certified Professional 6.5 – Data Center Virtualization Delta Exam | Exam Experience

Wow, it has been a while since I last blogged! What better way to get back into the swing of things than with a pass on the VMware 2V0-622D exam.

My VCP6-DCV was coming round for renewal and as usual, a mad rush to recertify. Days just before the exam was scheduled, this happened: ‘VMware Certification: Recertification Is Changing and What It Means to You’ Essentially, allowing you to recertify when is convenient for you. With most of the hard work already put in, it made sense to press ahead with taking the exam. The question now remains, do I renew in the future… watch this space!

For those that are not aware, the 2V0-622D is the delta exam, this delta exam focuses more on the upgraded content between VCP6 and VCP6.5. 

Here are my tips for passing the 2V0-622D exam:

Read More

VCP6-DCV

VCP6-DCV – Data Center Virtualization | Exam Experience

My VCP5-DCV certification was due to expire at the beginning of March 2017. In order to retain the VCP status, VMware requires that you recertify every two years. The reasoning for me to take the VCP6-DCV was due to work commitments and to keep on top of my current skill set.

The resources I used, have been similar to what I have used before.

I took the vSphere 6 course with 360GSP – Dai, their trainer is excellent and knows the subject inside out, I would highly recommend, especially if a weekend course is more suitable!. Read my review here of the vSphere 6 course with 360GSP.

First place as always, is to review the exam objectivies to get an understanding on what the exam covers.  I used the following additional resources to have all bases covered:

Blogs:

Virtual Langer VCP 6 study guide

VCP6-DCV by TheSaffaGeek

Book:

Mastering vSphere 6 by Nick Marshall

Videos:

Pluralsight –  VMware vSphere 6 Data Center Virtualization by Don Jones

Exam tips:

  • Review the exam objectivies
  • You can book the exam via perarsonvue.com, make sure your name on your PerarsonVue account matches the ID you’re bringing
  • Make sure you have two forms of ID as per PearsonVue requirements
  • Get a good nights sleep
  • Arrive at least 15 minutes early
  • The exam is ~120 minutes and consists of around 85 questions

I took the exam at Nexgenn Consulting Limited, as it was close to where I work. What I was really intrigued by is how thorough they were in ensuring you are not carrying any materials, they asked for all pockets to be pulled out, sleeves rolled up, asked me to pat my trousers down! I’m surprised by what lengths people will go to! The exam centre also provide lockers to store your personal belongs. More than happy to use this test centre again, being close to work is a big convenience.

I decided to go for the full exam (2V0-621) rather than the delta, main reasoning being is that I had a voucher to use, otherwise I would have taken the delta path.

I’m glad to report I passed the VCP6-DCV exam, further renewing my VCP status for another two years. What’s next? At the moment my focus is completing my degree with the Open University, which finishes around September and then I shall decide on what path next!

[Review] 360 GSP – vSphere 6 – Install Configure and Manage (ICM) course

This post is a review of the vSphere 6 – Install Configure and Manage (ICM) course with 360 GSP.

 

I previously took the vSphere 5 ICM course via 360 GSP, the review can be read here. As I had such a good experience with 360 GSP and the excellent lecturer Dai, I decided to go back to 360 GSP and do the vSphere 6 course. Now already being VCP5-DCV certified I did not need to take the course, I could have taken the VCP6-DCV exam straight away. I liked how the course was run previously and felt this would be beneficial to me in my study plan.

Read More

How to check and install vShield drivers on a Virtual Machine

This post will show you how to check to see if the vShield drivers are installed and if not how to install them via VMware Tools. You may be using an anti-virus software such as Trend Deep Security whereby its throwing up anti-malware engine offline errors which could be linked to the vShield drivers missing.

  1. First thing is to log onto the virtual machine and open up msinfo32 via the run prompt (start > run > msinfo32).
  2. Expand “Software Environment” and then “System Drivers”
  3. Within this list you’re looking for vsepfit as shown below:

vsepfit

If you see the driver listed, then vShield is installed. if not, continue on with this post.

First ensure VMware Tools is installed, it could be as simple as you forgot to install the tools. If not, then vShield may have been implemented after some VMs were created or something odd has happened. Follow the next steps to add the vShield drivers to existing VMware tools.

Locate the VM within vSphere and right-click Guest>Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.VMToolsUpgrade1

Select Interactive Tools upgrade.
VMToolsUpgrade2

Go to the console of the VM and you should see the installation wizard. Click Next.

VMToolsUpgrade3

Ensure Modify is selected. Click Next.

VMToolsUpgrade4

Expand VMware Device Drivers. Click Next.

VMToolsUpgrade5

Expand VMCI Driver, click the drop down on vShield Drivers and select “This feature will be installed on local hard drive”.VMToolsUpgrade6

Now the vShield Drivers should look like the following. Click Next.

VMToolsUpgrade7

VMware Tools is now ready to begin installation. Click Modify.

VMToolsUpgrade8

Installing…

VMToolsUpgrade9

and we’re done! Click finish.

VMToolsUpgrade10

You will be asked to restart. Assuming now is a good time, click yes.

VMToolsUpgrade11

That’s the vShield drivers installed.

ESXi5 Datastore error – Expected put message. Got: ERROR

When trying to download a VMX file via the datastore browser, I was presented with the following error “Expected put message. Got: ERROR” as shown below:Expected Put Message. Got Error

This had be stumped for a moment as i have never encountered this before. The following knowledge base by VMware explains this behaviour and how to overcome.

Luckily I was in the position to power of the virtual machine and download the VMX file and power back on. Though when I tried again with the virtual machine powered back on, same issue occurred.

I did find when vMotioning between hosts (same datastore) I could then download the VMX file with the virtual machine still on.

I have read that similar people have had issues with brackets in the virtual machine name (wasn’t the case here) that can get confused with the datastores (as brackets define datastores). Might be worth watching out for this one.

This was using VMware ESXi 5.0.0 768111.