VCAP6-DCV Design – Study Resources

As I mentioned in VCAP6-DCV Design exam experience blog post, I have collected the study resources which might also help to you if you are planning to take the VCAP6-DCV Design (3C0-622) exam.

First of all a lot of books, whitepapers, blog posts, case studies from the VCAP5-DCD are still very good and valid, I used (almost all of) them again. I would suggest to check this post, where I have listed the study material (It’s Hungarian, but just use the links). In the followings there will be new materials for 5.5 as well – (since my last DCD exam a lot of new and good resources came up) – and for vSphere 6. So here is my list which contains only the new materials, so check my version 5 DCD resources here first.

VMware resources

! 3C0-622 Blueprint / Exam Preparation Guide v1.2 – this is the first step.
! vSphere 6 Docu – all of them. know the new (and old) features in details
! Technical Papers – various. there are a lot of good docu here.
! VMware Feature Walkthrough: Step-by-Step VMware How-to’s – (blog) – to get quick high level overview about VMware solutions via screenshots
! VMware Hands On Labs (HOL) – To explore VMware products in a virtual lab environment – play with features.
List of recommended topologies for VMware vSphere 6.0.x (2108548)
VMware Platform Services Controller 6.0 FAQs (2113115)
Virtual SAN TCO Calculator
Storage Protocol Comparison White Paper
vSphere Networking Configuration – Advanced/Troubleshooting Notes & Tips
Multipathing policies in ESXi 5.x and ESXi/ESX 4.x (1011340)
VMware Virtual SAN 6.0 Design and Sizing Guide, 81 pages
Reference Design: VMware® NSX for vSphere (NSX) Network Virtualization Design Guide, 197 pages

Books

I have red again the following books:

! VCAP5-DCD Official Cert Guide by Paul McSharry, VMware Press, 208 pages
! Mastering VMware vSphere 6 by Nick Marshall, Sybex, 840 pages

And a very new book from Duncan Epping, called:

vSphere HA deepdive 6.x – available on Gitbook, for free!

Blog posts

How to Configure VMware Affinity Rules for DRS and Storage DRS
What is a Platform Services Controller (PSC) in vSphere 6.0
Path Selection Policy with ALUA
vSphere Sizing Formula – Storage & Datastores
Virtual Pharaohs – many blog posts
VMware Application Dependencies and Entity Relationship Diagrams MK2
vSphere 6: VMware Certificate Authority (VMCA): Design Decisions

Exam experiences (w study resources)

from vmroyale.com – 5.5 based, but has some useful links.
from vbyron.com – still 5.5 based, but a good one
from vcdx133.com – VCAP6-DCV Design Beta Exam Recap
from vroomblog.com – VCAP6 DCV (3V0-622) Design -Beta exam- feedback
from virtual-kim.com – exam experience and resources for v6

Study groups

Own Lab

To play with the features I would suggest to build a home (nested) lab, if possible. Of course there are other good possibilities (VMware HOL, as I mentioned), but I think the best if you have your own sandbox.

I hope these resources will help to you as well. Good luck with your exam!

We still don’t know the results, ~~excepted after 06/23/2016.~~

Update 07/24/2016: VMware has just announced: 2x VCAP6 Design Certification Exams Available (DCV and CMA) and also finally something about the beta scoring:

we are currently rescoring those results and expect to have your score out to you by the middle of August.

Can’t wait.

Update 08/29/2016: Finally the results are OUT!