Friday, March 28, 2014

Internet links of interest

Sharing some interesting links

1)Active directory and failover clustering. Nice article to know about Failover clustering relation with AD
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2014/03/24/failover-clustering-and-active-directory-integration.aspx

2)NIC teaming support for iSCSI on windows 2012
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2013/03/18/is-nic-teaming-in-windows-server-2012-supported-for-iscsi-or-not-supported-for-iscsi-that-is-the-question.aspx

3)Managing Native Multipathing Plugin(NMP)- very good exam question for VCAP5-DCA
http://www.vmadmin.co.uk/resources/35-esxserver/364-managing-nmp-changing-the-default-psp-for-a-satp-change-from-fixed-to-round-robin

4)VMware now supports more and more application with every release. so here is the link to check, whether your favorite business app is supported
http://www.vmguru.nl/wordpress/2014/03/supported-business-applications-on-the-vmware-platform/

5)New version of VMware Log insight is released-with improvements
http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2607-Log-Insight-2.0-Beta-Is-Available.html

6)Experience Sharing Article about vCenter upgrade
http://blog.mwpreston.net/2014/03/27/the-ol-vsphere-upgrade-aint-what-she-used-to-be/

7)How VMware tools for Linux Evolved
http://planetvm.net/blog/?p=2621

8)Another Great Post from Wahl network blog about LACP
http://wahlnetwork.com/2014/03/25/avoid-lacp-iscsi-port-binding-multi-nic-vmotion/

9)Subscribe to Micro Nuggets, to get your daily dose of Technology
http://www.cbtnuggets.com/lander/micronuggets

10)New Book released on- Network Diagram using Visio
Download Sample chapter from below Link
https://leanpub.com/network-diagrams-with-visio

See..ya! happy Weekend.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Job interviews and salary negotiation

Current job scenario in india is very bad! IBM india, Thomson reuters, NTT Data, Netapp and so many companies are laying off people these days in Bangalore. But, still i suggest everyone should keep their hopes high and keep searching for new job.

Using Computer Based Tutorials for cracking Interview, but for doing your job perfectly you require hadns-on experience, otherwise you'll end-up screwing production environment.

Sometimes you'll end-up succeeding that server issue..


Sharing Some Interesting Job related articles

1)Negotiating Salary Before Second Round of Interview
http://lifehacker.com/negotiate-your-desired-salary-before-the-second-intervi-1552145678

2)How to not Loose a new Job (awesome read)
http://www.atlredline.com/5-ways-to-lose-a-job-while-accepting-your-job-offer-1550419406

And if you haven't updated your resume yet, please do it now.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

ESXi Host inventory Script-PowerCli

# Setup array with hosts
$vcenters = @(
    "vcenter1.prod.local",
   "vcenter2.prod.local",
   "vcenter3.prod.local",
   "vcenter4.prod.local"
);

$table = New-Object system.Data.DataTable "Results"
$col1 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn EncName,([string])
$col2 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn Blade,([string])
#$col3 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn Cluster,([string])
$table.columns.add($col1)
$table.columns.add($col2)
#$table.columns.add($col3)
# Store your U&P
$user = "your_admin"
$password = "YourSecret"

function GetInfo(){
foreach($vcenter in $vcenters) {
#lets check and see if we're already connected somewhere
disconnect-viserver -confirm:$false > $NULL 2>&1
# Connect
$SERVER = Connect-VIServer -Server $vcenter -User $user -Password $password > $NULL 2>&1
$ESX = @(get-vmhost| Select Name, ConnectionState, @{N="Cluster";E={Get-Cluster -VMHost $_}}, Version, $global:DefaultVIServer| Sort-Object Name)
foreach ($es in $esx)
{
$row = $table.NewRow()
  $row.EncName = ($es.Name).Remove(7,17)
  $row.Blade = ($es.Name).Substring(8,2)
  #$row.Cluster= (Get-Cluster -vm $vm.Name)
  $table.Rows.Add($row)
}
$table | Format-Table
$ESX | Format-Table -AutoSize
}
}
getinfo
disconnect-viserver -confirm:$false > $NULL 2>&1

Looking back again on Windows troubleshooting

While i was busy studying and working with vmware environment, there is not much windows server troubleshooting time i get. so thought of brushing-up windows troubleshooting skills, as it is also a plus for It admins.

I already have a collection of some RSS feeds and blog links-related to windows troubleshooting.

Sharing the info today with everyone..

1)Advanced Windows troubleshooting and debugging blog

2)Ask Premier Field Engineer blog

3)How to geek blogs Sysinternal tool usage series

4)Windows ConfigMgr 2012 DRS troubleshooting (don't get confused with VMware abbreviation)

Be Social..


Monday, March 24, 2014

Next Target is Pursuing VCAP5-DCD

after successful completion of  VCAP5-DCA, i starting preparing for VCAP5-DCD examination. The Blueprint mentions that there are around 100 questions of various types. this exam is also considered as a tough exam.. let's see what happens. i'm planning to give it during August'14 (VMworld 2014), during that period VMware Education offers 75 % discounts on exams, which results in less burden on pocket.

So, for preparing for exam below URL's is going to help me..
1) vBrownBag VDCD5 video resources-Nick Marshall indexed it very well.

2)Another Blog, which is going to help me is 

3)Another good resource which is not going to help me, but might be in future it will help, when i get my hands-on Nutanix (i love nutanix)

Friday, March 21, 2014

VCAP5-DCA Successfully completed

Today i'm really excited to successfully complete VCAP5-DCA and Now Heading towards my next target VCAP5-DCD...



Thursday, March 20, 2014

Internet links of interest

Hi Folks,

Sharing with you some of the "internet links of interest".

1)VCAP-DCD - 8 weeks series
After Mwpreston.com's 8-weeks VCAP-DCA, now is a time to follow tomverhaeg.nl's 8 weeks VCAP-DCD series.
http://tomverhaeg.nl/8-weeks-of-vcap-dcd/

2)Do you like vCheck reports from vSphere infra? and Hyper-V admins are also looking for some such goodness from their Hyper-V infra? then checkout this entire Ben Armstrong's Series and  powershell script
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2014/03/17/my-daily-hyper-v-status-email-part-1-of-5.aspx

3)Another Hyper-V and Storage series of Articles to follow is
http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/storage-and-hyper-v-part-7-actual-performance/

4)If you're also planning to upgrade from Thick vCenter to VCSA and ESXi 5.1 to 5.5 and looking for some steps and procedures to stay away from upgrade troubles then look out below link
http://lonesysadmin.net/2014/03/17/upgrading-vmware-vcenter-server-appliance-5-5-windows-vcenter-5-1/

5)Really great comparison sheet from Gartner about object storage
http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1R78PJ9&ct=140226&st=sb

6)Want to Virtualize Active Directory, then your wait is over, follow this series for in-depth knowledge on Virtualizing AD.
http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sanderberkouwer/archive/2014/03/17/virtualization-safe-r-active-directory-in-vmware-environments-part-1.aspx

7)Freeware--yes, newest freeware on the block is OneNote 2013 from M$..
http://www.howtogeek.com/185075/microsoft-onenote-is-now-available-for-free-on-all-systems/

8)Free Visio Stencils from Veeam for VMWARE and HYPER-V
http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-stencils.html

9)Cool MS VDI starter kit released for everyone..
http://blogs.technet.com/b/privatecloud/archive/2014/03/19/introducing-virtual-desktop-infrastructure-starter-kit-vdi-sk-preview-part-1.aspx


See..ya

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Linux Command line operation Auditing script

Hi, do you want to log all linux operation in a file for auditing purpose..Yeah

then look below for script

#!/bin/sh

if [ -z "$1" ];
then
        echo "Please input Operation ID !"
        exit
fi

LOGDIR=/LOCATION for SAVING LOG/operation_log_svr/`date +%d`/`date +%m`/`date +%Y`
OPID=$1
echo "Start log for ${OPID} "
echo "Store log at ${LOGDIR}/${OPID}"

test -d ${LOGDIR}         || mkdir -m 2775 ${LOGDIR}
test -d ${LOGDIR}/${OPID} || mkdir -m 2775 ${LOGDIR}/${OPID}

if [ -d ${LOGDIR}/${OPID} ];
then
        while [ -f ${LOGDIR}/${OPID}/log.`date +%d%m%Y-%H%M%S` ]
        do
                sleep 1
        done
        script -a ${LOGDIR}/${OPID}/log.`date +%d%m%Y-%H%M%S`
        echo "Your log at"
        echo "${LOGDIR}/${OPID}/"
        ls -l     ${LOGDIR}/${OPID}/
        echo "================Target List=================="
        for _log in `ls ${LOGDIR}/${OPID}/`;do egrep "^Connection to " ${LOGDIR}/${OPID}/${_log};done |sort
else
        echo "Directory not ready !"
        exit
fi

Thursday, March 13, 2014

vSAN GA, ESXi 5.5 U1, PowerCli 5.5 R2 and So many things...

This past week was full of announcements from VMware.

Finally vSAN is GA'ed (Generally Available), after so long community Beta testing and pricing is also announced.

ESXi 5.5 Update 1 with other supporting softwares (vCenter & VCSA) is also released with bugfixes and available for download.

In the meantime, PowerCLI 5.5 R2 also released with many new cmdlets, checkout the release details at below URL:-
http://www.virtu-al.net/2014/03/13/powercli-5-5-r2-released/

Free e-Learning for vCAC App services 6.0 from VMware Education at below URL:-
http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/courses.cfm?ui=www_edu&a=det&id_course=215748

If you want to update your Home Lab/Standalone ESXi to ESXi 5.5 U1, below are the URLs for seeking Help

http://www.tinkertry.com/download-vsphere-5-5-u-1-lab/

http://www.v-front.de/2014/03/issue-after-upgrading-your-vcenter-55.html

One Good Article for Easing your Day-To-Day Tasks

http://www.50mu.net/2014/03/12/how-to-translate-windows-disk-ids-to-storage-arrays-luns/

Another Article on IPv6 Architecture for VMware

http://www.edge-cloud.net/2014/03/architecture-design-vsphere-ipv6/


Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Monday, March 10, 2014

VCP-Level certifications now comes with expiry

As you (now) know, that VCP-level certification need to be renewed every two year or move to next level (VCAP), to keep it new. After hearing this news, i had mixed emotions on this.
http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=46667&ui=www_cert


If you have mixed emotions too, share in comments..thanks



Friday, March 7, 2014

Basic Tasks GUI PowerCLi script

This script was created for delegating day-to-day tasks to Junior Vmware Admins.-

copy/paste this code and save as .ps1


#Generated Form Function
function GenerateForm {
########################################################################
# Code Generated By: SAPIEN Technologies PrimalForms (Community Edition) v1.0.10.0
# Generated On: 6/20/2013 10:16 AM
# Generated By: ts-harshavardh.gupta
########################################################################

#region Import the Assemblies
[reflection.assembly]::loadwithpartialname("System.Drawing") | Out-Null
[reflection.assembly]::loadwithpartialname("System.Windows.Forms") | Out-Null
#endregion

#region Generated Form Objects
$form1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$label3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$tgt_datastore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$disconnect_btn = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$eagerzero_btn = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$pvscsi_btn = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$bootdelay_btn = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$IOPS_btn = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$label2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$tgt_vm = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$Login_btn = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$vCenter_txt = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$label1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$InitialFormWindowState = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState
#endregion Generated Form Objects

#----------------------------------------------
#Generated Event Script Blocks
#----------------------------------------------
#Provide Custom Code for events specified in PrimalForms.
$disconnect_btn_OnClick=
{
#TODO: Place custom script here
#Disconnect from vCenter server
Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$false

#Close Form
$form1.close()
}

$IOPS_btn_OnClick=
{
#TODO: Place custom script here NOW WORKING
$DiskLimitIOPerSecond = 500
# $DiskLimitIOPerSecond = -1 # Unlimited

$vm = Get-VM -Name $tgt_vm.text
$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec
$vm.ExtensionData.Config.Hardware.Device |
 where {$_ -is [VMware.Vim.VirtualDisk]} | %{
  $dev = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpec
  $dev.Operation = "edit"
  $dev.Device = $_
  $dev.Device.StorageIOAllocation.Limit = $DiskLimitIOPerSecond
  $spec.DeviceChange += $dev
}
$vm.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM_Task($spec)
}

$Login_btn_OnClick=
{
#TODO: Place custom script here NOW WORKING
if ((Get-PSSnapin "VMware.VimAutomation.Core" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null) {
Add-PSSnapin "VMware.VimAutomation.Core"
}

#Connect to vCenter
Connect-VIServer $vCenter_txt.Text
}

$handler_label1_Click=
{
#TODO: Place custom script here

}

$eagerzero_btn_OnClick=
{
#TODO: Place custom script here

}

$bootdelay_btn_OnClick=
{
#TODO: Place custom script here NOW WORKING
$vm = Get-VM -Name $tgt_vm.text
$BootDelay = 10000
$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec
$spec.BootOptions = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineBootOptions
$spec.BootOptions.BootDelay = $BootDelay
$vm.Extensiondata.ReconfigVM_Task($spec)
}

$pvscsi_btn_OnClick=
{
#TODO: Place custom script here
#Change scsi to paravirtualized NOW WORKING
$vm = Get-VM -Name $tgt_vm.text
$scsiController = Get-HardDisk -VM $vm | Select -First 1 | Get-ScsiController
Set-ScsiController -ScsiController $scsiController -Type ParaVirtual
}

$OnLoadForm_StateCorrection=
{#Correct the initial state of the form to prevent the .Net maximized form issue
$form1.WindowState = $InitialFormWindowState
}

#----------------------------------------------
#region Generated Form Code
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 204
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 529
$form1.ClientSize = $System_Drawing_Size
$form1.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
$form1.Name = "form1"
$form1.Text = "Basic Tasks"

$label3.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 26
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 173
$label3.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$label3.Name = "label3"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 20
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 88
$label3.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$label3.TabIndex = 11
$label3.Text = "Datastore Name"

$form1.Controls.Add($label3)

$tgt_datastore.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 114
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 174
$tgt_datastore.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$tgt_datastore.Name = "tgt_datastore"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 20
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 153
$tgt_datastore.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$tgt_datastore.TabIndex = 10

$form1.Controls.Add($tgt_datastore)


$disconnect_btn.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 405
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 12
$disconnect_btn.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$disconnect_btn.Name = "disconnect_btn"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 21
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 118
$disconnect_btn.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$disconnect_btn.TabIndex = 9
$disconnect_btn.Text = "Disconnect"
$disconnect_btn.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $True
$disconnect_btn.add_Click($disconnect_btn_OnClick)

$form1.Controls.Add($disconnect_btn)


$eagerzero_btn.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 289
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 171
$eagerzero_btn.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$eagerzero_btn.Name = "eagerzero_btn"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 25
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 83
$eagerzero_btn.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$eagerzero_btn.TabIndex = 8
$eagerzero_btn.Text = "Eager Zeroed"
$eagerzero_btn.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $True
$eagerzero_btn.add_Click($eagerzero_btn_OnClick)

$form1.Controls.Add($eagerzero_btn)


$pvscsi_btn.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 285
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 131
$pvscsi_btn.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$pvscsi_btn.Name = "pvscsi_btn"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 27
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 88
$pvscsi_btn.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$pvscsi_btn.TabIndex = 7
$pvscsi_btn.Text = "PV SCSI"
$pvscsi_btn.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $True
$pvscsi_btn.add_Click($pvscsi_btn_OnClick)

$form1.Controls.Add($pvscsi_btn)


$bootdelay_btn.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 285
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 93
$bootdelay_btn.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$bootdelay_btn.Name = "bootdelay_btn"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 23
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 88
$bootdelay_btn.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$bootdelay_btn.TabIndex = 6
$bootdelay_btn.Text = "Boot Delay"
$bootdelay_btn.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $True
$bootdelay_btn.add_Click($bootdelay_btn_OnClick)

$form1.Controls.Add($bootdelay_btn)


$IOPS_btn.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 285
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 56
$IOPS_btn.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$IOPS_btn.Name = "IOPS_btn"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 20
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 88
$IOPS_btn.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$IOPS_btn.TabIndex = 5
$IOPS_btn.Text = "Limit IOPS"
$IOPS_btn.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $True
$IOPS_btn.add_Click($IOPS_btn_OnClick)

$form1.Controls.Add($IOPS_btn)

$label2.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 25
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 56
$label2.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$label2.Name = "label2"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 20
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 81
$label2.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$label2.TabIndex = 4
$label2.Text = "VM Name"

$form1.Controls.Add($label2)

$tgt_vm.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 106
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 56
$tgt_vm.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$tgt_vm.Name = "tgt_vm"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 20
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 159
$tgt_vm.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$tgt_vm.TabIndex = 3

$form1.Controls.Add($tgt_vm)


$Login_btn.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 285
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 13
$Login_btn.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$Login_btn.Name = "Login_btn"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 20
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 89
$Login_btn.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$Login_btn.TabIndex = 2
$Login_btn.Text = "Login"
$Login_btn.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $True
$Login_btn.add_Click($Login_btn_OnClick)

$form1.Controls.Add($Login_btn)

$vCenter_txt.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 106
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 14
$vCenter_txt.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$vCenter_txt.Name = "vCenter_txt"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 20
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 162
$vCenter_txt.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$vCenter_txt.TabIndex = 1

$form1.Controls.Add($vCenter_txt)

$label1.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 26
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 18
$label1.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$label1.Name = "label1"
$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$System_Drawing_Size.Height = 16
$System_Drawing_Size.Width = 88
$label1.Size = $System_Drawing_Size
$label1.TabIndex = 0
$label1.Text = "vCenter Server"
$label1.add_Click($handler_label1_Click)

$form1.Controls.Add($label1)

#endregion Generated Form Code

#Save the initial state of the form
$InitialFormWindowState = $form1.WindowState
#Init the OnLoad event to correct the initial state of the form
$form1.add_Load($OnLoadForm_StateCorrection)
#Show the Form
$form1.ShowDialog()| Out-Null

} #End Function

#Call the Function
GenerateForm

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

VMware 2nd Shot Trouble Saga-now ended

As you're aware from my previous blog post, that i'm facing trouble booking exam using 2nd shot voucher code. Complaint reported on feb 26 and i haven't received even a simple acknowledgement from Pearson VUE customer care. Yesterday and today i followed-up with them regarding this issue and there simple answer was "we're following-up with concerned department". IMHO, there is no coordination between VMware Education and Pearson VUE on VMware Advanced certification, because vmware sends the result to candidate, but doesn't update the same to Testing Organisation. After receiving my result, i cross-checked pearson's site for exam result status, it is not changed till date, still saying 'Taken'. which clears everything that and answers all my queries regarding this voucher issue. For this voucher to work, my status must reflect as 'Failed', which is not the case. Very clever VMware education for keeping my result so confidential. However, i got a reply from Pearson Customer care executive on my mail, for the record. in case this matter won't get solved within defined time-period, i can approach VMware/Pearson for compensation, because i took the exam with this belief in my mind that 2nd shot is there to save my *ss. It is like life/accidental insurance policy. Let's see what will happen, i will follow-up again and share the news, that i'm the first person in india to utilize VMware's 2nd shot exam offer (write on comments, if someone else took the title). in the mean time i'm preparing for the vcap exam and found some more useful links.

ESXCLI 5.0
http://paulgrevink.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/mindmapping-the-esxcli-command/

ESXCLI 5.1
http://www.virten.net/2013/03/esxcli-command-mindmap/

UPDATE:- today morning i received a phone call from Pearson vue representative from California and they provided me a different voucher code for booking exam as the advertised code 'ADV103' is not working at all, i don't want to get into technicalities but i'm happy now after receiving and booking the exam. My advice to people in india who are thinking of availing the 2nd shot offer, please call pearson vue support mentioned in my previous post and ask for complaint number and send your result.pdf to them.

Monday, March 3, 2014

VCAP5-DCA Mock Exam Experience

On Sunday i took Mock VCAP5-DCA Lab exam, hosted by Joshua Andrews @sostechblog.com fame.

I requested Joshua using twitter for accessing 'Test Track', this was my first acquaintance with Joshua and he responded very quickly, he is really nice person and very helpful. Supporting VMware community in such a way is really awesome because not everyone has a nice lab and experience in setting-up such troubleshooting scenarios. I really like those tricky scenarios from Joshua, some are really mind-storming. Another thing that i wanted to mention is about 'Test Track' project, which is hosted in VMworld consecutively for some time by Joshua. But, not everyone can experience it firsthand by visiting vmworld (even my company doesn't sponsor me for vmworld 2014).

I want request Joshua and other respective vmware community members for Convincing VMware Education or VMware HOL to host such labs for students/professionals for practicing/troubleshooting such scenario for achieving certification and career advancement.

The Test Track Details can be found out at http://sostechblog.com/2014/02/10/vcap-test-track-connection-information/

Another Great VCAP5-DCA scenario resource is available at http://www.seancrookston.com/blog/2010/10/29/vcap-dca-mock-lab-q1/ there are almost 10 scenarios prepared by Sean.

By doing mind-storming with such scenarios will prepare you for VCAP5-DCA in no time.

Have a happy training.